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The G5 governors of the Peoples Democratic Party, are in Aba, Abia State, hosted by their colleague, Governor Okezie Ikpeazu.
The visit of the governors were captured in pictures shared by the Chief Press Secretary to the Abia governor, Onyebuchi Ememanka, via his Facebook page on Thursday.
Ememanka captioned the pictures, “G5 Governors Group. Welcome to Abia, the home of fashion! Welcome to Aba, the headquarters of garment business and fashion business in Nigeria.”
Former Governors of Plateau and Taraba states, Joshua Dariye, and Jolly Nyame, have been released from Kuje correctional facility in Abuja.
This is coming three months after the Council of State, led by President Buhari approved the pardon of the convicts along with 159 others, a decision which generated outcries. The former governors were set free around 2:15pm on Monday, August 8, 2022.
Sources close to to duo revealed that all the necessary formalities were completed by 10 am on Monday and the former governors were released into the waiting arms of their families.
Nyame was to serve a 12-year jail sentence for diverting N1.64 billion during his tenure as governor of Taraba, while Dariye was serving 10 years’ imprisonment for N1.126 billion fraud. The duo was pardoned on health and age ground.
The FCT Spokesperson for the Nigerian Correctional Service, Chukwuedo Humphrey, confirmed their release to newsmen.
President Muhammadu Buhari is currently meeting with governors elected on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
The meeting, it was gathered, was on the forthcoming presidential primary election of the party scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday next week .
All the APC governors are present in the meeting.
Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Niger Delta Affairs, Sen. Ita Enang, has shifted the responsibility for the control of the black soot that has been ravaging parts of the Niger Delta region, from the Federal Government to the state governments.
He did this saying since the states control lands in their localities, they should deal with the problems.
The former Senior Special Assistant to Buhari on National Assembly Matters, while appearing on Arise TV programme on Tuesday, said governors from the affected states should rise to the occasion and deal with the situation as it was not the purview of the Federal Government to do so.
Though he gave kudos to Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, on the way he has handled the soot menace in the state so far, Enang, however, blamed the governor over what he termed ‘re-polution’ as the illegal refiners would simply relocate to remote areas to carry out their activities.
“I will commend Rivers State Governor Wike on the way he has handled the soot crisis in the state so far,” Enang said while reacting to a question by one of the anchors of the programme.
“But what he has done is what I will call re-polution of the environment because the so called illegal refineries will simply move to other locations and the problem will continue.
“Those who are into these illegal refineries are not just mere illiterates or uneducated artisans you find on the streets.
“Many of them are highly educated. These are people who are well trained in petroleum refining engineering and technology. They are well educated in petroleum technology and pipeline technology, so they would always put their knowledge to use.
“They are well knowledgeable and they are not being engaged. Like I said, Wike has only addressed the problems in Rivers and not in other places.
“Yes, Wike has taken a decision and other governors must take decisions on these illegal refineries.
“The problem is in Delta State, it is in Akwa Ibom State, it is in Bayelsa State. And the governors of these states are the ones who must tackle the problem and not the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration because the governors are in charge of lands in their states.
The so called illegal refiners are not just ordinary criminals like I said. They are highly educated and sophisticated and must be engaged by the state governments to put their knowledge to good use.
“The govt of the respective states should create refinery parks for these people so they would not be forced to engage in the illegalities they are engaging in.
“These people are from the respective states and should be engaged by their state governors to put their knowledge to good use.
“We should stop calling them illegal refiners but engage them for greater use
“The NDDC should look for ways to engage them. The equipments they are using are fabricated by graduates of Petroleum Training Institute, Efurum and other top universities in the country.
The various state governors must take responsibility of protecting their lands because they control the lands in their states and not the Federal government.
“We need to call everyone to the table to find a way to bring these illegal refiners on board to work with the government which will in turn, bring a out a good working harmony,” Enang said.
The Nasarawa State Governor, Abdullahi Sule, on Sunday dismissed claims in several quarters that state governors are opposed to the adoption of direct primaries by parties in the Electoral Act Amendment Bill.
Sule, who stated this at a Town Hall meeting on the Electoral Bill, stated categorically that the governors are not against direct primaries.
The National Assembly passed the electoral bill on November 9, 2021 and adopted direct primaries for political parties in the country.
The lawmakers also approved the electronic transmission of results for future elections in Nigeria.
President Muhammadu Buhari had in December last year declined assent to the electoral bill over the adoption of direct primaries and other contentious issues in the document.
The governor said: “There is a total misunderstanding that the governors are against direct primaries. The governors are definitely not against direct primaries. As a matter of fact, a lot of the states chose whether to do direct or indirect.
“It is not that the state governors are against direct. All we said was that why don’t you leave the options. The Electoral Act is far more than just direct or indirect. There are so many important things there, why are we boxing ourselves with either direct or indirect?
“Give political parties the opportunity. By the time the opportunities are given, you will be shocked in the 2023 elections, a lot of the states will still do direct.”
The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) on Thursday issued a warning to governors and politicians against wearing military uniforms for electioneering campaign posters.
This was contained in a statement issued by the Acting Director, Defence Information, Wap Maigida, in Abuja.
According to Maigida, the campaign posters of some governors, dressed in military camouflage uniforms, were displayed in noticeable areas in their respective states and this act is illegal.
He also called it an abuse of the privilege of allowing civilians to wear military uniforms during military training exercises.
Maigida stated that the Armed Forces of Nigeria, as a professional institution, remains apolitical and, as such, will not want to be dragged into any form of political bias.
“Accordingly, it is important to advise politicians and others to desist from the use of military uniforms and accoutrements for political events and other engagements henceforth.
“Please note, anyone found culpable in this regard would be liable to prosecution,” he warned.
The Taraba State Governor, Darius Ishaku, said on Friday all the governors in Nigeria are helpless on the protection of lives and property in the country.
The governor was responding to the killing of 11 people in a community in the state by a Cameroonian separatist group called the Ambazonia soldiers.
Ishaku, who stated this in an interview on Channels Television on Thursday, said there was nothing his administration could have done to prevent the attack since he does not control the security agencies.
Ishaku said before the incident, he had complained to the Federal Government and the military about the threat posed by the group.
He said: “We are under the federal government when it comes to the military and police. There is nothing a state government can do. We rely on them.
What else can a governor do, if I had complained? What else can I do? I wish I knew if this thing was going to happen yesterday. It is not only me that is helpless. All the governors in Nigeria are helpless. I have said it, times without number.
All the governors in Nigeria are helpless that is why we are saying give us state police. If we have state police, I will have ordered the police. All the governors — not only Darius Ishaku — are helpless; not only the Taraba state government that is helpless, all of us.
“The governors are helpless. Go and ask other governors and tell me who has a solution to give. We have to depend on the federal might when it comes to security.
“We have vigilantes but what will a vigilante do when he does not have an AK-47? And people are charging at him with AK-47.
“I just told you that even the immigration tried their best. I don’t know which gun the immigration was using. Apparently, may be the type of normal old gun of cork and fire.
To be frank with you, even the military needs to be equipped, even the police need to be equipped. All these para-military (agencies) need to be equipped. The federal government must decide to equip them and equip them properly”
The Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) on Sunday charged the security agencies to fish out perpetrators of the attack on travellers in Plateau State and prosecute them accordingly.
Gunmen had in the early hours of Saturday killed 22 people during an attack on a travelling party along Rukuba Road, Jos North local government area of Plateau State.
The victims were returning from Bauchi State where they attended an event marking the beginning of the Islamic New Year when the gunmen struck.
The hoodlums also abducted several passengers during the attack.
In a statement signed by NGF’s Head of Media and Public Affairs, Abdulrazaque Bello-Barkindo, the governors described the killings as barbaric and senseless.
The statement read: “These dastardly actions of Nigeria’s once peaceful locals which have resulted in unwarranted and needless deaths diminish us all as a people and pulls our country down to the deepest recesses of the absence of civilisation.
“They also cause all kinds of reprisal killings and injurious interactions that does nobody any good.
“The Forum views with extreme disgust the horrible and thoughtless loss of precious lives and declares unequivocally that it must stop forthwith.”
The Presidency has lambasted the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for insinuating that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has turned the Presidential Villa into its headquarters.
Governors on the platform of the PDP had made the allegation during its meeting in Bauchi State on Monday, accusing the APC of “parading coerced PDP members who defected into the ruling party.”
However, Special Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, has mocked the PDP governors over what he called “belly-aching” on the misfortune that has befallen their party.
Speaking on a television programme in far away United Kingdom on Wednesday, Adesina claimed that while the PDP governors meet in the day to chastise the APC, some of their governors sneak into the Aso Rock Presidential Villa at night to beg to defect to the APC.
According to the President’s spokesman, some “PDP governors have been talking with the APC leadership on plans to defect,” and claimed that many of them will still dump their party next year when President Buhari begins to inaugurate projects.
“There will be a massive unveiling of infrastructure come 2022; starting from commissioning of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway which the PDP could not achieve in 16 years, to the AKK Pipeline and so many highways. These massive projects will make a lot of PDP governors to join the APC,” he said.
Describing the PDP as a “beleaguered party in total confusion,” Adesina said:
Between now and 2023, there will be more confusion in the party. No one made noise when they (PDP) were holding BoT (Board of Trustees) meetings during Olusegun Obasanjo, Umaru Yar’Adua and Goouck Jonathan regimes. Why are they complaining now?”
President Muhammadu Buhari’s Senior Special Assistant on Niger Delta affairs, Ita Enang has said that governors are to be blamed for some of the challenges being plaguing the country.
He stated this an interview on NTA on Monday, the Presidential aide alleged that governors in the country have exercised powers beyond what the constitution envisaged for them.
Enang further said that if funds meant for local governments are disbursed, the challenges currently being witnessed across the country will be curbed.
He said; “The governors have exercised so much powers that are beyond what the constitution envisaged for them — beyond what the law gave to them.
“The president has kept within his powers as president and does not interfere with the funds of the state governments while the governors have interfered and kidnapped the funds of the local governments through what is called the state/local government joint account.
“They don’t even give to the local governments the funds that they realise as internally generated revenue, which is why the joint account was made.
“Now, the insecurity problem we have today, the governors cannot escape the criticism of the people because everybody is a witness.
If the governors allow the funds of the local governments to get to the local governments, they would have been able to at least capture within their net, certain persons of certain class at that local government level. This way a lot of ill-happenings in the country will be curbed.
President Muhammadu Buhari says he does not like when governors make promises during campaign but end up not performing well after winning elections.
Buhari who stated this in an interview with ARISE TV on Thursday, June 10, challenged governors to look inward towards finding solutions to security challenges plaguing their states, particularly those afflicted by killer herdsmen.
The President disclosed that two South-West governors visited him over the destruction of farms in their states by herdsmen.
He said; “I asked them what happened to the grassroots security panels where traditional rulers to local governments who meet regularly to identify the root of their problems and identify crooks within their environment and apprehend the criminals.
Who destroyed this system? Go back and fix it. Give your people sense of belongings. I don’t like it when people campaign to become governors, and people trusted them with their votes, and after winning, they can’t perform.
“They’re trying to push responsibilities to others. We have three tiers of government: federal, state, and local.’’
On devolution of powers, Buhari frowned upon politicians deliberately destroying the local government system.
Devolution of powers, you have to define it. Well, actually, the local government system has been killed. The federal, state, and local governments if they agree to flow properly we won’t have all these problems.
“But the problem is the local government has been virtually killed, and this is not good for this country because those who became the local government chairmen have been compromised. If your local government is entitled to receive 300 million and later you are only given 100 million, and the chairman will keep quiet. Is that how we will continue?” he said.
The Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) has expressed worry over recent attacks on security formations in Imo, Benue, and other parts of the country.
Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti and NGF Chairman made the concerns known at a briefing with newsmen at the end of the forum’s meeting on Wednesday night, April 14, in Abuja.
“NGF members are particularly worried following what happened in Imo state, the attacks on the correctional facility and the police command headquarters.
“The release of prisoners, and successive acts of violence and insecurity across the country, and the killings of soldiers at Benue.
“The forum has expressed its worry that it is time for us to revisit comprehensively, the nature and depth of this security crisis.
The crisis would have gotten worse if states had not been taking the actions they have been taking individually and collectively.
“It is the steps taken at the state level that have managed to reduce the depths and the enormity of the security challenges. Nonetheless, it’s still a worrisome development for us
“We feel we will need a special review of the entire gamut of the security issues that we are dealing with.
“We need to further engage the federal authorities both at the political level and federal authorities at the security level, in order to deal with this multifaceted challenges of security that we’re faced.”
In the first week of April, unknown gunmen launched multiple attacks on police formations in Imo State.
The attack occurred at the Mbiere Divisional Police Headquarters in the Mbaitoli Local Government Area of the state.
Two similar attacks, including the one at the police headquarters and the prison headquarters in the state, have taken place before now.
The second attack was carried out a few hours after Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, accompanied by the then Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, visited the state to assess the damage done to the police headquarters.
During the last attack, the gunmen reportedly freed some suspects from the police detention facility and also carted away phones belonging to suspects and police officers.
A police spokesperson in the state, Orlando Ikeokwu, confirmed the incident but said the officers on duty repelled the attack.
The attack has brought to six the number of police facilities targeted in the state between February and April.
A bill for an Act to alter the 1999 Constitution to grant the National Assembly and State Houses of Assembly powers to summon the President and Governors has scaled second reading at the House of Reps.
Rep. Sergius Ogun (PDP–Edo) who sponsored the bill in his argument on Tuesday, March 16, in Abuja said the doctrine of separation of power must be upheld.
He said that the basic doctrine closely related to the exercise of legislative powers in a democracy was the doctrine of separation of powers.
Ogun said that such law would help to invite the President and Governors to answer questions on issues of national security.
He added that it would help them to also answer questions on any matter whatsoever, over which the national assembly and states houses of assembly have powers to make laws.
“You will recall what happened in January when the House summoned President Muhammadu Buhari but he failed to honour the invitation,” he said.
He said that part of the reasons adduced for the President’s non appearance was that the House had no constitutional power to invite him.
He said that such invitations to the president was not expressly stated in Nigerian laws, adding that the lawmakers must give it Constitutional backing to be able to summon the president and state governors.
Speaker of the House Femi Gbajabiamila however, referred the bill to the house ad hoc committee on the review of 1999 Constitution.
The governors of the 36 states in Nigeria, under the umbrella of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), will on Thursday, March 4, meet over the COVID-19 vaccines and distribution in the country.
The governors, in a statement issued in Abuja on Wednesday by Mr Abdulrazaque Bello-Barkindo, the Head, Media and Public Affairs of NGF Secretariat, said the emergency meeting would be held virtually.
“The meeting is of a single-item agenda, which will discuss the delivery of the COVID-19 vaccines and their distribution in the country,” he said.
Bello-Barkindo said the meeting, according to the invitations sent to the governors, would commence at 5 p.m.
Ripples Nigeria had reported that the Federal Government had on Tuesday in Abuja received 3.92 million doses of Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine.
The COVID-19 vaccine was shipped into Nigeria via the COVAX Facility, a partnership between CEPI, Gavi, UNICEF, and WHO.
COVAX is co-led by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, WHO, and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), working in partnership with UNICEF, the World Bank, Civil Society Organisations, manufacturers, and others.
The federal government had also launched a website to register Nigerians for the vaccination.
