For practically insulting Governor of Edo State, Adams Oshiomhole during a South-South session held by the Presidential Committee on National Dialogue in Benin City on Monday, a member of the committee, Tony Nyiam has been forced to resign after the committee tendered an unreserved apology to the governor.
It was learnt that the Presidency forced him to resign after all the other committee members threatened to resign if Nyiam was not sent away from the committee within three days of the incident, which would have elapsed on Wednesday.
Huhuonline.com learnt that the situation has created a serious dent in the fragile confidence reposed in the committee by Nigerians, as it has further boosted its rejection by the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Governor Oshiomhole had re-echoed his party’s belief that nothing positive would come out of the proposed conference and that it was a waste of time and scarce resources. He was, however, cut short by Nyiam, a retired colonel, who felt the governor was over-exerting his privilege.
He was said to have charged at the governor but was stopped by his colleagues. At a time, he was said to have become almost uncontrollable, an action that seriously embarrassed the other committee members and forced the governor to leave the venue immediately after completing his speech, as thugs, allegedly sponsored b Nyam, almost attacked him.
During the speech, Oshiomhole likened the outcome of the dialogue to the one that was organised by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, which ended up achieving nothing. He expressed belief that nothing concrete could be achieved from the proposed conference
Oshiomhole said he would be surprised if anything changes adding: “Sincerely, I have no business to deceive or mislead anyone. I believe that the outcome of this conference will not be different from that of other conferences we have had in the past.”
Many who attended the session believe that Nyiam’s dishonourable outburst and insults was actually a carry-over of his provocation by the governor when the committee first met him before the session. It was learnt that Oshiomhole told the committee members that though he wished them well, he was averse to such a waste of resources and that he had no faith in their going round the country. He declared at the meeting that he had promised to tell the truth since that is what he owes Nigerians.
“I just want to say that I have no faith in this process and I do not think it was necessary at all,” he told the committee members. “I am unable to find any basis to give me some illusion that this exercise will not be different from the others. And I honestly think that in terms of the private sector, when a country keeps debating how we can live together, that cannot be one of the basis on which the outside community will invest in Nigeria.”
The governor had noted that there were more pressing issues facing the country, which the National Conference cannot address.
“When I see eminent Nigerians discussing this issue, I am sure they know that Nigeria’s problem is not this politics of sharing, which the national dialogue is all about: who is getting what, who has this natural endowment, who should do this or not do this. For me this is the act of perfecting poverty. The real challenge is getting Nigeria back to production. The real challenge is creating industrial base and this cannot be resolved through conferences.
“We have moved from parliamentary system in our own wisdom to the presidential system. We have test-run it and it was aborted by the Military and it has reincarnated in the present form,” he said adding that Nigeria needs serious reflection about how to return to those core values that made the country work before now.
“…I do not see how any dialogue can work. I was discussing with somebody last week and he noted that this is the eleventh conference and I ask, what 10 conferences could not do, how would the eleventh one do it?
“Why do we think we can continue doing the same thing the same old way and think that this time the outcome would be different? To me, this is not meant to work and it will not work…We know we want to talk but we do not know what we want to talk about.”
Nyiam, it was learnt, had bottled up the anger that followed this condemnation of their activities only to let lose at the venue of the event, prompting his forced resignation by other members led by Femi Okurounmu.
Condemning the disruption by one of its members on Tuesday, the committee tendered an unreserved apology for what it described as an unruly conduct.
“We want to emphasise that the committee will listen to all shades of opinion in the areas of its mandate and will not henceforth condone the kind of unacceptable behaviour we witnessed in Benin City today,” the committee wrote in a statement.
“The committee wishes to express its sincere appreciation to the Government and People of Edo State for providing support to the committee in its assignment in the state.”
