The outburst of the Lamido of Adamawa, Aliyu Mustapha, was conspicuously missing from the National Conference’ Votes of Proceedings for Wednesday, March 26.
The omission was observed when the draft votes of proceedings of March 26, was being discussed on the floor of the Conference.
The National Chairman of the Labour Party, Dan Nwanyanwu, was the first to draw attention to the fact that the Lamido’s speech was not reflected in the proceedings of that day.
Mr. Nwanyanwu had sarcastically said, “Mr. Chairman, I have studied the votes of proceedings of Wednesday, March 26 but I have not found where the contributions of the distinguished Lamido of Adamawa are reflected. I wish to move that the contributions of the revered monarch be included in the proceedings of this honourable Conference.”
Reacting to Mr. Nwanyanwu’s observation, the Conference Chairman, Idris Kutigi, said, “I would have described you as a busy-body if we were in a court sitting but I won’t say that here.”
While delegates laughed heartily, the Chairman carefully steered the Conference away from the controversial issue and called for contributions towards the adoption of the proposed list of committees.
The Lamido, who was seated in the front row with other elderly delegates, also joined others and had good laugh over Mr. Nwanyanwu’s comments.
When it was apparent that the Chairman would not take note of the observation, although humorously made, Olaniwun Ajayi, took to the floor and again drew attention to the need to include it in the records.
Mr. Ajayi insisted that there was no justifiable reason why the contributions of the monarch that made headlines in the media were not reflected in the votes of the proceedings.
“Mr. Chairman,” he started, “I want to join my colleague to ask that the contributions of the Lamido be included in the Conference proceedings.”
Apparently sensing that the issue could trigger a crisis, Mr. Kutigi said the observation had been noted and that the correction would be effected.
The Chairman, however, noted that the Lamido’s speech was already reflected in the hansard of the Conference.
The Lamido’s threat
Mr. Mustapha, a foremost traditional ruler, had threatened that if the North was pushed to the wall, the region will pull out of Nigeria.
Trouble had started when some delegates stalled the adoption of the amended Rules of Procedure of the Conference on grounds that a voting procedure was not agreed upon. The monarch had thrown caution to the wind when he angrily reacted to the ramblings of delegates over the voting formula to be adopted in taking major decisions at the Conference.
Having been denied opportunity to speak during two previous sittings, the first class monarch had taken the floor to strongly warn other delegates to desist from trying the patience of their Northern counterparts. Mr. Mustapha insisted that some so-called elders who claimed to be supporters of the President Goodluck Jonathan were about to derail the Conference.
He advised delegates to jettison what he described as “so-called Western Conference,” because such would not do Nigeria any good.
The traditional ruler warned that delegates opposed to the controversial 75 per cent majority voting system risked Nigeria’s disintegration because of their unruly behaviour. He said that any attempt to push the North to the wall would result in an unpleasant backlash.
The soft-spoken monarch then noted that Adamawa Kingdom extended to Cameroon and that his subjects had somewhere to go to if Nigeria disintegrated.
“There is a state in Cameroon called Adamawa and if I run to that place, I can easily be assimilated. If you push us to wall, we can easily walk out of this country. Jingoism is not the preserve of anyone,” he said.
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