State of the Nation: Gowon, OBJ, Anyaoku, Danjuma, other eminent Nigerians converge on Lagos for dialogue today

Eminent Nigerians, including former Heads of State and Presidents of Nigeria, Yakubu Gowon, Olusegun Obasanjo, Goodluck Jonathan, AbdulSalami Abubakar, and former Secretary-General of the Com­monwealth of Nations, Emeka Anyaoku, as well as Nobel Laureate, Wole Soyinka, are among eminent Nigerians expected in Lagos today, Monday, to discuss the state of the nation and the way forward.

Other eminent Nigerians expected at the event are for­mer Chief of Army Staff, TY Danjuma; Chairman of the Northern Elders’ Forum, Ango Abdullahi; Leader of the Niger Delta, Edwin Clark; former Chief of Defence Staff, Alani Akinrinade; Northern Elder, Tanko Yakasai; Leader of Afenifere, Ayo Adebanjo; Senate President, Godswill Akpabio; Speaker Of House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas; serving and former gov­ernors and legislators.

According to Prof Anthony Kila, in an issued statement on Satur­day, the eminent Nigerians are expected to make inputs on a dialogue on the future of Ni­geria at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, (NIIA), Lagos.

Announcing the agenda of the Constitutional dialogue, on behalf of the organisers at the weekend, the Chairman of the Patriots, a group of eminent Leaders of Thought in Nigeria, and former Secretary-General of the Commonwealth of Na­tions, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, said the dialogue is designed to help build national consensus, especially among the Nigeri­an elite on the Constitutional future of Nigeria, particularly on how to make Nigeria work for all its diverse peoples and citizens.

In a major national broad­cast, the foremost internation­al diplomat and Chair of the Eminent Leaders of Thought group, known as The Patriots, announced that the National Dialogue, which is aimed at mobilising Nigerians towards breaking the barriers against the cohesion and good gover­nance of the country, will hold in honour of the Late Prof Ben Nwabueze (SAN), a foremost Champion and Protagonist for the convocation of the 2014 National Confab inaugurated 10 years ago by President Goodluck Jonathan and whose body was laid to rest last month in his home town in Atani, Anambra State.

The historic national meet­ing is also expected to set a for­midable citizens’ agenda for the on-going Constitution review process of the Federal Govern­ment, initiated by the National Assembly towards the popu­lar reconfiguration, cohesion, stability and prosperity of Ni­geria through a constructive advocacy for new democratic people’s Constitution to replace the subsisting military Decree No 24 of 1999, in force in Nigeria as1999 Constitution of Nigeria (as amended).