National confab won ’ t break up Nigeria , says Okurounmu

Chairman , National Advisory Committee
of the National Conference , Femi
Okurounmu , has allayed the fear of
Nigerians on the proposed exercise,
saying the conference had been the
desire of a majority of Nigerians.
Speaking with newsmen shortly after a
courtesy visit he paid on the protem
national chairman of the All Progressives
Congress ( APC) , Adebisi Akande, in Ila -
Orangun , Osun State , Okurounmu
declared that there would be “no go
areas ” for the committee.
While assuring that the committee would
give every Nigerian opportunity to make
his or her views known , Okurounmu
noted that the conference is something
his committee can conveniently handle
“ because it is something I myself have
been thinking about for more than 30
years .
“ With all sense of modesty , I saw it as
something I could handle because it is
something I have been thinking about
for more than 30 years . This is
something that has occupied my mind ,
my conscious and sub - conscious . I
have been talking about national
conference for more than 30 something
years , ever since I became a politician in
1978 when I was in UPN .
“ This matter has never left my
conscious and sub conscious mind . So
therefore , it is not a new area at all. It is
a responsibility that I was glad to
accept , and I was happy that in my
lifetime the thing I spent years agitating
for actually come to me ”.
“ He added , “It is not a new area to me at
all . I was glad to accept that
responsibility ”.
He said further that those against the
convocation of National Conference are
minority , adding that their fear is
imaginary , declaring that the conference
will not break Nigeria , rather it will
further cement its unity.
According to him , “ their fears have
always been imaginary ; simply because
they are not bold enough to come out
with reason for opposing it . They invent
some reasons for opposing it , and some
of their inventions are that it will break
Nigeria . I think that does not make
sense ; to say that when people sit down
and talk that will be a path to breaking
up Nigeria . In fact that can only be a
path to cementing the unity of Nigeria . ”