The National Conference was saved by a last minute deal yesterday, ending successfully after northern delegates, who had vowed not to approve the report, were placated. The concession involved the renaming of the controversial Draft Constitution to draft ‘amendments’ to the 1999 Constitution, as a way of assuaging concerns of northern delegates who said the document was a plot to give certain elected public officers the legitimacy to seek third tenures.

Yesterday’s session was calm and brief, contrary to expectations of a stormy session over the ‘Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 2014’ that was produced by the conference secretariat.

Northern delegates had said if the document was approved as a new constitution, it would have conferred legal cover for politicians to contest elections that they are ineligible for under the existing 1999 Constitution.

At a charged meeting with zonal delegation leaders on Wednesday, chairman Justice Idris Kutigi had dug his heels on the new constitution, saying he was mandated by President Goodluck Jonathan to come up with it from the confab.

Series of other meetings were held later in the night to try to strike deals that could prevent the confab from ending in disarray.

When the plenary session reconvened yesterday, it was agreed that the controversial document should be renamed as ‘Draft Proposals to Amend the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999.’

Apart from having a quarrel with the initial title of ‘Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 2014’, the Northern delegates had also argued that the conference secretariat was never asked to come up with a draft constitution.

Two motions were adopted at the plenary yesterday, one renaming the controversial document and the other giving the conference secretariat the authority to draft a final report that would be submitted to President Jonathan next Thursday, August 21.

The secretariat is expected to incorporate several new amendments suggested by delegates into the earlier distributed draft report. None of those new amendments were subjected to any debate or vote yesterday, and the final report is not going to be tabled for further consideration or approval by the plenary.

Kutigi announced at the plenary that the final report would be ready by today. It is expected to be signed by the conference chairman, his deputy Prof. Bolaji Akinyemi and the secretary, Mrs. Valerie Azinge, in line with Order 13, Rule 2 of the Conference Procedure Rules.

The chairman said on Thursday next week, the report would be presented to President Jonathan at the National Judicial Institute complex, Abuja, venue of the conference.

The conference’s valedictory plenary session started yesterday around 10:45 am, with a “motion to mandate the secretariat to vet and effect amendment” to the three reports prepared by the secretariat.

The motion was jointly sponsored by Chief Jerry Okwuonu and former Rivers State Governor Peter Odili.

But the motion was slightly amended by another motion moved by Adamu Maina Waziri, who demanded a change in the title of Volume 3, which is the controversial new constitution.

“We urge the leadership of the Conference, in collating the final report, to more appropriately designate Volume 3 as: Draft Proposals to Amend the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999,” Waziri said.

Kutigi put the two motions separately to voice vote and they were unanimously adopted by the delegates. Thereafter, all the delegates stood up and sang the old National Anthem “Nigeria We Hail Thee.”

The conference, which was inaugurated on March 17, was scheduled to last for three months but it ended up taking five.

Speaking to journalists after the plenary, the co-chairman of the northern delegation, Alhaji Ibrahim Coomassie, said his group had submitted corrections to the conference secretariat to be reflected in the final report.

•Adapted from a Daily Trust report. Photo shows National Conference delegates.

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