The Conference Outcomes
p. 25-27
Texte intégral
1The final outcomes of the conferences in Benin and Nigeria were largely determined by their objectives. The Benin conference was convened to effect political reform as the basis for transforming other sectors of life in that country, while the Nigerian conference was called to diffuse the tension that emanated from the annulled election and to buy time for the regime. In the end both attained their objectives.
2In Benin, since the objectives were clear and there was a general consensus on what was needed to move the country forward, the conference acted with despatch and finished its deliberations in nine days. Powers were delegated to the High Council of the Republic and an interim administration which conducted the elections that culminated in the inauguration of a new president in 1991.
3The Nigerian conference, on the other hand, started with a cloudy agenda and a dubious support base. It lasted several months and far exceeded its estimated time span. It was insinuated that the longer the conference dragged on, the less likely it would be to achieve anything concrete.42 That the Nigerian conference was set up to buy time for the Abacha regime and bury June 12, if not transparently evident from the beginning, became undeniably clear shortly after the conference began. General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua (retired), a delegate to the conference, and who controlled a large following, succeeded in moving and passing a motion calling for an end to military rule by January 1996. The military government did not take kindly to this ultimatum. As a reaction, the privileges of Yar’Adua’s supporters were withdrawn. Yar’Adua himself was arrested on 16 March 1995, for plotting to overthrow the regime. To overturn the January 1996 deadline given to the military government, top government functionaries were then instructed to lobby conference delegates and offer them monetary inducements to rescind that decision. In the end, the decision was rescinded. The final recommendations of the conference were then sent to the government for approval. After some consultation with his provisional ruling council, the Head of State announced a transition programme similar to the aborted one that had led to the conference, but including a provision for rotational presidency and a French model of government. The long transition programme (three years) and the new programme provoked serious criticism from both the domestic and the international communities.
Notes de bas de page
42 Daniel Bourmaud and Patrick Quentin, Sur mesure et prêt-à-porter : les conférences nationales en Afrique noire, 1990-91, p.11. 4ème congrès, Association française de science politique, Paris, 23-26 sept. 1992.
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