National Conference, Federalism and the National Question: Federalism, Constitutionalism and Elections Innigeria

Since the inauguration of the stalemated government-sponsored National Political Reform Conference attention has again been direction at some of the basic issues of the Nigerian project namely, the character of the Nigerian state and federation, the making and contents of Nigerian constitutions, revenue sharing formula (otherwise known as resourcecontrol) and the issue of electoral contest and procedure, among others. The sudden u-turn of the Nigerian government from a complete rejection of the clamour for a Sovereign National Conference (SNC) to not only accepting the idea but also arranging arid sponsoring a variant of theoriginal demand raises some fundamental questions. For instance, can a government, which has consistently been opposed to an idea and indeed attempted unsuccessfully to suppress it capable of meeting the yearnings and expectations of a national conference? Or is the so-called National Political Reform Conference a charade thoughtfully designed by the government to subvert, in a more subtle manner, the wishes and aspirations of the people so as to permanently silent the proponents of the, S.N.C and perpetuate the status quo.