Former spokesman for northern delegates in the 2014 conference and former publicity secretary who was also the Secretary General of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) Anthony Sani has said that unelected delegates cannot decide the fate of the Nigerian people.
According to Sani, only members of the national assembly can enact laws for the good governance of the country.
Sani who was reacting to calls by some Nigerians for President Bola Tinubu to implement the report of the 2014 conference that was convened by former President Goodluck Jonathan, said the report of that conference cannot be implemented since the conference was not a gathering of elected representatives.
Sani who advised that the report should be left the way it is, added that Nigeria is practicing multiparty democracy.
“When some respected people call on the government to implement the reports of conference of 2014, I wonder if such people feign ignorance of the fact that we are practicing multiparty democracy.
“The 2014 conference comprised unelected delegates whose decisions cannot be binding. More so that the ruling APC did not participate in the conference,” Sani said.
According to Sani, who also participated in the conference and was the spokesman for the Northern delegates, insisted that the only way the conference can be useful is for the National Assembly to use the material as part of their efforts to amend the constitution.
“The only way such a report can be used is for the national assembly to use its reports as resource materials in the course of their efforts to amend the current constitution.
“In the alternative, any political party which fancies some aspects of the constitution is at liberty to include them in its manifesto and canvass for electoral mandate needed for implementation. That is how multiparty democracy works.
“I say this because while there is national consensus on nature of problems confronting the nation, there is no corresponding national consensus on methods of solution.
“Hence the significance of multiparty democracy where each political party represents a distinct method of solving national concerns. The party’s method is used for canvassing electoral mandates needed for execution. It is not for a select elite to foist their preference on the rest of the country,” Sani stated.
