The Lamido of Adamawa, HRH Muhammadu Mustapha, again threw caution to the winds on Tuesday when he attacked Chief Ayo Adebanjo at the ongoing National Conference.
Mustapha said Adebanjo, despite being an elder statesman, was “still ranting” at his age.
The monarch, who assumed the toga of a controversial figure since his threat of secession if Adamawa State is pushed to the wall, said communities should take 100 per cent of their resources.
He also drew the ire of his colleagues when he discountenanced the call for constitutional roles for traditional rulers, saying it was unnecessary.
When Mustapha had his turn to comment on the inauguration speech of President Goodluck Jonathan, he said earlier speakers have commended the speech and so would rather want the delegates to heed the advice of the President in being considerate during the exercise.
He said: “In his address, he almost laid down the challenges facing this country and went ahead to tell us to be moderate, tolerant, considerate, magnanimous in our discussion.
“I will like to advice us once again to take a cue from Mr. President and not the so-called civilized people from the West, who always tell us no permanent friends but permanent interests and who advocate same sex marriages.
“People like Chief Ayi Adebanjo, who even in his prime age of 80s is still ranting.
“I have observed, when last week you castigated me.
“Mr. Chairman, I have observed that the people have started jumping the gun by commenting on issues like resource control, resource ownership and so on.
“In this case, let me also jump the gun and say that states who don’t have oil should allow states who have oil to take 100 per cent revenue.
“And states that don’t have oil should take 100 per cent land resource.
“That means all land should revert to those states.
“And anybody who wants to use the land or the structure on the land must pay rent to those states that are traditional owners of the land.
“For example the FCT.
“As for traditional rulers, I don’t support the idea or opinion to give us any role in the constitution.
“Our roles are conventions like the British constitution and we have been performing them for a number of years and in some places for more than 1,000 years.
“What traditional rulers in Nigeria want is recognition, so I urge this conference to insert in the constitution a provision that will entrench the National Traditional Rulers Council of Nigeria, whose membership will be the traditional rulers from each state, including the President of the Council from that State.
“The other day I heard some ethnic nationality delegates saying that his people are marginalized because a District Head was appointed in the area, which they don’t support.
“We should not listen to these ethnic chauvinists because if we agree with their argument, we will end up in a situation in Nigeria whereby every ethnic group will demand that the next president, governor, emir, obis, obas, ministers, chairman of local government.
“So, we better thank God the major tribes in Nigeria are tolerant, considerate and magnanimous, otherwise we would found ourselves in a different situation in Nigeria today.”
There were shouts of point of order round the hall but were ignored by the Chairman of the Conference, Justice Idris Kutigi.
The Chairman had by not recognizing the point of order tactically nipped whatever reaction the Mustapha’s submission might have provoked.
Engr. Bob Njemanze from Imo State saw no reason why Jonathan’s inauguration speech was being applauded by almost all the delegates.
Njemanze said: “I don’t see much that has required such applause in this speech.
“If the man has done exactly what he supposed to do and tried to serve, we would not be at the point of converting privileges to rights and rights to privileges.
“It is our entitlement.
“We should have good governance.
“So if a President comes out here and announceS here things that would make for the betterment of our people, I don’t see why we should be sycophantic as those who were found in the two million-man march.
“There is nothing so particular that we have not found in other speeches.
“What I think is most important in this circumstance is the implementation of those things that the President has enumerated.
“And we should praise the speech writers who have captured the mood of the nation and the mood of the President.
“We should list our priorities and our privileges.”
While commending the Chairman for handling proceedings excellently so far, Njemanze however faulted him for the undue attention and time allotted Mustapha because there are some Nigerians, civilized, that cannot be subjected to intimidation in an assignment like this one.
He added: “I wonder why my governor even nominated me and I asked my wife, she said you know you are not a team player.
“I asked her, after four children with you, my teammate, what other thing do I need to prove that I am a team player?”
Njemanze said the insecurity in the country can only be solved if Commissioners of Police revert to being the Chief Security Officers of their states.
He said: “We are having security challenges because we failed to return head of security in the states to the Commissioners of police.
“Soon after the military took over, it was unheard of for a military governor to have a Commissioner of Police as Chief Security Officer.
“Now we are back to that system.
“We should return security votes to Police Commissioner or allow the states governor, who now parade themselves as the CSO of their states, to run their own state police commands.”
The National Chairman of the Labour Party, Chief Dan Nwanyanwu, noted that tribalism and religion were the major causes of of the challenges confronting the country.
According to Nwanyanwu, aspiring and brilliant Nigerians would not be supported either by the government or communities where he did not come from.
He also said corruption has dealt a serious blow to the psyche of the country.
While he indicted officials of anti-corruption agencies in aiding financial crimes, he regretted that Nigerian rich men don’t pay proper taxes.
He advocated capital punishment for tax evaders.
Nwanyanwu was however taken on by a media representative, Sani Zoro, who debunked assertion that tribalism and religion were the causes of the country’s problems.
Zoro said Nwanyanwu, while contesting for the presidency of a trade union, was supported by a leading power block, who was a northerner.
He said: “Tribalism and religion were no barrier when he was being supported by a northerner.
“All of a sudden now, they have become our problems.”
Former Speaker, House of Representatives, Alhaji Ghali Na’aba, said lacking right leadership should be blamed for the country’s woes.
Saying that without right and quality leadership, nothing can be achieved, Na’aba regretted that quality leadership is dipping fast in the country.
He said the time has come for the country to design a situation for good leadership, strong and courageous ones that can guarantee fairness, equity and justice.
The former speaker also regretted the dearth of internal democracy in political parties.
“Let us strengthen our democracy and parties by ensuring internal democracy,” he added.
A Kano State delegate, Dr. Junaid Mohammed, was concerned about the corruption and security situation in the country and was not happy that the President did not give them much emphasis in his speech.
Mohammed felt that by that silence, it seems the body language of the President and the Peoples Democratic Party was that corruption had been dealt with or being dealt with.
He said to treat the history of the country with levity would be detrimental, adding that injustice associated with state creation was misleading.
“It will be wrong to say any region has been shortchanged,” he noted.
He also urged the government not to pretend that there was no international law binding on some matters like citizenship, resource control and land tenure system among others.
He said Nigeria should not pretend to be above all international laws.
Musa Akeem, a labour union leader, indicted the Federal Government of wilfully promoting corruption by its refusal to set up the National Council on Procurement as provided for in the National Procurement Act, 2007.
According to Akeem, if President Jonathan meant to fight corruption, he ought to have set up the body as its non-existence has allowed civil servants and political office holders to commit all manners of corruption in the procurement process.
He said it was unheard of that civil civil servants were given two weeks training in procurement and were converted to Procurement Consultants.
He wants a procurement regulatory body to be empowered to set the minimum benchmark for those willing to become procurement officers.
On his part, former Senate President, Ken Nnamani, said there is a need to focus on the future of Nigeria and not the past.
Nnamani said to build a new Nigeria, state of origin or citizenship must be removed from the constitution.
He said the constitution is too cumbersome and has become a community minute book that has to be amended every time.
He said the Federal Government has too much powers appropriated to it under the Exclusive List.
According to Nnamani, the Federal Government has no business with prisons and issuance of drivers licence that should be handled by state governments.
He also opined that geopolitical zones should be made the basis of devolution of power in the administration of the country and as well as the focal point for rotation of presidency.
Lamido Adamawa attacks Ayo Adebanjo, declares support for resource control
