| Letter of Commendation from Diaspora Nigeria Citizens to the National Assembly of Nigeria |
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| Friday, 26 May 2006 | |||||||||||||||
Diaspora Nigeria Citizens (DNC) in Africa, Asia-Pacific, Europeand The AmericasC/o NDM, P.O. Box 747,Beltsville, Maryland 20704-0747, USAMay 24, 2006
Honorable Ken Nnamani, Senate President Honorable Bello Masari , Speaker of the House of Representatives Honorable Members of the Senate Honorable Members of the House of Representatives: Dear Honorable Members of the National Assembly of the Federal Republic of Nigeria: In a letter to you dated April 24, 2006, a group of us - almost 230-strong Nigerian citizens in the Diaspora - noted the existence of identical constitution-amendment Bills then being considered by each of your two legislative chambers. We urged you inter alia not to approve the amendment to the 1999 Constitution that sought to extend the executives' term from two four-year terms to three four-year terms. We appealed in good faith to your patriotism, and urged you to make correct decisions based on the need for justice, respect for the constitution, and future economic, political and social stability of our country. On May 16 and 17, 2006 the Senate and House of Representatives respectively acceded to our request and that of teeming millions of Nigerians that you represent. By a resounding voice vote, you not only rebuffed the term extension amendment, but also threw out the entire amendment bills as being the result of a flawed process. The Third-Term Agenda, which was beginning to divide, destabilize and sear the soul of our nation, can be considered as having fatally contaminated the entire process. We therefore hereby write to commend you deeply for these very important and historic decisions, and to acclaim them as a victory for democracy. We are witnesses to the fact that a majority of members of both Houses resisted bribery, intimidation, harassment and party bullying. We declare that the previously battered image of both hallowed legislative chambers has now been properly restored, and trust that you will continue in your actions to be the bulwark for democracy and against any incipient dictatorship and tyranny in our country. We specifically commend the Senate President, Ken Nnamani and the Speaker of the House, Bello Masari for insisting on abiding with set parliamentary procedure of open, transparent and unfettered debate. We also commend in particular the multipartisan group Movement 2007 in the National Assembly, led in the Senate by Senators Uche Chukwumerije, Saidu Dansadau, Sule Yari Gandi, Tokunboh Afikuyomi, 'Nimbe Mamora, Idris Kuta and Ben Obi, and in the House by Honorables Uche Onyeagocha, Sola Adeyeye, Aminu Tambuwal, Femi Gbajabiamila, Usman Bugaje, Francis Amadiegwu, Cyril Maduabum and Temi Harriman, all of who were at the fore-front of the anti third-term campaign. What we have all just witnessed is a single battle won; what we are currently enjoying is temporary welcome relief since all parties concerned seem to have accepted the outcome of your decisions. However, the war for the very soul of the country is not over in the least. We continue to hope that in this parliamentary session you will still be able to address a much more compact set of constitutional-amendment and ordinary-law items, including the issue of removal of criminal immunity from the executive; direct first charge allocation to the Independent National Electoral Committee and the National Assembly to provide them greater independence; and direct federal allocation to the local governments. All other items that will significantly enhance true federalism, as well as promote peace and justice in the nation, and particularly in the Niger-Delta, are also worth re-visiting. Ultimately, we continue to call for a new and popular Constitution unmediated by the Military and confirmed by referendum by the citizens of Nigeria. In going forward from here, we expect that you will focus in particular on legislation that will ensure free and fair elections in 2007. That is in fact the next and most important major battle ahead, which must begin right away with an early promulgation of a comprehensive and credible Electoral law (which passage has been at bay since 2004) to govern the elections. We simply cannot afford another set of atrociously-flawed elections such as witnessed in 2003. We need to look more closely at the specifics of the voting process which made the 1993 presidential elections to be adjudged by many Nigerians to be the freest and fairest so far. We also trust that the new electoral law will include specific language on enfranchising Nigerian citizens in the Diaspora to vote in 2007. Finally, we cannot but note the profound effect that the media coverage of the proceedings of the National Assembly, particularly live television, played in keeping in check the excesses of those who would have preferred to successfully subvert our democracy in secret. Consequently, we believe that a lesson learnt is that each House of the National Assembly should at the earliest possible time seriously consider investing in its own in-house television system to broadcast all of its non-executive-session proceedings. This should include the use of live Internet video streaming. Our suggestion is without prejudice to the continued permission of private-enterprise television coverage by such outfits as African Independent Television, AIT, whose role we also deeply commend. This in-house coverage will be in accord with the best world practice of transparency and accountability of modern parliamentary proceedings in our host countries of the United States, the United Kingdom and elsewhere; see for example http://www.parliamentlive.tv in the UK. The British House of Lords and the American Congress recently broadcast live their separate proceedings on Nigeria, both of which are currently being re-transmitted on Nigerian Village Square Network - see http://www.nigeriavillagesquare Once again, we thank you for your courage and commitment to democracy, and for the sake of the country, we wish you all well in the important days to come. Sincerely: MobolajiEAluko Mobolaji E. Aluko, PhD President, Nigerian Democratic Movement NDM (USA)
Signed on behalf of the following signatories: With copies sent to: President Olusegun Obasanjo, Aso Villa, Nigeria President George Bush, The White House, Washington DC, USA The House of Lords, UK The International Relations Committee and Foreign Relations Committee, USA Congress
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Posted by Robot| 26.05.2006 09:24