Naija News

Political leaders of the Northern
part of the country are not
afraid to discuss the future of
Nigeria at the so-called
sovereign national conference,
Chairman of Bullet
Construction, Malam Samaila
Isa, said yesterday.
Speaking at the 9th Annual
Daily Trust Dialogue, Isa said
some political leaders from
other parts of the country have
turned the issue of sovereign
national conference into a
sectional agitation.
"If somebody wants a sovereign
national conference in Nigeria,
do you think those of us from
this part of the country will say
no? The person is welcome.
"What is sovereign national
conference? People just want to
lead some group of people. I am
not being parochial and
anybody who knows me knows
that I have crossed that
boundary, but if anybody wants
sovereign national conference
so be it."
Isa said the North could survive
without oil revenue. "We have
land, we can feed ourselves. Is
oil not a curse on us?"
He said elder statesmen and
political leaders from all
sections must refrain from
making comments that could
aggravate tension in the
country.
Reacting to an advertorial by
elders from a section of the
country claiming blood affinity
to President Goodluck Jonathan,
he said "many of those that
signed their names on that paid
advert, some of us who know
them closely were not
surprised.
"But, there are few of them
that we were surprised by
virtue of what position they
held in this country, they should
be the last people to get
involved in such a thing, even if
it is going to be done."
Isa said there are however an
editorial in a newspaper owned
by a South-south indigene and
comments by some individuals
that proved that such 'elders'
lacked support of the majority
for the position they took.