LEADERSHIP
– The chairman, Presidential Advisory Committee on National Conference,
Senator Femi Okurounmu, yesterday faulted the Prof. Ben Nwabueze-led
Igbo leaders of thought for criticising his committee’s report.
Addressing a press conference in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital,
Okurounmu said attempts to discredit the committee would not fly because
a majority of Nigerians are enthusiastic about the proposed national
dialogue.
He declared that the ability of his committee to present a single
report and forestall “dissenting or minority report” was a tremendous
achievement.
The Concerned Igbo Leaders of Thought, led by Nwabueze, on Monday in
Enugu, expressed disapproval of the recommendations in the report of
dialogue committee, saying the report fell short of the aspirations of
Nigerians.
While claiming that the confab committee recommended mere amendment
of the nation’s constitution as against new constitution, the Igbo
leaders also kicked against the panel’s alleged proposal to select
delegates on the basis of senatorial zones or federal constituencies.
But Okurounmu described the allegations against his committee as “wild, mendacious, obfuscatory and ill-intentioned.”
He accused Nwabueze of pursuing personal agenda, saying his group
clearly went “beyond the bounds of decency and decorum by fabricating a
report purely from their own imagination.”
Okurounmu maintained that the criticisms by Nwabueze’s group were
meant to be a setback for the national conference by injecting a crisis
of confidence between the committee, the people and the government.
He said, “These allegations show clearly that members of the group
have neither seen nor read the report that they are criticizing and are
merely acting on hearsay because the committee, under my chairmanship,
made no such recommendations as alleged.”
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