*Stop blackmailing states with piecemeal interventions
The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Governors Forum has charged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to undertake a review of macro-economic and social policies of his administration with a view to giving them a human face and addressing the mass poverty, hunger and hardship afflicting citizens across the country.
The Forum which held its regular monthly meeting on Friday in Jalingo, Taraba State, lamented that rather than squarely addressing the economic challenges facing the country, the Federal Government had resorted to blackmail.
In a comunuque issued at the end of the meeting, the forum called on President Tinubu to show statesmanship by restraining his officials from blame games and mentioning piecemeal interventions that cannot solve the problem, just to make the sub- nationals look bad in the eyes of the masses.
The governors of the main opposition party pledged to remain unshaken in their firm resolve to stand with the suffering Nigerian masses and to take all legitimate steps to ameliorate their plight.
“The Forum notes the political impasse in Rivers State where court judgements are employed to determine the outcome of the party congresses. The PDP Governors’ Forum restates its stand with the Governor of Rivers State and will engage the NWC of our great party to revisit the congress with a view to correcting the anomaly and allowing His Excellency Governor Siminalayi Fubara to take his rightful leadership position of the party in the state,
“With regard to the forth coming governorship election in Edo State, we condemn the pronouncements by the President to compromise the election in favour of his Party as well as the systematic intimidation of PDP supporters by the Nigeria Police and call on the Inspector General of Police to call his men to order.
“The Forum notes with concern, the refusal of the Federal Government to distinguish between the Federal Government of Nigeria, FGN revenue and revenue accruing to the Federation which must be allocated in accordance with extant laws. We call on the Federal Ministry of Finance and the Accountant General of the Federation to be more transparent in obeying the law, particularly section 162 (1) (2) (3). And equally call on the Accountant General of the Federation to stop behaving like the Accountant General of the Federal Government and to exercise her role in line with constitution. Therefore, we call for the separation of the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation and that of the Accountant General of the FGN,” the communique read..
The forum noted with a sigh of relief the end of the #EndBadGovernance protests which, it said, was edging towards a major national crisis.
“We salute the dexterity of the Governors especially of the PDP extraction in handling the situation in their respective States with maturity, thereby restraining hoodlums and other unscrupulous elements from hijacking the protests.
“The Forum reiterates that peaceful protests are the inalienable rights of the citizens through which they vent their genuine grievances. The Forum commiserates with the families of those innocent souls that were lost and calls on the Federal Government to ensure fair and speedy trial of those who were arrested,” they advised.