Dambatta Addresses South East As 'So-Called South East'
A shouting session ensued yesterday at the ongoing National Conference following the use of foul language by Alhaji Magaji Dambatta, a delegate representing the North West geo-political zone, on the South East zone.
While contributing to the report of Committee on Political Restructuring and Forms of Government, Dambatta described the South East as “so-called South East.” This did not go down well with other delegates especially those from the Southeast as his comments were immediately trailed by shouts of point of Order from the hall.
A delegate representing Borno State, Dr. Haruna Yerima who was not comfortable with the statement made by the Elder-statesman from the North, asked Dambatta to apologise against the backdrop that if the late Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Sarduana of Sokoto were to be alive, he would not use such statements against another part of the country.
Following his refusal to apologise, despite the intervention of Yerima, an infuriated Gen. Ike Nwachukwu, a delegate on the platform of Elder Statesmen, drew the chairman, Justice Idris Kutigi’s attention to the action of Dambatta.
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Ike Nwachukwu, who described Dambatta's words as derogatory remarks, asked him to apologize, after which Dambatta stood up and rather than apologise, said:
“The comment where I said the ‘so-called South East’ it is the same way I will refer to North West zone. In the context of my argument, I was talking about the creation of states and that there is no where in our constitution where geo-political zones mentioned.
“Also, there is nowhere in the recommendation of the Committee where zones are referred to as a tier of government, they are not recognized by the constitution therefore they are not constitutionally valid, that was my point.
“Secondly, when I was making my argument, it was not against the creation of additional state in the Southeast, I was referring to selectivity of the Committee. In one breadth, they said one State should be created by a fiat. And in another they said others should be on merit.
“All I am saying is that all states to be created should be on merit, including the one being recommended," he explained.
Dambatta also made it known that to Dr Haruna that he has been a nationalist since 1951, making it obvious that aside Richard Akinjide, no other delegate seated at the Confab was at that time, not even Edwin Clark.
In his words: “I was in the field for the fight for our independence. I am not a parochial person, I am a nationalist, I respect every person in Nigeria. I stand by word that all the provisions in the constitution there was no reference to the zones as a tier of government, it is not valid, that was my point.”
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Delegates, who did not wait for him to round off with what he was saying, resumed with the shout of no! no!!
At this point, the chairman of the conference, Justice Idris Kutigi then asked Dambatta to withdraw his offending statement so that proceeding would continue.
Magagi stood and instead of apologising tried to defend his position but was shouted down by other delegates who insisted the he should formally withdraw his statement.
On reaslising that he was alone, the embattled Dambatta stood up again and apologised to Southeast delegates, saying that he was sorry for using the derogatory language.
“Because of my disposition and my standing in this country and the service I rendered for the development of this country, I did not mean any offense with my remarks.
“If anybody is offended I did not mean it and I apologise to them or him. I did not mean to offend anyone. In that regards, I apologize to those who feel offended,” he said.
It would be recalled that Mike Ozekhome, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, has recently said that the National Confab is a way of getting solutions to the problems of Nigeria from the people that caused it.
Source: Legit.ng
