National Conference leadership gets clear of allegation

Abuja (National Conference Report) – The ongoing National Conference holding at the National Judicial Institute in Abuja continued it’s sitting on Monday June 30, 2014 with the Conference Chairman, Idris Kutigi (Justice) informing delegates that the time of Plenary sitting has been adjusted to begin from 9am – 3.30pm as against the usual 10am to 6pm adopted from the inception of the Conference, noting that the change is due to the Ramadan fasting. 
 
According to the report from the Conference Secretariat, the proceedings continued with a motion from Ish’ aq Moddibo Kawo over a Daily Trust Newspaper Publication alleging that the Deputy Chairman of the Conference, Bolaji Akinyemi (Professor) has lobbied for a new Constitution for the Conference.  It revealed that the Conference was divided as some delegates were of the view that the publication should be dismissed, saying it aims to divert the attention of the Conference from its goals. The former President of the Senate, Ken Nnamani was of a different opinion as he opted for Bolaji Akinyemi (Professor) to be allowed to clear his name by responding to the allegation.   
 
In his reaction to the allegation, the Deputy Chairman of the Conference, Bolaji Akinyemi admitted to have approached political leaders at the Conference from both the North and South separately to discuss their differences regarding the issue. He added that it was normal for the leadership to seek the diverse views of delegates towards resolving any contentious issues that have a tendency to divide the delegates. He however, denied lobbying anybody to adopt a new Constitution for the Conference.     
 
Also speaking, Raymond Dokpesi, who was mentioned as the convener  of the meeting under the auspices of the National Consensus Bridge-Building Group to discuss and close areas of differences regarding some critical areas of agreement and disagreement at the Conference,  absolved the Leadership of the Conference from any involvement. He stated that there is nothing secret in the document as it was a mere working Document.   
  
The Conference Chairman, Idris  Kutugi (Justice) in his response, urged the delegates not to involve the leadership of the Conference in issues that they know nothing about, indicating that the delegates were seeing the document for the first time.  In continuation of the presentation of report by the Committee on Political Parties and Electoral Matters handled by the Co – Chairman of the Committee, Iyorcha Ayu and Ken Nnamani (Senators), the Committee recommended that in the course of screening the nominees of the President for any INEC position, the Committee the Senate should set aside at least two weeks to allow for public objection if any. 
 
On the conduct of election, the Committee recommended that the biometric data of all electorates should be captured, stored and used for elections in the country. The Committee in its recommendation advocated for the operational independence of INEC and the enforcement of a code of conduct for political parties already drawn up by the Inter-party Advisory Council.