Electoral Act: PDP Governors Urge NASS To Override Buhari’s Veto

The Peoples Democratic Party Governors Forum has requested that the National Assembly conclude deliberations on the Electoral Act Amendment Bill by either overriding President Muhammadu Buhari’s veto or delete areas of complaints. The Forum’s nine-point communique was  read by its Chairman and the Governor of Sokoto State, Alhaji Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, at the end of […]

The Peoples Democratic Party Governors Forum has requested that the National Assembly conclude deliberations on the Electoral Act Amendment Bill by either overriding President Muhammadu Buhari’s veto or delete areas of complaints.

The Forum’s nine-point communique was  read by its Chairman and the Governor of Sokoto State, Alhaji Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, at the end of its meeting hosted by Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, at Government House in Port Harcourt, Rivers on Monday.

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“The continued state of insecurity in the country, the persistent and ceaseless flow of Nigerians’ blood on a daily basis in many parts of Nigeria, the near-collapse of the security situation in Nigeria; the strategies to confront terrorists, kidnappers, bandits and other criminals is still a major problem of the APC administration,” it read in part.

The governor expressed regrets that the President is unwilling, from his recent comments discountenancing the proposals for state policing, to participate in reviewing the structural problems of tackling insecurity in Nigeria and urged Buhari to reconsider his position and consider decentralisation and restructuring of the security architecture as the most viable solution, together with proper arming, funding and training requirements for security agencies.

“The Nigerian economy has continued to deteriorate and Nigerians have become numb and accustomed to bad economic news as exemplified by the inconsistent and differential exchange rate regime, high-interest rates, unsustainable unemployment figures and borrowing spree some of which have not been applied to important projects, and other bad economic indicators.

“In particular, it is clear that the APC Government is a massive failure when compared with the records of PDP in government. The PDP handed over a $550 billion economy (the largest in Africa), but under APC, Nigeria is the Poverty Capital of the world.

“In 2015, under PDP, the exchange rate was N198 per Dollar, it is now under APC almost N500 to a Dollar; In 2015, the unemployment rate was 7.3% under PDP, it is now 33%, one of the highest in the world under APC; In 2015, the pump price of petroleum product was N87 per litre, it is now N165 per litre and climbing under APC. Debt servicing now under APC takes over 98% of the federal budget. The tales of woe are endless,” it stated.

The PDP governors noted that the management of our oil and gas resources, the administration of Federation Account remittances have remained opaque, confusing and non-transparent stressing that the transition to NNPC Ltd. under the Petroleum Industry Act has not been properly streamlined to ensure that the interests of all the tiers of government are protected, consistent with the 1999 Constitution.

They urged eligible Nigerians, particularly the youths, to register en masse with INEC to exercise their franchise in the 2023 general elections, adding that the next election must end the dominance the of APC government.

The meeting was attended by Rt. Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, of Sokoto State; Gov Udom Emmanuel Udom of Akwa Ibom State; Sen. Douye Diri of Bayelsa State; Samuel Ortom of Benue State; Gov Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State; and Gov Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State.

Others in attendance were Governor Oluseyi Abiodun Makinde of Oyo State; Gov Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri of Adamawa State; and Gov. Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State.

The host governor, Nyesom Wike, had earlier hosted the visiting PDP governors in a gala night where the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Senator Iyorchia Ayu urged Nigerians to keep faith with the party which he said is poised to produce the next president of the country.