The People’s Democratic Party’s Governors’ Forum has strongly advised the National Assembly to override the veto of the President, Muhammadu Buhari on the Electoral Act amendment to ensure a quick passage of the bill into law.
The governors said the Act, if passed into law, would guarantee credible elections in 2023, adding that early completion of the amendment process would save the nation’s electoral system.
The Forum, in a nine-point communique issued in Government House, Port Harcourt, also regretted that the All Progressives Congress-led Federal Government destroyed the over a $550 billion economy handed it by the PDP in 2015 under President Goodluck Jonathan.
Reading the communique, the Chairman of PDP Governors Forum, MrAminuTambuwal, said the meeting reviewed the condition of the states, the state of the nation, and the PDP, adding that the nation needed a purposeful leadership by the PDP to move forward.
Tambuwal, who is the governor of Sokoto State, congratulated the entire PDP family for conducting a smooth and credible national convention that led to the emergence of the Senator IyorchiaAyu-led National Executive Committee.
The Forum’s chairman called on the national assembly to as a matter of urgency conclude its actions on the amendment of the electoral act by either overriding President Buhari’s veto or deleting the aspect under contention to allow quick passage.
He said, “The PDP Governors requested 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.”
Tambuwal expressed regrets that the nation was still battling insecurity after over seven years of the present administration, crying that people were killed on daily basis.
“The meeting lamented the continued state of insecurity in the country, the persistent and ceaseless flow of Nigerians’ blood daily 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 APC administration.
“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,” he said.
On the nation’s economy, Tambuwal lamented that the economy has continued to worsen, adding that ex-president Goodluck Jonathan had in 2015 handed over a $550 billion economy, the largest in Africa, to the APC government.
He said, “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, 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 PDP, the exchange rate was N198 per Dollar, it is now under APC almost N500 to one 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.”
Tambuwal said, “The meeting urged eligible Nigerians of all walks of life, particularly the Youths, to register en masse with INEC to exercise their franchise in the 2023 general elections.
“It further noted that the next election is a very consequential election that should be used to end the dominance of 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 almost a year. The youths should empower themselves to determine who leads them.”
