Let nobody ever say that President Goodluck
Ebele Jonathan is not a listening leader. Never
say that. From the early days when he assumed
the presidency to the present, President Jonathan
has been the epitome of democracy, feeling the
pulse of the people and dancing the waltz to their
tempo. He did this when he changed his mind
about withdrawing Nigeria from international
soccer tournaments after the 2010 fiasco in South
Africa after Nigerians besieged his facebook page
to plead with him to temper justice with mercy.
Again he did this when he acceded to the cries of
those most affected by the Boko Haram
insurgency when he agreed to consider
dialoguing with Boko Haram and set up the
Tanimu Turaki led Presidential Committee on
Dialogue and Resolution of Security Challenges in
the North.
And again, he is demonstrating that he has a
listening ear by listening to the grievance of
those Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, governors
who disagree with the elected leaders of the
party even though they are in the minority. It is
incontestable that President Jonathan is a
listening leader.
This may perhaps explain why he changed his
mind on the issue of a National Conference for
which he had hitherto been set against. A leader
is meant to embody the aspirations of the people
he leads and given that the cries for such a
conference have grown to be very deafening,
President Jonathan has deferred to the people.
This would ordinary be something praise worthy,
but of course to some, nothing the president does
is ever good enough.
Take for instance, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the
former governor of Lagos. On the 18th of
February 2012 Asiwaju had said “We want
Sovereign National Conference. Nigerians who
voted for the President have the right to demand
for the convocation of the conference”.
Well, President Jonathan also heard the voice of
Nigerians which was that they wanted a
conference to meet and determine how best they
would live together as a people. So, on the 1st of
October 2013 he agreed that Nigerians should
have a conference and that it would be up to
them to decide the nomenclature of the
conference and the issues to be discussed. In
other words, government is giving the people a
free hand!
What could be more democratic than this? You
would think that Asiwaju Bola Tinubu would be
thrilled that the President has listened to the
people (and Bola Tinubu himself) once again. But
hear Asiwaju Bola Tinubu today-“The national
conference is by whom, for whom, and at what
stage? How many levels of deception? I see a
contradiction. I see diversion. I see deception,
lack of honesty and integrity”.
This kind of volte face brings to the fore
complaint of awoists like Chief Ebenezer
Babatope and others like him who personally
worked with the late sage, Chief Obafemi
Awolowo. They have at various times
complained that many who say they are awoists
are only using the philosophy of Awolowo as a
cover to hoodwink the masses who still believe
in the ideals of Chief Awolowo.
It was Chief Awolowo who in 1981 said “It is safer
and wiser to cure unhealthy rivalry than to
suppress it”. Awolowo lived and died believing
that a National Conference was imperative if
Nigeria was to emerge as a truly united nation
whose people live in harmony. It therefore
follows that anybody who lays claim to the
philosophy of Awolowo must support something
as cardinal to his beliefs as the convocation of a
National Conference.
So the question that begs an answer is why the
volte face?
I posit that the reason is that some who call
themselves progressives after the Awolowo fold
are in fact pro-aggressives, subject to change and
moral flexibilities. Not able to stand on anything
and therefore willing to fall for anything. To
them, power is the ultimate aphrodisiac.
This is why where Awolowo would have held
transparent party primaries to elect party flag
bearers, they prefer to impose relatives, cronies
and in-laws.
Governments can never be safe in the hands of
persons who are subject to change on the altar of
political expediency. If people cannot count on
you to be steadfast to your ideals then they
cannot count on you period!
Now, the enemies of our collective progress are
singing the song that we do not need a National
Conference or that it is a dubious idea meant to
distract Nigerians. Why such self denial? Because
no one fights the status quo like those who feed
fat on it. And Nigerians will recall the obviously
divine hand that guided President Jonathan to
power. Perhaps God made President Jonathan
President for such a time as this!
Today, those who are screaming against the
proposed National Conference are the same
persons who screamed against the declaration of
a State of Emergency in those states where Boko
Haram has caused untold human misery.
A pattern seems to be unfolding here. If
Nigerians will recall, these fellows were the ones
who accused President Jonathan of not doing
enough to rein in the Boko Haram insurgency.
They then changed their tunes when the
President took steps to contain the crisis.
If they are willing to play politics with the Boko
Haram insurgency, an insurgency in which
Nigerian lives were being lost, is it a big thing for
them to play politics with the issue of a National
Conference?
And I cringe when I read comments from some in
the opposition to the effect that a National
Conference will undo what our founding fathers
did for us. With all due respects, this is a faulty
premise as the Nigeria of the founding fathers
was undone in 1966.
In truth, none of Nigeria’s founding fathers were
against the ideas of a National Conference.
Certainly, the great Ahmadu Bello was not
against it.
In page 3 of John N. Paden’s 1986 biography of
Ahmadu Bello, he reported a conversation
between Sir, Ahmadu Bello and Nnamdi Azikiwe
thus;
Nnamdi Azikiwe: “Let us forget our
differences….”
Sir, Ahmadu Bello: “No, let us understand our
differences. I am a Muslim and a Northerner. You
are a Christian, an Easterner. By understanding
our differences, we can build unity in our
country.”
What better way to understand our differences
than through a National Conference to be
decided upon directly by the people of Nigeria
without government’s interference?
And President Jonathan is not the first leader to
have had a change of heart on the issue of a
National Conference. Pandit Nehru, India’s first
Prime Minister, opposed a National Conference
in his nation when it was first mooted in the late
1940s and early 1950s. However, when he saw
how unresolved differences led his nation on the
path of disintegration, with first Pakistan then
Bangladesh breaking away, he knew that nothing
could stop an idea whose time had come. As such,
in 1956, Nehru set the machinery for India’s
National Conference in motion and India
emerged stronger for it. India is not only the
most stable nation in the sub-region, she is today,
the largest democracy in the world.
It is instructive to note that before India had her
own National Conference she was being torn
apart with Pakistan and Bangladesh breaking
away, but after India’s leaders had a change of
heart in 1956, the reverse became the case.
Rather than lose territory, India gained territory
with Goa becoming a part of India in 1961.
So what lessons can we draw from history?
Those who are afraid that a National Conference
will lead to the breakup of Nigeria should study
history. It is precisely those nations that refused
to hold one, such as Sudan, that broke up, while
those nations that held one, such as post 1956
India and post 1987 China, that stayed together
and even added territories to their nation (India
added Goa, China reclaimed Hong Kong and
Macau) because while nobody likes to be a part
of turmoil, everybody likes to be a part of
tranquility.
Yes, we have had conferences in the past, but
those have been conferences with limited
freedom where the government of the day,
whether colonial or indigenous, had set certain
parameters for the discussion. This one is
different. The government is not telling
Nigerians what to do this time, rather it is
Nigerians telling the government what to do. And
this is the purest form of democracy.
Many have said they are a bit disappointed that
those who championed that government should
dialogue with Boko Haram are today resisting
the idea of Nigerians conferencing together. But I
don’t share in their disappointment. I quite
understand why they took that stance. Boko
Haram was at the time of their demands, and
perhaps still is, a desperate problem for them.
You see, when the problem becomes desperate
people who feared dialogue have no choice but
to talk, however, people who talk never have to
face desperation.
They have got it backwards. We should not just
dialogue with Boko Haram because they are
violent. We should conference with each other in
order that we can prevent future occurrences of
the Boko Haram insurgency because if we refuse
to allow Nigerians dialogue with each other, we
are invariably telling them that it is only those
people who take to violence that deserve
violence.
When asked to state his political motto, the late
Zik of Africa said ‘you talk I listen, you listen I
talk’. Politics should be an exchange of ideas.
‘You talk I listen, you listen I talk’ is much better
than ‘you insult I listen, you listen I insult’ or ‘you
fight I am beaten. I fight you are beaten’.
Only a person in deep denial will deny that there
are deep seated tensions amongst nationalities
that make up the Nigerian nation state.
Repressing them has led to a civil war, ethnic and
religious strife and militancy. It is time we face
the reality and talk honestly about these issues
and reach a resolution that would be better than
the status quo so that all Nigerians can be
mobilized behind the goal of a greater Nigeria
without any ethnic nationality feeling
shortchanged and disgruntled.
The Holy Bible in Amos 3:3 asks “Can two walk
together, except they be agreed?” This agreement
necessary for walking together is what President
Goodluck Jonathan is trying to foster for Nigeria
by assembling a team of patriotic egg heads to
come up with ideas and plans for a National
Conference. Government is not telling them what
to do rather they are advising government on
what to do. I therefore make a solemn appeal to
all Nigerians-Let us join hands with the leader
that God has raised for such a time as this to
build the New Nigeria of our collective dreams.
And it is certain that after conferencing together
we will have a Nigeria that serves all Nigerians,
not a Nigeria where an Igbo man who was born,
bred and buttered in Lagos cannot aspire to
elective position in Lagos. Not a Nigeria where a
Yoruba man who was born and brought up in
Kano cannot collect student bursary from the
Kano state government because ‘he is not from
Kano’. And certainly not a Nigeria where a Hausa
man who is a third generation resident of Enugu
is still referred to as a settler.
Reno Omokri is Special Assistant (New Media) to
President Jonathan.



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RENO U MADE MY DAY. WE KNOW THE DOUBLE STANDY PEOPLE. MEN WHO ARE HERE NOR THERE. SERPENTARERS! GULIBLE IN SPEECHES! THEY CAN NOT DECEIVE US! WE MUST TALK!