Chief Olu Falae who is an elder statesman, a former finance minister, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, and national chairman of Social Democratic Party (SDP), has said the country is in a very bad shape because former president Goodluck Jonathan's efforts to help the country recover from years of degradation, was abandoned by President Muhammadu Buhari since coming into office in 2015.
He said the future of the country was gloomy, but Jonathan handed the union a lifeline by organizing a national confab in 2014 where a lot of issues were discussed, and consensus reached on the way forward.
But since leaving office, the confab was rendered useless by the failure of the Buhari administration to implement its recommendations as agreed by all who participated in it.
Falae who made the statement in an interview with Daily Sun, said there has been numerous conferences organized in the past, but the only genuine and crucial one, was the one organized in 2014 by the Jonathan administration.
He said, "The only conference, which I consider to be genuine and built on consensus was the 2014 conference at which I had the privilege to have led the Yoruba delegation. I was elected when we got to Abuja by all the delegates of the Yoruba states, all the six South western states, the Yoruba from Kwara and Kogi, we all came together and they elected me to led them and I had the privilege of doing that, so I was at the very heart of that conference and the unique thing about that conference is that all our decisions were by consensus, we did not take any vote, we did not divide over any issue, all other conferences, none of them has ever been as representative as that or neither have they reached conclusions by consensus and consensus is the only basis on which Nigeria can move forward.
"Consensus was the basis of the independence constitution negotiated in London between 1958 and 1959, the leaders had to agree, Awolowo, Sardauna, Zik, etc they had to agree to the basic provisions of the constitution that it will be a true federation where the regions will have their constitution, their government, their power and they are supreme within their region given the power that the constitution gives to them.
"No prime minister could summon Awolowo or summon Zik to come and answer any unwarranted question, provided he is acting according to the constitutional provisions, that is the kind of government we negotiated, but the military came and scrapped it and we now have a unitary government, so that is what has happened, they have destroyed the unity that was built on consensus, imposed Abacha thing.
"But in the 2014 conference we went back to consensus, I am ready to confront anybody who says there was any other way by which we reached agreement except by consensus. There was a ballot box put in front of us throughout the conference and the Chairman said anybody who disagreed strongly on any matter should raise his hand and we take a vote, not once did anybody raise his hand over any matter and when we finished, we were all invited to sign the report and we all signed the report, you can’t get a better deal."
Speaking further, he said the recommendations of the 2014 confab is the only way forward for the country if it must remain together.
He said, "It is the only way forward for Nigeria if Nigeria has a future because it contains consensus, the essence of that report is consensus, your interest has been taken care of, mine has been taken care of, everybody’s interest has been taken care of, that is the only way we can move forward, this partial thing that we are having, you impose a partial constitution, some states in the North will set up police force they call the Hisba, Sharia police, but in the South, we cannot set up a state police, is that the way it should be?
"Each state has the same power under the same constitution, how can one set of state set up police called Hisba and others cannot? And Hisba police have all the powers that all police forces have: to arrest, to detain, to prosecute, Hisba forces in the North have all these powers, but I cannot have state police in Ondo State?
"This is unacceptable, so anything which is based on that kind of “Wayo arrangement”, based on injustice cannot stand, we must go back to consensus and equality. Look, let me repeat it that the 2014 confab report as far as I am concerned is the only consensus-based document that can provide a basis for the continuation of Nigeria as a united country."