PDP governors charge National Assembly to override Buhari on electoral bill, decry management of oil resources

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governors on Monday slammed President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration over its management of the country’s oil and gas resources.

They also decried the hardship currently faced by Nigerians, saying life was more dignified under the PDP’s 16-year rule in the country.

In a communiqué issued at the end of its meeting in Port Harcourt, Rivers, and signed by Chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum, Aminu Tambuwal, the state chief executives charged the National Assembly to save the country’s democracy by overriding President Buhari on the Electoral Act Amendment Bill.

They urged well-meaning Nigerians to join hands with the party to rescue and rebuild Nigeria.

The meeting was attended by governors Udom Emmanuel (Akwa Ibom), Douye Diri (Bayelsa), Samuel Ortom (Benue), Ifeanyi Okowa (Delta), Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu), Nyesom Wike (Rivers), Seyi Makinde (Oyo), Ahmadu Fintiri (Adamawa), Bala Mohammed (Bauchi), Darius Ishaku (Taraba) and Aminu Tambuwal (Sokoto).

The communiqué read: “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. In addition, the transition to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Limited 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.

“The PDP governors request the National Assembly to quickly conclude deliberations on the Electoral Act Amendment Bill either by overriding Mr. President’s veto or deleting areas of complaints. The meeting advised that the option of sustaining Mr. President’s veto would lead to a quicker resolution and would deny Mr. President the opportunity to once again truncate a reformed electoral jurisprudence for Nigeria. An early concluded Electoral Act is vital for credible elections.

“The meeting lamented 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 are still a major problem of the All Progressives Congress (APC) administration.

READ ALSO: PDP governors insist on electronic transmission of election results

“The meeting expressed regrets that Mr. 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 urges Mr. President 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 the 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 percent under PDP, it is now 33 percent, one of the highest in the world under APC.

“In 2015, the pump price of petroleum was N87 per litre, it is now N165 per litre and climbing under APC. Debt servicing now under APC takes over 98 percent of the federal budget. The tales of woe are endless.

“The meeting urged eligible Nigerians of all walks of life, particularly the youths, to register en masse with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to exercise their franchise in the 2023 general elections and further noted that the next election is a very consequential election that should be used to end the dominance of very youth unfriendly APC government; a government that had the arrogance to deny Nigerian youths of the use of Twitter, a business-friendly tool for the young, for over a year. The youths should empower themselves to determine who leads them.”

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