Governors under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have called on President Muhammadu Buhari, to as a matter urgency send an Executive Bill to the National Assembly for the amendment the 1999 Nigerian Constitution to devolve more powers to the states.
The 12 governors, are; Sokoto State governor, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal; Governor of Bayelsa, Senator Douye Diri; Governor of Benue State, Samuel Ortom; Governor of Adamawa State, Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri; Enugu State Governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi; Delta State Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa; Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed; Akwa Ibom State, Udoh Emmanuel; Rivers State Governor, Nyesome Wike; Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki; Deputy Governor of Zamfara State, Mahdi Aliyu Gusau and the host governor, Seyi Makinde.
The Cross River State governor, Ben Ayade; Taraba State governor, Darius Ishaku and Abia State governor, Okezie Ikpiazu were absent from the meeting.
Arising from a closed-door meeting held at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) on Monday, the PDP governors, in a communique issued at the end of the closed-door meeting that lasted for about two hours, called on President Muhammadu Buhari to summon an immediate meeting of the Nigerian Police Council, which comprises the President and all state governors and other critical stakeholders to evolve and implement strategies to combat the present threats to the union, especially with respect to policing.
The PDP governors, under the aegis of PDP Governors’ Forum called for the reformation of the various civil institutions to achieve efficiency and equity for all sections of Nigeria.
The communique by the Chairman of PDP Governors Forum and Sokoto State governor, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, said that the governors further reviewed the state of the nation, particularly, practical next steps to take to advance the conversation on the worsening security situation and collapsing economy of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The communique reads in part: “The meeting called on Mr President as the Chief Executive Officer of Nigeria and Commander in Chief of Nigerian Armed Forces to immediately send an Executive Bill to the National Assembly to amend the Nigerian Constitution to devolve more powers to the States with respect to security arrangements culminating in some form of State Policing and the general security architecture.”
“In the interim, Mr President should summon an immediate meeting of the Nigerian Police Council, which comprises Mr President and all State Governors and other critical stakeholders to evolve and implement strategies to combat the present threats to our union, especially with respect to policing.”
“The meeting agreed that the Police Force still remains the appropriate institution to secure our democracy and should not be subjected to personal attacks. The welfare, training, equipment, funding of all security agencies should be given priority.”
“The meeting supports the earlier position taken by the Nigeria Governors Forum, Northern Governors Forum and recently by the Southern Governors Forum to adopt ranching as the most viable solution to the herders / farmers clashes in Nigeria; the restructuring of the Nigerian federation to devolve more powers and functions to the States; and reform of various civil institutions to achieve efficiency and equity for all sections of Nigeria.”
“The meeting enjoins all Nigerians to work together to achieve peace and harmony with one another, devoid of discrimination based on ethnicity, religion and other cleavages.”
“To this end, the meeting called on the incompetent and rudderless APC government to take bold and deliberate steps to de-escalate and lower tensions in our country, and concentrate on projects and policies that will enhance and promote national unity and cohesion.”
“The meeting re-iterated our earlier call for the National Assembly to expedite action on the passage of the Electoral Act that will ensure a free and fair election, including provisions for electronic accreditation and electronic transmission of votes.”
“The meeting thanked the Host Governor, His Excellency, Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State for being a gracious and wonderful host, and congratulated him for the many landmark developmental projects he has executed, and urged him to continue to work with all stakeholders in the South West zone to ensure that PDP takes over majority of the states in the Zone.”
