Delegates at the National Conference on Thursday unanimously rejected a minority report presented by a member of the Devolution of Power Committee, Annkio Briggs.
Briggs submitted her report in Abuja immediately after the committee’s report was submitted by the Co-Chairmen, Alhaji Ibrahim Coomasie and Obong Victor Attah.
Attah, who spoke after submitting the report, said the committee had no doubt that the report would generate a lot of interest.
Briggs, a Federal Government delegate and member of the committee, said she was submitting a minority report.
She said: “I am a member of the committee.
“Unfortunately, I happen to be a lone voice that does not agree with a very critical aspect of the report of Devolution of Power Committee.
“I hereby seek to present my minority report on the issue of derivation.”
The submission of the report generated heated argument as majority of the delegates said the report should not be accepted or considered while few others said it should be accepted.
Dr. Bello Muhammed, representing Kebbi State, called on the conference not to accept minority reports.
Muhammed said that the conference rule did not give room for minority reports but decisions that were reached either by consensus or 70 per cent vote.
He said: “If we accept this report, it may encourage other delegates who also want to submit minority reports after a decision had been taken by this conference.
“This is because it is not everyone that will agree with everything that we agreed on.
“If the committee has decided either by consensus or by 70 per cent the report of a committee, every reasonable member of the committee should be bound by that report.”
In his contributions, Atedo Peterside, another Federal Government delegate, also stressed the need to reject the minority report, describing it as deliberate.
Peterside said any delegate who did not agree with a decision on an issue with its committee could take advantage of the five minutes given to each delegate to express his or her opinions.
Festus Okoye, representing Civil Society Organisations, also agreed that the report should be rejected as several strong opinions from delegates were also rejected at the committee level.
Okoye said: “We all went into some of the committees with hard opinions on various issues.
“Some of us, our opinions on various issues were defeated at the end of the day.
“We followed majority decisions and we are here to defend the majority decision.
“If each delegate that disagrees on an issue is to write a minority a report, I think we will be seeking an extension for five years.”
In his ruling, the Chairman of the conference, Justice Idris Kutigi, said that there was no provision for minority report in the conference rule and as such rejected the report.
“So, on this minority report, I rule that it is accepted but marked rejected,” Idris said.
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