All Progressives
Congress (APC) governors demanded yesterday an emergency meeting with
President Goodluck Jonathan over the cash crisis that is crippling the
states.
Besides, the governors said at a meeting
in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, that they had not endorsed any
aspirant as their presidential candidate.
They supported the emergence of “a
consensus candidate or any other candidate in so far as it is in tandem
with the party’s internal democracy”.
The meeting was attended by Governors
Abdulfatah Ahmed (Kwara), Rauf Aregbesola (Osun), Abiola Ajimobi (Oyo),
Abdulaziz Yari (Zamfara), Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano), Ibrahim Gaidam (Yobe),
Chibuike Amaechi (Rivers) and Rochas Okorocha (Imo).
The governors were worried that
allocation from the Federal purse keeps crashing, even as the central
government says the country is not broke. Many states, they said, may
not be able to pay their workers.
“On consensus, our forum is in full
support of consensus as one of the ways to produce our presidential
candidate or any candidate in the party for as long as it is done with
regards to respect for internal democracy. There will be no imposition
of candidate in our party”, the chairman of the forum Owelle Okorocha,
said, reading the communiqué.
He went on: “Our forum has not adopted
any candidate, neither has our Governors’ Forum adopted any candidate,
but we shall encourage consensus and dialogue within the leadership of
the party and aspirants to see how we come up with a candidate but
where that is not possible, like true progressives, we shall have free
and fair primaries from the APC.”
On the dwindling revenue allocation from
the federation account, Owelle Okorocha described the situation as
“awful”, adding that many of the states might not be able to pay
salaries.
Said he: “We looked at the dwindling
resources of the state coming from FAAC on our monthly allocation, which
has made it imperative that most states may not afford to pay salaries
as a result of the dwindling resources.
“This has become a very serious concern
to us as governors and we felt that issues that affect the lives of
our people must never be politicised. We refuse to accept that this
nation is broke. I thank God that the Federal Government is not broke,
that if the nation is not broke, what is due to states as revenue should
be paid to the states. This idea of cutting down what should go to
states does not in any way promote democracy and democratic dividends
and so we as progressive governors do call on the Federal Government to
look into the issue of dwindling resources or convince us as to why the
states should not get what is due to them.
“We do not know why our colleagues in
the PDP are not talking of this matter. If they are not talking, it is
either they are not affected or somehow they are getting something from
the back door, which we do not know.
“But if that is not the reason, I think
the Presidency or the Federal Government should act quickly on the
present ugly situation which this terrible condition of dwindling
revenue has caused us by making sure that the states get what is due to
them at least to pay the basic salaries of the workers.
We also deliberated on the need to
continue to pray for Nigeria for the successful 2015 election, which
every Nigerian is looking forward to.”
On the 2015 general elections, Okorocha
said: “We must disappoint those who believe that Nigeria can never have
free, fair and credible election by making sure that 2015 shall come to
pass and Nigeria will raise its head high among the comity of nations
and be one of the countries that have conducted free and fair elections.
“It is our firm belief that our party
will provide for Nigeria the long-awaited purposeful, visionary
leadership, come 2015. So we the APC governors are in full support of
the activity of our party and assure Nigerians that we shall provide
them a credible presidential candidate that will steer the affairs of
this nation in 2015.” source: the nation
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