By Emeka Nze
Abuja
Former Vice Chancellor of the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Prof. Ango Abdullahi, has said he turned down the offer to be a delegate at 2014 National Conference because the delegates were not chosen through democratic process.
Abdullahi, who is also Chairman of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF), counselled the resource control advocate, Arc Victor Attah, to jettison the idea and to seek instead for resource management.
Abdullahi, however, said he spoke on his personal capacity and not as Chairman of NEF.
The former ABU Vice Chancellor spoke yesterday at a national discourse as part of activities to mark the 90th birthday of elder statesman, Chief Edwin Clark.
Attah, former governor of Akwa Ibom State was keynote speaker at the discourse, on the theme: “Restructuring, True Federalism and Resource Control: Panacea for Enduring Peace and Sustainable Development in Nigeria.”
Abdullahi, who noted that he had attended previous conferences since 1986/87 General Ibrahim Babangida’s constitution conference, said delegates to the 2014 national conference were not true representatives of the people.
“I have attended the 1986/87 Babangida’s constitutional conference; I also attended the 1994/95 Abacha conference. I also attended the political reform conference of Obasanjo.
“The only conference I refused to attend was the Jonathan conference. I call it Jonathan conference. I do not hide my feelings on that for obvious reasons.
“All the conferences I attended were conferences where delegates were elected from their various constituencies, and they gave the feeling that they were representing people from their various constituencies. And that was the different from Jonathan’s conference,” he said.
He said his decision to change resource control to resource management was because the nation’s founding fathers judiciously managed the meagre resources available to them for the development of the country up to the time of independent.
“You will agree with me that during the time of our founding fathers, Azikiwe, Awolowo, the Sardauna of Sokoto, they never had the volume of resources that is available for Nigeria today.
“But I can tell you that those our founding fathers managed the resources, these very scarce resources to achieve so much for this country up till independent.”
Attah, in his presentation, economic diversification will continue to elude the country so far state governments continue to look to the federal government for their survival.
“There is no governor today that will lift a finger or put himself to diversify when every month he can send to Abuja to collect his share of the booty,” he said.
