February 23, 2009
PRESS STATEMENT : Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG) expresses its displeasure with the fact that the Federal Executive Council may be deliberating on the report of the White Paper Committee on the Uwais panel’s recommendations on the Electoral Reforms without any representation from the South-West.
The panel set up by president Yar’Adua is composed as follows:
(1) Dr. Shetima Mustapha, Minister of Defence (Chairman) - North
(2) Dr. Ibrahim Lame, Minister of Police Affairs - North
(3) Senator Muhammed Aliero (FCT Minister) - North
(4) Dr. Hakeem Baba Ahmed, Permanent Sectary, GSO - North
(5) Gen. Sarki Mukhtar, National Security Adviser - North
(6) Abdullahi Ahmed Yola, Solicitor General of the
Federation and Permanent Sectary, Federal Ministry - North
of Justice
(7) H. Odein Ajumogobi (SAN) Minister of State Petroleum - South-South
(8) Mr. Japh C.T Nwosu, Permanent Sectary, Ministry of
Interior - South-East
(9) Prof. Philip T. Ahire , Secretary - South-South
While we may not comment on the recommendations of the committee as only snippets have been made available especially the removal of the recommendations for independent candidacy; we are for now limited to the total exclusion of the South-West from this important committee whose work will largely shape the future of the electoral process in Nigeria .
The South-West is one zone that anybody who is sincere and genuine about electoral reforms in Nigeria cannot safely ignore as it has bore the greatest brunt of the struggle to make the votes count in Nigeria.
While other places are littered with incidents of religious conflicts, ethnic strives and all that, the only pronounced conflict in Yorubaland has been resistance to votes stealing: 1964/65, 1983 and 1993.
That a committee to review the report of the Uwais panel would now shut out this zone is a great disservice to the whole process. It has again reinforced our fear that President Umaru Yar’Adua suffers the lack of national perspective in composing his inner councils and overall structures of governance. It is this skewed preferences that informed our classifying his administration as a “Federal Government of the North” some months back.
It is rather curious that the President would still set up a 9 man-committee to produce this white paper and six members are from his own corner of the country. This smacks of insensitivity and arrogant display of ethnocentrism. It does not build a sense of national cohesion or the spirit of national unity.
We hope it is never too late for the President to realize that he is not doing the country any good with this parochial style. If Obasanjo handed over anything to him, President Yar’Adua would see that in spite of his several failings he could not be accused of non-inclusiveness.
Yinka Odumakin
National Publicity Secretary
Afenifere Renewal Group
www.afenifererenewal.org
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