The Governors elected on the platform of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have openly thrown their weight behind their southern counterparts who have demanded for restructuring and state police.
The southern governors – fifteen of them excluding Governors Gboyega Oyetola and Ben Ayade made the demand last week in a meeting of southern governors in Asaba last week.
Chairman of the PDPGF and Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Tambuwual, signed and read the communique.
The communique read in part: “The meeting called on Mr. President as the Chief Executive Officer of Nigeria and Commander in Chief of Nigerian Armed Forces to immediately send an Executive Bill to the National Assembly to amend the Nigerian Constitution to devolve more powers to the states with respect to security arrangements culminating in some form of state policing and the general security architecture.
“In the interim, Mr. President should summon an immediate meeting of the Nigerian Police Council, which comprises Mr. President and all state governors and other critical stakeholders to evolve and implement strategies to combat the present threats to our union, especially with respect to policing.
“The meeting agreed that the police force still remains the appropriate institution to secure our democracy and should not be subjected to personal attacks. The welfare, training, equipment, funding of all security agencies should be given priority.”
On the vexed issue of open grazing, the governors expressed support for “the earlier position taken by the Nigeria Governors Forum, Northern Governors Forum and recently, the Southern Governors Forum, to adopt ranching as the most viable solution to the herders / farmers clashes in Nigeria.”
He went further to say: “The meeting called on the incompetent and rudderless APC Government to take bold and deliberate steps to de-escalate and lower tensions in our country, and concentrate on projects and policies that will enhance and promote national unity and cohesion.”
The Governors who attended the meeting were Aminu Waziri Tambuwal (Sokoto State), host, Seyi Makinde (Oyo), Udom Emmanuel (Akwa Ibom), Douye Diri (Bayelsa) Samuel Ortom (Benue) and Ifeanyi Okowa (Delta).
https://d9b83a04cdd25a38cbf36018a353257b.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html Others included Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu) Nyesom Wike (Rivers State) Ahmadu Fintiri (Adamawa State) and Godwin Obaseki (Edo), Bala Mohammed (Bauchi) while the Zamfara State Governor, Bello Matawalle, was represented by his Deputy, Mahdi Mohammed.
