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Human Right activist and delegate to the 2014 National Conference, Yinka Odumakin, has berated Mr Femi Falana for his recent statement that no request of the Southwest caucus to the Congress sailed through, even as youths in the Southwest endorsed President Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2015 Presidential election.
The Afenifere chieftain, while speaking at a post-confab summit in Akure with the theme: “National Confab Recommendations and the Nigerian Youth,” said every of the proposals of the southwest to the confab sailed through because they were meant to serve the interests of all.
He said the implementation of the confab report would change the fortune of the country and ensure that the youths look to the future with assured hope because the confab took the future of “the country into consideration by protecting the interest of the youths in the document.”
Odumakin said against the submission of Femi Falana, “nothing was rejected from what we took to the confab because they were all in the interest of the generality of the people”, adding that Falana was a mere on-looker at the conference and never contributed to the proceedings on the floor except when he supported issues that were against the interest of the Southwest.
Odumakin said Falana who had earlier described the confab as a Greek gift wouldn’t have supported the implementation of its resolutions because his party, APC, and its leaders objected to the convocation of the confab.
The Afenifere chieftain said he was even surprised to see the lawyer attend the conference “because he had alongside the National leader of the APC, Bola Tinubu condemned the convocation of the conference and described it as a Greek gift.
“He was a mere onlooker at the conference but was always eager to lend his voice in support of any argument against the southwest” Odumakin submitted.
Rising from the pro-confab summit, youths of the South west states stated their belief in the promise of President Goodluck Jonathan to implement the report of the 2014 National Conference where they said as many as over 30 decisions were taken in their favour.
Endorsing the PDP candidate, the youths, in a communiqué issued at the end of the summit said the implementation of the confab report remained the only guarantee for a glorious future for the country.
Speaking at the summit, chairman of the event, Professor Dupe Olatubosun enjoined youths not to be hoodwinked by those he described as agents of deceit who had been telling lies to buy support because of their quest for power.
Olatubosun said the implementation of the reports of the Confab will liberate Nigerians and make the nation operate true federalism which he said was available in his growing days, hence his ability to be educated from secondary school to PhD level on scholarship, he secured without anybody’s influence.
He said the feat was possible because the leadership and system of government in the Western region where he grew up allowed it at the time.
Such opportunity he said would be available again for the youth with President Jonathan in power and the implementation of the 2014 confab report.
Ondo State Governor, Dr Olusegun Mimiko who conveyed the special summit edition said it was aimed at raising the consciousness of the Youths to the innumerable opportunities that await the people if the resolutions of the 2014 National Conference are implemented.
“We, the Yoruba people, are one of the most blessed ethnic nationalities in the world. Blessed with human and natural resources, we demonstrated during the First Republic that we could hold our own in the comity of other republics. This is why we are very strong in canvassing for the implementation of the Resolutions of the 2014 Confab as this would guarantee a return to a system like it was in the First Republic when the leadership of our Region proved its mettle to the rest of the world as brilliant administrators of men and resources.”
Mimiko said “For us as Yoruba, no system is as potent enough to bring out the best in us as true federalism, a re-structured Nigeria where power is devolved and a land where our people would have power to control the mineral deposits in their territories”.
He said it is also an incontrovertible fact that the Yoruba race was at the forefront of the demand for the convocation of a National Conference for several decades until President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan heeded the call in 2014, adding that thus, today, the youths of Yorubaland have marched out in their large numbers to discuss and articulate once more, an issue which for decades, has been considered to be the main agenda for their ethnic nationality.
He commended President Goodluck Jonathan for his courageous move as well as his focused leadership demonstrated through his compliance with the agitations by Nigerians to debate their collective future.
He submitted that convening the 2014 National Conference was indeed a historic assignment “that we are proud of and as a people; we must do everything possible to ensure that the CONFAB recommendations get implemented”.
