The Northern Delegates’ Forum says that the report of the 2014 National Conference convened by the administration of Goodluck Jonathan is of questionable legal validity.

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The position of the group was contained in a communiqué issued at the end of a closed door meeting held by the group in Nigeria’s Federal Capital, Abuja.

The Northern Delegates’ Forum (NDF) is a platform that brought together all delegates who attended the 2014 National Conference from the northern part of Nigeria with the aim of advancing the corporate interests of the diverse people of the region.

Addressing journalists on behalf of the group, a former Minister of Power and Steel Bashir Dalhatu said the 2014 Confab lacked popular mandate and was undemocratic in its composition. Worse still, Mallam Dalhatu noted, was the flawed method of the adoption of Confab resolutions.

Correspondent Godfrey Obemeata reported that the NDF communiqué also stated that the group was dissociating from any attempt by any group to seek to implement or force the government or any of its institutions to use the Confab report under any guise for the purpose of restructuring Nigeria.

The communiqué signed by the Chairman of NDF, Senator Jeremiah Useni and its Secretary, Hon. Mohammed Kumalia urged the Nigerian government to deploy more resources for the optimum exploration of oil and gas in the Lake Chad basin, while also calling on it to fast-track measures towards the reconstruction of the Northeast and solve the IDP crises there.