Beware of these Governors

Some prominent Nigerians have expressed concern over what they described as the overbearing influence of the Nigerian Governors Forum on the Presidency and have advised President Goodluck Jonathan to be wary of them.

The Nigerians comprising politicians, lawyers, activists reacted to reports that governors elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party were calling on the President to sack four ministers for having differences with the governors of their respective states.

Those mentioned in the report include the Minister of Niger Delta, Elder Godsday Orubebe, the Minister of Commerce and Industry, Senator Jubril Martins Kuye, his counterpart in the Federal Capital Territory, Senator Bala Mohammed and the Minister of State for Education, Chief Keneth Gbagi.

While two of the Ministers, Orubebe and Gbagi are from Delta State, Kuye and Mohammed are from Ogun and Bauchi states respectively.

The immediate past President of the Nigeria Bar Association, Mr. Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, (SAN), the National Publicity secretary of the Afenifere Renewal Group, Dr. Yinka Odumakin, the Publicity Secretary of the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties, Mr. Osita okechukw and the Deputy National Chairman of the Congress for Progressive Change, Alhaji Geidam Almajiri, were unanimous in condemning the governor’s demand.

Akeredolu said in a telephone interview with our correspondent on Friday that the activities of the governors could only portray the presidency as being too weak.

He urged the President to call the governors to order by stopping the unwarranted intervention in issues under his control.

According to him, the governors do not have any role in the appointment and sacking of ministers appointed by the President in a Presidential system of government.

“Who appointed the ministers? They were appointed by the President; I think it is part of their PDP development. They are not their appointers. They are there at the mercy of the President.

“So the governors have no role in their appointment. This is an unwarranted intervention on matters that are fairly within the President’s schedule of duties. The president is portrayed as weak. He should put them in their proper places by stopping the unnecessary intervention in his own area of work.

Also, the Publicity Secretary of the Afenifere Renewal Group, Odumakin, said that the governors had converted themselves to imperial overlords in the society.

Condemning the governor’s demand, he said that no president worth his salt should succumb to such blackmail.

He also said that if it was true that the governor made the move to prevail on Jonathan to lay off ministers for having disagreements with their state governors, it showed clearly that they were overreaching themselves.

In his comment, the Deputy Chairman of the Congress for Progressive Change, Alhaji Geidam Almajiri, described the governor’s demand as a PDP issue.

He wondered why the governors would leave their respective states to intervene in issues that are strictly under the control of the presidency.

-Punch

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Posted by admin on Jan 23 2011. Filed under Governors, Latest Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry