Jonathan’s confab dead on arrival – CNPP

Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP) on Wednesday declared that the proposed national dialogue of President Goodluck Jonathan is dead on arrival.
The group was reacting to President Jonathan’s statement on Tuesday that the outcome of the dialogue would be handed over to the National Assembly for legislation.
In a statement, through its spokesman, Osita Okechukwu, CNPP said whereas they support the dialogue, they were of the candid opinion that any conference that was not sovereign, where the outcome was subjected to national referendum, was a sheer waste of resources, time and hence, diversionary.
CNPP recalled that it had earlier warned that Jonathan, may not muster the political will to set the ball rolling for a Sovereign National Conference (SNC) and regrettably, with his statement that the outcome of the dialogue will be handed over to the National Assembly, they have been vindicated.
The statement reads further: “CNPP recalls that since our return to democracy in 1999, the National Assembly at various times had embarked on the process of amendment of the 1999 Constitution and at no time was any of the fundamental issues amended.
“We stand to be corrected, so as to reassure Nigerians that handing over the outcome of the present national conference report to the National Assembly is better than convening a Sovereign National Conference will pass to our children a far better country than we now have” the group said.
CNPP maintained that the present National and State Assemblies lacks the political will to insert in a new constitution critical issues like devolution of powers to the regions, unicameral legislature under a parliamentary system, truly independent INEC, EFCC, ICPC, creation of additional State for South East, fiscal federalism among other issues
The statement therefore concluded that the confab proposed by President Jonathan was dead on arrival.