CONFAB: "Why I Was Angry With Oshiomhole" - Nyiam Speaks
A member of the Presidential Advisory Committee on National Conference Col.Tony Nyiam (rtd), who engaged in a shouting match with Edo State Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole at Monday’s sitting of the committee in Benin, which led to his resignation from the committee, gave reasons for his action yesterday.
His explanation notwithstanding, Edo Reps caucus in the House of Representatives were joined by traditional rulers and youths from the state to declare Col Nyiam persona non grata in Edo State. The All Progressives Congress, APC, on its part said the disruption of Oshiomhole’s presentation before the committee has vindicated the party’s decision not to be part of the proposed conference.
At the committee’s sitting last Monday, Col Nyiam was said to have joined some people who heckled Governor Oshiomhole while he was making his presentation which eventually prevented the governor from continuing with his speech.
In his defence yesterday, Nyiam alleged that Governor Adams Oshiomhole made “sarcastic remarks” against the proposed National Dialogue, asserting that governors who are in the habit of kicking against the laudable efforts of President Goodluck Jonathan should wait for the response of Nigerians.
Nyiam who was asked if he has resigned, said: ‘’The situation is that I have not told anybody in the public that I have resigned”.
Reacting to his altercation with Governor Oshiomhole, he explained that the governor was “talking down on people and he is not supposed to do that because our job is to meet with the people and not the governor since we have paid him a courtesy visit earlier”.
His words: “Governors who have a penchant for insulting the President or making sarcastic remarks against the sense of judgment of the President of Nigeria should be ready to tolerate response from Nigerian citizens to tell them no. The committee’s role is advisory, we need to consult with the people to advise us and we will then synthesize the peoples’ opinion and use that to advise the President because we believe that we need to work towards a peoples-driven constitution which we never had in our history.
“We thought we should start a bottoms-up approach from the grassroots to the top. The attitude was that there should be no talking down on the people we are supposed to engage. Based on this principle, the key feature of our consultation was to meet with the people but out of courtesy we pay courtesy calls on the governors or the royal father in the city. We have followed this procedure starting from Akure where Governor Mimiko gave us audience in his office.
“Governor Mimiko came to the venue and kept quiet throughout. We left Akure and went to Jos, we went through the same procedure where the Middle Belt people, the Hausa/Fulani, Yoruba community and all the major tribes of Plateau, all aired their views including Tivs, Idomas, Igala and others. In all these meetings all of them wanted a conference which is ethnic nationalities-led.
What Oshiomhole told us — Nyiam
Source: Legit.ng
