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Media hypes regarding apprehensions arising from issues contained in the three volumes of the prepared reports melted into oblivion as delegates unanimously approved the reports

Each delegate arrived the Conference hall armed with huge files of the resolutions captured in two volumes and another volume containing proposed alterations to the 1999 Constitution as adopted by the Conference

According to the Northern delegates, the draft Constitution as prepared by the Justice Idris Kutigi-led Secretariat of the National Conference was a third term agenda designed primarily to allow President Jonathan and other incumbent elective office holders, whom they alleged as not qualified, to run in 2015, even as they warned that if allowed to sail through, it has the potential of throwing the country into violence and anarchy

The leadership only distributed the final report for the members to study

Alkali died in his residence in Maiduguri, Borno State on the night of Friday

The Council of Retired Federal Permanent Secretaries in a goodwill message on Monday, said it has watched with keen interest the proceedings and recommendations of the Conference and is impressed by the deep sense of patriotism displayed by both the leadership and the delegates

The Conference Chairman and former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Idris Kutigi, said the next plenary session would be on August 4, 2014 when delegates would reassemble to consider and approve the final reports of the Conference for presentation to the Federal Government

Daman, in a statement on Monday in Jos, berated the delegates from Plateau State for not doing much to protect the interest of the state while others were lobbying for the creation of new states from their home states and zones

Speaking on the position of the Consensus Group, the Chairman of Conference, retired Justice Idris Kutigi, said President Jonathan should set up technical committee to decide on the appropriate percentage for oil producing states and areas destroyed by insurgency in the country

The IYC also condemned the proposal to allocate five per cent of the country’s resources to the Northern states affected by the Boko Haram insurgency

Members of the Consensus Committee derived from the six geopolitical zones to find a middle ground to the contentious issue of derivation formula could not reach an agreement on the resolution to be presented to the plenary

Earlier, the leadership of the Conference had made a provision for five ballot boxes as a way of resolving the contentious issue through voting

The report was adopted on Wednesday in Abuja after the presentation of the consensus reached by a committee set up to deliberate on the contentious issue of Land Use Act

The issue, which had divided the Conference along the Northern and Southern lines, could not be resolved amicably on Monday and Tuesday

Issues arising from the report generated combative debate since Monday when the co-chairmen of the Committee, Obong Victor Attah and Alhaji Ibrahim Coomasie, presented the 41-page report to the Conference in session

The meeting is schedule for Tuesday night in Abuja.
General Ike Nwachukwu (rtd) informed delegates that zonal leaders met on Monday night in order to resolve the issue of derivation through consensus but the leaders were unable to conclude on the issue

Kutigi said the confab secretariat is just getting ready for “any eventuality, but we hope will reach consensus on everything”

The slim-volume submission, loaded with serious issues, focused principally on devolving power from the centre to the federating units and the issue of resources

This was disclosed on Monday while the delegates were speaking on the report of the Conference Committee on Power Devolution

The plot was said to have arisen because of the far-reaching decisions of the National Conference meant to address longstanding issues of geopolitical inequities that were passed, particularly the unanimous decision of the conferees to demand creation of additional states in the South East to bring the zone at par with other geopolitical entities in the federation