Elechi calls national confab “a waste of time”

Ebonyi State Governor Martin Elechi, on Thursday, said that the national conference proposed by President Goodluck Jonathan was a waste of time.

Martin Elechi

He noted that it would distract President Jonathan as the general elections approach, describing it “as a big joke.”

Governor Elechi made the statement in his home town in Ikwo when some elder statesmen paid him a Christmas visit towards discussing the modalities of selecting delegates to the conference.

The governor shocked them when he said that the state would not participate in the exercise.

Elechi had earlier lauded the initiative and urged Nigerians to avail themselves the opportunity of contributing meaningfully to the conference so that any grievances would be addressed.....

But in a dramatic change of mind, he said that he was sceptical about the conference as it would not achieve anything since the constitution already empowered the National Assembly to make laws for the country.

The governor noted that the referendum could not supersede the deliberations of the National Assembly but referred its advocates to revisit the colloqium by former President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2005, as it had the participation of all segments of human life.

He also noted that in the colloqium, far-reaching decisions were made but the National Assembly overruled it because of Obasanjo’s third term ambition.

Alhough Elechi said he would consult his consitutuents to deliberate on whether or not to participate in the conference, he said that if they eventually chose to participate, he would distance himself and be an onlooker.

-The Nigerian Telegraph