Former President Goodluck Jonathan has highlighted reasons
he could not implement the recommendations of the 2014 National Conference
report.
Jonathan explained that the political climate did not
warrant his then government to implement the 2014 National Conference report.
He noted that Nigeria was on the verge of the 2015 general
election; hence it was impossible to review the Constitution, which would have
allowed his administration to implement the report.
The former president disclosed this at the public
presentation of a book on the 2014 National Conference in Abuja, on Tuesday.
Represented by a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation,
Anyim Pius Anyim, Jonathan noted that defections among past lawmakers in the
National Assembly contributed to his inability to implement the conference
report.
Jonathan said his administration could not implement the
report because the then legislature was anti-government.
He said: “Those familiar with the process of constitutional
review will know that to implement the confab report, a number of alterations
will be made in the Constitution, which will require the involvement of the
National and State Assemblies.
“Such an elaborate review will be termed impossible at the
time because at the time the report was submitted in August 2014, we were
already on the verge of the 2015 election.
“It is also important to point out that at that time, the Speaker
of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, who was a member of my party,
the PDP had already moved out with some members to join the opposition.
“That meant that a reasonable part of the legislature was
already anti-government. When you know that your parliament is under that kind
of situation, it would have been impudent on my part to take such a precious
document, which I considered crucial for development, to a parliament that
would not take it into consideration.”
Jonathan also noted that his administration could not
implement the recommendations from the report because Nigerians were suspicious
of his government.
“There was no way that could have been done. We were also
fully aware that segment of our population were already suspicious of the
actions of government,” he added.
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