Governors on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at a meeting on Monday in Bauchi, Bauchi State, decried the magnitude of the failure of the Federal Government controlled by the All Progressives Congress (APC) to deliver good governance to Nigerians. The governors lamented that the APC government has ruined the country’s economy, relegated Nigeria to a killing field, offered citizens nothing but misery.

The PDP Governors in their communique condemned the use of underhand tactics to arm twist some PDP Governors and other stakeholders to join the APC. They described the APC as “a political party that has wrecked Nigeria’s economy, turned Nigeria into a killing field and has nothing to offer Nigerians but misery and bad governance.”

The PDP Governors’ Forum in a communique at the 11th meeting on Monday in Bauchi, indicated that after deliberating on the state of the nation, the PDP Governors reviewed the deteriorating state of democracy, economy and the security crisis in the country, including the state of the PDP as the main opposition party in Nigeria, they arrived at the following resolutions.

The Governors identified with the need for a free, fair and credible elections in the country, detected flaws in the Electoral Act Amendment Bill, then, called on the National Assembly to include electronic transmission of results of elections in the nation’s electoral jurisprudence.

The meeting requested Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the only body empowered by the Constitution to conduct elections, to deploy appropriate technologies necessary to ensure that the vote of every Nigerian is counted and made to count. The meeting further called on the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), especially, the Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF), Nigerian Communications Satellite Ltd (NIGCOMSAT), Telephone Companies (Telcos) and all relevant stakeholders to ensure that universal access and service of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are provided especially in rural, un-served and under-served areas of the country before the 2023 General elections.

The PDP governors condemned the attempt by the APC to impose one method of conducting primaries, that is, by DIRECT METHOD ONLY, on all political parties, through the Electoral Act Amendment Bill. The Governors noted that the method is prone to massive rigging, as evidenced by a situation where President Buhari scored about 15 million votes in the 2018 APC Direct Primaries only to score 15 million votes from the entire country in the 2019 General Election. The Governors advised that political parties, should be allowed to decide whether to use direct or indirect method of conducting primaries as part of internal democracy in political parties.

The PDP Governors reiterated the need for the NNPC and other revenue generating agencies of Government to strictly abide by the Constitution by remitting all their Revenue less cost of Production into the Federation Account as provided for by S.162 of the Constitution.

The Governors berated President Muhammadu Buhari and the ruling APC for converting the Presidential Villa, that belongs to all Nigerians, into the new APC headquarters, where coerced PDP members are being paraded at intervals.

The PDP Governors counseled the APC Federal Government to collaborate more with State Governments on managing the economy to stem the unemployment scourge affecting the youths of Nigeria, through technology and increased production in all fields of endeavour. They admonished that Government should stop paying lip service on the Ease of Doing Business, as foreign direct investments have continued to fall partly due to obstacles placed on foreign companies wishing to invest in Nigeria. “A glaring example is that of FACEBOOK who insisted on investing in Nigeria rather than Ghana and is being frustrated by regulatory authorities,” the governors noted.

According to the PDP Governors: “on security of lives and properties, in addition to our earlier recommendations, it is time to bring the activities of bandits, kidnappers and terrorists to an end, through increased use of military equipment, traditional means of conflict resolution and technology for surveillance and the development of the political will to flush them out.

“Kidnapping, banditry and terrorism ARE NOT BUSINESS VENTURES as claimed by APC but heinous STATE CRIMES, that is destroying the Nigerian economy, the educational and social future of our children and causing significant social upheavals in society.”

The PDP Governors subsequently enjoined all Nigerians of goodwill to take advantage of the ongoing registration of Voters by INEC to register to vote, thereby, arming themselves with the necessary tools in the struggle to RESCUE NIGERIA from the APC maladministration.

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“Furthermore, the general public, especially, our Youths and Women are implored to use the opportunity of the PDP E-REGISTRATION exercise which will kick off soon, to register as PDP members, while PDP Members should update their membership electronically,” the governors declared.

The PDP Governors in attendance at the meeting include:

Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal of Sokoto State, Chairman, PDP Governors Forum; Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State, Vice Chairman;

Gov. Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom State, Gov. Douye Diri of Bayelsa State, Gov. Samuel Ortom of Benue State, Gov. Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State,

Gov. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State, Gov. Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, Gov. Oluseyi Abiodun Makinde of Oyo State,

Gov. Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri of Adamawa State, Gov. Godwin Obaseki of Edo State, Gov. Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State,

Gov. Darius Ishaku of Taraba State, and Deputy Governor Mahdi Mohd of Zamfara State.