Interim National Chairman, All Progressive Congress, Chief Bisi Akande
The
All Progressives Congress has said it will not participate in the
planned national dialogue announced by President Goodluck Jonathan on
October 1.
It hinged its decision on the fact that
the “dialogue was nothing but a mere constitutional amendment process’’
which is already being carried out by the National Assembly.
This decision was taken at the party’s National Executive Committee meeting in Abuja on Tuesday.
It coincided with the Progressive
Governors’ Forum’s threat to use all constitutional means, including
legal action, to compel the Federal Government to pay all shortfalls in
allocations to the 36 states of the federation.
Some of the governors elected on the
platform of the party were also at the meeting, which was also attended
by a former governor of Lagos State, Aswiaju Bola Tinubu.
Briefing journalists after the meeting,
the Interim National Publicity Secretary of the party, Alhaji Lai
Mohammed, described the planned conference as diversionary.
Besides, he said the Federal Government lacked credibility to organise such a conference.
Mohammed said, “What we see today is
that this government has lost focus; it has lost credibility, it has
lost control of the economy.
Insecurity and corruption have attained
an uncontrollable proportion and at this point in time, this government
lacks the credibility to organise a meaningful national conference.
“In any event, we see this thing as
nothing but a diversion and what are we talking about a national
conference for when even the President(Dr. Goodluck Jonathan) himself
has said the outcome of the conference would be subjected to the
approval of the National Assembly?
“So, what we really have to do is a constitutional amendment, not a national conference and we shall not be a party to that.”
Asked to be categorical whether the
party was going to boycott the conference, Mohammed said, “There is no
issue of boycotting. I have put it clear to you: this is diversionary.
“If it is a clear or meaningful
national dialogue, we will participate, but this isn’t. The President
himself has said whatever is discussed will be subjected to National
Assembly. So, what you are having is a constitutional amendment.”
Tinubu, who had spoken against the
conference when he returned from a medical trip abroad recently, did
not speak with journalists after the meeting.
He simply walked away when Mohammed was speaking with journalists.
Also on Tuesday, the PGF rose from a
short meeting in Abuja with a threat to employ all constitutional means,
including going to court, if the Federal Government failed to pay up
all outstanding allocations to the states.
One of the governors said, “When we mentioned constitutional means, it also means going to court if need be.”
Members of the forum had at the meeting discussed several issues, including the dwindling federal allocation to the states.
The meeting was attended by Governors
Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti); Rauf Aregbesola (Osun); Abiola Ajimobi (Oyo);
Ibrahim Geidam (Yobe); and Rochas Okorocha(Imo). The governor of Borno
State Kashim Shettima was represented by his deputy, Zannah Mustapha and
The governors of Lagos, Edo, Zamfara, Ogun and Nasarawa states, did
not send representatives.
The Governor of Edo State, Mr. Adams
Oshiomhole, was said to be attending an event in Lagos where his
Lagos State counterpart, Babatunde Fashola (SAN), was also said to be
present.
The other governors were said to have travelled out of the country.
The meeting, which was held at the Ekiti State Governor’s Lodge located at Asokoro, Abuja was brief.
Fayemi, who briefed journalists after
the meeting, said the time had come for the governors to employ all
constitutional means to deal with the several deductions from the
states’ monthly allocations.
He added that they were no longer comfortable with the way the Federal Government was treating them on the matter.
Fayemi said, “We discussed issues that
are pertinent to national finance, particularly the Federation Account
Allocation Committee work.
“We have come to a critical juncture as far as FAAC discussions have gone over the last three months.
“You aren’t unaware of what has been
going on; you are also aware of what our finance commissioners have had
to do in removing themselves from the meetings of FAAC and we continue
to insist that we condemn the illegal and unconstitutional deductions.
“Averagely, all our states lost 40 per
cent of their normal earnings in the last two to three months from the
FAAC and we believe this isn’t defensible in any way.”
He said that the benchmark that the
National Assembly agreed for 2013 budget was still very realistic
because there was no time from January till now that oil has sold for
anything less than $105 per barrel.
Fayemi said that even at some particular time, oil sold for $110 per barrel.
“So, there is still no basis for the
kind of incomplete allocations to the states in this regard and we have
decided to take appropriate constitutional measures in order to tackle
this flagrant abuse of the Constitution of Nigeria and the Appropriation
Act, particularly of the National Assembly,” he added.
Also speaking , Okorocha said the APC governors condemned the conduct of the Delta Central Senatorial election.
He claimed that its outcome might be a prelude to the conduct of the 2015 general election.
The governor added that the meeting
demanded a fresh election in Oguta Federal Constituency in Imo State,
since the previous one was declared inconclusive by the Independent
National Electoral Commission.
He said that for the past two years, the people of the zone had been denied representation by INEC.
Okorocha said, “We are very much
concerned about the danger posed by the recent election in Delta
State and we condemn in this respect, that that wasn’t an election at
all.
“The reports that we have received so
far show that it was mere manipulation of the entire electoral
process and we are worried that this poses a great danger to the 2015
elections.
“From what we are seeing, we must stand up to those things now or Nigerians might pay a bigger price for it in 2015.”
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