PISSED by what delegates described as meddlesomeness, the leadership of the national conference Wednesday resolved to conduct some of its sessions in secret in protest against the newsmen accredited to cover the three-month parley in Abuja.
The decision to shut out some of the proceedings from the full glare of the media came following complaints by some delegates, including Prof. Eddy Erhagbe, over reports and publication of some unfolding sundry oddities in the conference.
Erhagbe, an Edo State delegate who raised the alarm on the need for the conference to always endeavour to go into ‘executive sessions’ warned that public reactions would not augur well for the conference if some of the activities are beamed live for the consumption of Nigerians, especially the international community.
Ruling on the decision which was unanimously applauded by the delegates, Chairman of the Conference, Justice Idris Kutigi, stated that henceforth, some of the issues will be discussed during executive sessions in order to protect conferees from the prying eyes of the press.
Specifically, members had at the beginning of the conference raised eyebrows over the continued media publication of photographs of conferees, who were caught sleeping by the camera lens.
The delegates have also frowned at the publication of explicit details bothering on the sundry allowances for conferees during the three months duration of the conference.
Meanwhile, a delegate from Kano State, Dr. Junaid Mohammed yesterday raised the alarm over the absence of a medical facility to service the 492 conferees at the venue of the conference.
Corroborating an earlier complaint by a Federal Government’s delegate from Anambra State, Dame Virgi Etiaba, over the unavailability of toilet tissues in the lavatories at the conference centre, Mohammed lamented that in the event of any emergency, nothing could be done by the authorities, thereby jeopardizing the lives of all the conferees.
Meanwhile, another Federal Government’s delegate, Gen. Nwachukwu has cautioned conferees against using the platform to cast aspersions on some former Nigerian leaders who are delegates participating in the conference taking place at the National Judicial Institute (NJI) in Abuja.
Nwachukwu, who debunked a previous submission on the floor suggesting that he ordered the flogging of a female primary school headmistress when he was Military Administrator of Imo State, also warned the delegates against distorting historical facts in their submissions on the floor so as not to undermine the outcome of its report.
“I was governor of a state, it will be most belittling of my status to raise my hand on any woman talk-less of anybody else,” he said.
Specifically, the former military officer had stepped out from the conference hall on Tuesday, and a delegate, during her submission, took a swipe at him for allegedly hitting a female headmistress in one of the schools in Imo State when he was appointed a military governor of that state.
But responding, Nwachukwu said: “I come from a family that revers women. We don’t raise our hands on women, if we did, it will be in law.
“I come from a service, the Nigerian Army, in which hitting a junior officer or any officer is offering violence and you will be tried by a court-marshal. Mr. Chairman, I was Adjutant of my Battalion, Adjutant of the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA), Provost Marshal (Army), and Adjutant General of the Nigerian Army among others.
“All these jobs were jobs given to only officers of the highest level of discipline, and you either enforce or guarantee discipline in your unit. I was a General Officer Commanding a Division of the Nigerian Army, having been a Brigadier and a Battalion Commander. It is not normal for an officer of my status and training to raise his hand on a woman. And I want to let you know Mr. Chairman and my colleagues here, that we should stop taking swipes at people just for the sake of the cameras.
“I had a Commissioner of Education whom I gave a strict instruction to lock out any teacher, any principal that came late to office. And so, if that was the case I take full responsibility, but I know I didn’t hit any teacher and I want this on record. Ladies here please note that I have been one of your best friends,” Gen Nwachukwu said yesterday.
Source: Guardian
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