Electoral Bill: PDP Governors Urge National Assembly To Override Veto Of President Buhari

Governors of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have requested the National Assembly to consider overriding President Muhammadu Buhari’s veto as one tenable option towards achieving the intended reform of electoral jurisprudence for Nigeria.

At their meeting in Port Harcourt on Monday, under the aegis of PDP Governors Forum, with a 9 point communique, the governors noted the urgency required to conclude deliberations on the Electoral Act Amendment Bill.

The meeting was convened to once again review the various challenges confronting the federating States, the state of the nation and the PDP.

Reading the communique to journalists after the meeting, the PDP Governors’ forum Chairman, and Governor of Sokoto State, Rt. Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal said the other option opened to the National Assembly is to delete areas of complaints in the bill.

“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 PDP governors also decried the continued deterioration of the country’s economy under the leadership of the All Progressive Congress (APC) led Federal Government.

Nigerians, the communique said, 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 PDP, the exchange rate was N198 per Dollar, it is now under APC almost N500 to a Dollar; In 2015, unemployment rate was 7.3% under PDP, it is now 33%, 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% of the Federal budget. The tales of woe is endless.”

The PDP Governors also noted that the management of the oil and gas resources, and the administration of Federation Account remittances have remained opaque, confusing and non – transparent.

“In addition, the transition to NNPC Ltd 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.”

Also, the PDP governors lamented the protracted insecurity situation in the country, the persistent and ceaseless flow of Nigerians’ blood on a daily basis in many parts of Nigeria.

They noted the near collapse of the security situation in Nigeria with the APC administration lost on any enduring strategy to deploy in confronting the terrorists, kidnappers, bandits and other criminals.

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.

“(The meeting) 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 meeting also urged eligible Nigerians of all walks of life, particularly the youths, to register en-masse with the independent National Electoral commission (INEC).

This,  the meeting, resolved,  will enable the registered Nigerians to exercise their franchise in the 2023 general elections.

“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.”

The PDP Governors congratulated the  Senator Dr. Iyorchia Ayu-led National Executive Committee and commended them for hitting the ground running with respect to repositioning the PDP into a credible vehicle for rescuing and rebuilding Nigeria which has been battered by bad economy, insecurity, unemployment and other social ills  by the incompetent and inept APC administration.

Governor Nyesom Ezenwo Wike of Rivers State, who hosted the meeting was commended by forum for the great leadership performance he has entrenched in Rivers State.

The governors who attended the meeting were, Rt. Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal (Sokoto ); Udom Emmanuel ( Akwa Ibom); Senator Douye Diri ( Bayelsa); Samuel Ortom (Benue); Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa (Delta); Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu); Oluseyi Abiodun Makinde (Oyo); Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri (Adamawa) Darius Dickson Ishaku (Taraba) and Bala Mohammed (Bauchi).