Natl Conference Committee May Have Decided On 70% Voting Pattern

Ahead of a meeting President Goodluck Jonathan is billed to hold with some delegates over the impasse on the voting format at the National Conference, the ad hoc committee set up to broker a truce over the issue has reached a compromise, it was learnt Thursday.

It was learnt that the 50-member committee, tagged The Consensus Group, which was set up on Wednesday to resolve the logjam over whether the conference should adopt the three-quarters voting system or the two-third version, agreed on 70 per cent at the meeting of the group on the second day.

The agreement, which will be passed to other delegates for ratification, was regarded as a strategic move to produce a win-win situation in the voting pattern crisis that has pitted northern delegates against their southern counterparts.

During the two-day debate on the voting pattern that produced a deadlock on Tuesday, the northern delegates had refused to give ground on their demand for the National Conference to adopt three-quarters of the votes for ratifying resolutions of the 492-member gathering.

On their part, the southern delegates had insisted on the adoption of a two-thirds majority.
The row over the voting format forced the conference to adjourn sitting on Wednesday until Monday to enable the 50-member interim committee work out a consensus on the issue.
But it was gathered that despite the compromise reached on the format, the president will still meet with some delegates between now and Sunday.

However, the House of Representatives has warned that the conference may end up a wasted effort except the 1999 Constitution is amended to provide for the conduct of referendum in ratifying the report of the national discourse.

Giving an update on the deadlock over the voting pattern at the conference, a source said:  “We agree that there must be consensus on all issues to be discussed, but where it fails, then the voting pattern must be 70 per cent of the 492 delegates.

“But first, the delegates must first go out to negotiate and if it fails, the plenary shall be adjourned for a second time for negotiations and it fails, the conference shall at the third time vote and the voting shall be by a consensus of 70 per cent. This is give and take; no winner, no vanquished.”

It was gathered that in the new spirit of the agreement, the southern delegates would no longer insist on the two-thirds majority vote and their northern counterparts would give ground from the 75 per cent to accept the recommended version.

With the resolution of the controversy over the voting format, it was learnt that the leadership would on Monday announce membership of the 22 committees of the conference.

By the approved rules of the conference, the secretariat will place delegates in the various committees, while the delegates will choose their leaders by themselves.

Irrespective of the consensus reached by the National Conference interim committee to adopt the 70 per cent voting format, Jonathan will between today and Sunday meet with some delegates over the controversy on the issue.

It was also gathered that the decision of the northern delegates to stick to the three-quarters majority vote was the outcome of a meeting the president had with the Sultan of Sokoto, Sa’ad Abubakar III and some Muslim leaders to guarantee the participation of the north and Muslims in the conference.

It was also gathered that during the meeting between the president, the sultan and other Muslim clerics, it was agreed that the only way to ensure parity between northern and southern delegates on all issues was to ensure a level of inclusiveness of all delegates was reached, so that the outcome of the conference would be acceptable to Nigerians.

A source told reporters yesterday that  “the three-quarters voting pattern was indeed a compromise made by the president to ensure that everyone is carried along and to ensure that when the issue of a referendum is on the table, everyone will have a sense of belonging.

“It is not about a winner taking it all as obtains in the two-thirds majority vote, which is 24 states. But in an inclusive consensus where the decision of three-quarters of the delegates, translating to 27 states, this means that only nine states would be in the minority.

“This is why the matter of three-quarters is made much easier, in the event that the outcome of the conference is subjected to a referendum”.

He explained that the northern delegates were initially sceptical of the conference, “but with the assurances of the president and the dangling of the three-quarters voting format as the basis for reaching decisions, that made the north buy into the idea of the conference.
“Some of us thought that the president had a hidden agenda, but with the assurances of the three-quarters majority vote, it helped to ease the doubts that the president had a hidden agenda. So, the three-quarters is President Jonathan's brain child.”

The source said it was for this reason that Jonathan had agreed to meet some delegates from the South to explain the circumstances that led to the suggestion of the three-quarters voting pattern.

“It was an agreement reached and it is the reason why the president will be meeting with them to explain issues and let the conference go ahead as planned,” the source added.

Speaking further on the meeting between the president and the Muslim delegation, the source explained that it was meant to address the imbalance between Muslims and Christians in the composition of the delegates.

“The main point is that the Christians and southerners are more in number and there is the fear that the conference will alter many fundamental issues in the country. It is easier to reach a two-thirds consensus in favour of southerners and Christians than with the Muslims and northerners.

“If the two-thirds voting pattern is to be accepted, then there should be a recomposition of the delegates to ensure a parity between the North and the South. That is the essence of the meeting between the president and the group led by the Sultan of Sokoto,” the source said.