THERE were indications on Tuesday that President Goodluck Jonathan might reject Prof. Ben Nwabueze’s nominee, Mr. Solomon Asemota (SAN), to serve on the National Advisory Committee on National Dialogue.
The Chairman of The Patriots, Nwabueze, SAN, had nominated Asemota as his replacement in the committee which was inaugurated on Monday.
The Patriots is a group of eminent citizens that frequently intervene in national politics. The group has also been in the forefront of demand for convocation of a national conference.
Jonathan had on October 1, 2013 named Nwabueze a member of the 13-member committee headed by Senator Femi Okurounmu.
Nwabueze had reportedly written to Jonathan, asking to be excused from the committee because he would be away for some time and hence might not be available for the one month initially announced as the timeline for the panel.
In a two-paragraph letter to the President, dated October 2, Nwabueze said, “I am presently in London for medicals and may be away from Nigeria for some time.
“I will be glad if I could be replaced in the Presidential Advisory Committee on national dialogue/conference by Mr. Solomon Asemota, SAN, who is a member of The Patriots.”
But a top government official who did not want to be named on Tuesday denied knowledge of any letter from Nwabueze to Jonathan.
The source also said that “even if the President received such letter, he will not like accede to Nwabueze’s nomination of a replacement for himself.”
“How can that be possible? If you (our correspondent) are named the editor of your newspaper, is it possible for you to write to your management to ask that they should use your brother or your friend to replace you? That is not possible,” the official said.
Neither Nwabueze nor Asemota was present at the inauguration of the committee on Monday.
Although the anchor of the programme announced that the chairman of The Patriots was absent because he was abroad on medical grounds, no mention was made of his request for a replacement.
Nwabueze had on August 29, 2013 led a delegation of The Patriots to meet with Jonathan and renewed their call for the convocation of a national conference.
A 13-page memorandum covering issues such as the need for a people’s constitution, the expansion of the agenda for national transformation to include economic emancipation as well as good governance, was presented by to the President.
Nwabueze, who took over the leadership of the group from the first Nigerian SAN, the late Chief Rotimi Williams, told State House correspondents after the meeting that he and members of the group told the President that the nation was in dire need of transformation.
He said the position of the The Patriots was that the desired transformation could only be achieved through a national conference of the about 389 ethnic nationalities in the country.
Nwabueze said the conference, which should be used to discuss how Nigerians could live together in peace and unity, must hold before the 2015 general elections.
Punch
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