Dele Ogunyemi
5 September 2007
Ibadan — National chairman of the Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP), Dr Olapade Agoro on Tuesday in Ibadan called on President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua to stop the Justice Muhammed Uwais led Electoral Reforms Panel from operating for now, saying that any action the panel takes might jeopardise the on-going actions of the various elections petitions tribunal all over the country.
In the alternative, Dr. Agoro has threatened to go to court of competent jurisdiction any moment from now to obtain an injunction to halt the procedings of the Justice Uwais committee in the overall interest of rule and order.
Speaking with journalists at an interactive forum where he reviewed the first 100 days in office of President Yar'Adua administration, Dr Agoro maintained that "it is illegal for the Justice Uwais panel to be operating while the various elections petition tribunals are still deciding the petitions that arose over the last presidential and gubernatorial poll."
According to Agoro, "for the Electoral Reforms Committee to start working now would be like doing a correction for school students doing an examination when the examination is still on."
Dr. Agoro, while charging President Yar'Adua to take firm control of the nation faulted the policy formulation style of the present administration which, according to him, "has been full of trials and errors as well as inconsistencies with those under Yar'Adua seemingly pulling the President to perform."
He remarked that about three major policies of government determined noticeably outside the government purview, had to be quickly reversed by President Yar'Adua in questionable circumstances as they were about to cause the administration terrible embarrassments just as he expressed concern over the prolonged militant uprisings in the oil-rich Niger Delta Region.
To this end, Dr. Agoro declared: "There is the need for President Yar'Adua to fully take charge of things in the country and have a leadership style of his own, especially on policies affecting the whole nation. By now, the President must have his own vision, he must have his own mission and all members of his team must be his advisers and not those to be formulating policies for him. The government's policy formulation methodology within its first 100 days in office shows a foot forward, ten backwards; a situation which I think is not good for this nation and President Yar'Adua government in particular."
"For instance, look at the government position on the EFCC and ICPC as announced by the Attorney General of the Federation; the Naira re-denomination and one other which were later reversed by the President the following day. I think we should be moving forward rather than what we are experiencing in the first 100 days of this administration," he further stated.
The CNPP chairman challenged President Yar'Adua to, without further delay, unfold his administration's agenda for the nation's education, economic and defence sectors, among others, while also urging him to tackle head-long the recurring crisis in the Niger Delta not only by flushing out the militants, but by flushing out those behind them.
His words: "President Yar'Adua should come out with a way of stopping the militants at the Niger Delta region. Enough of this killing and embarrassment to this nation. I think the time has come for the Federal Government to go after the militants and their backers so that we can have total peace in the area."
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