Olalekan Adetayo, and Leke Baiyewu, Abuja
State governors elected on the platform
of the All Progressives Congress have resolved to do all within their
powers to ensure that Senator Ike Ekweremadu is removed as the Deputy
President of the Senate, The PUNCH has learnt.
Our correspondent learnt that this was
the fallout of the two-hour meeting the governors had with President
Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Tuesday.
The Chairman of the Progressives
Governors Forum and Governor of Imo State, Rochas Okorocha, had
initially told State House correspondents at the end of the meeting that
the governors had decided to intervene in the crisis in the National
Assembly, without giving details of their intervention.
But a source at the meeting told one of
our correspondents that the consensus at the meeting was that it was an
aberration for Ekweremadu, who is a Senator from the opposition Peoples
Democratic Party, to continue in office as Deputy President of the
Senate.
The source stated, “The governors
sympathised with the President (Buhari) for working with a National
Assembly that is largely seen as unfriendly.
“Particularly, they observed that in the
absence of the President of the Senate, the next person is his deputy.
They therefore agreed that it was an anomalous situation for a PDP
person to continue as the Deputy President of the Senate.
“They sought and got the President’s permission to intervene in the matter in their own way.
“They argued that the truth of the
matter is that rarely is there any Senator that emerged without the
backing of their governors, hence the governors have some levels of
influence on the federal lawmakers.”
Okorocha had, on Monday, said Ekweremadu should get ready to vacate his seat as the Deputy Senate President.
Okorocha had added that a candidate of
the APC, Benjamin Uwajumogu, who contested in the last Saturday’s rerun
senatorial election in Imo State, would displace Ekweremadu as soon as
he joined the Senate.
The governor had said, “The position of
Senator Ike Ekweremadu as the Deputy Senate President is at the moment
under heavy threat because in no distant time, the APC
senator-in-waiting from Imo State, Benjamin Uwajumogu, will take over
the seat on the grounds that it is an aberration that a PDP senator from
the South-East is deputy to an APC Senate President because, before
now, APC could not produce a Senator from the South-East zone.”
Our correspondent further learnt that Buhari at the meeting approved the release of N2bn each to all APC states.
Another source, who attended the
meeting, said the decision was based on what happened during the
administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan.
The source claimed that Jonathan had,
before leaving office, released N2bn each to the PDP states at the time
from the Ecological Fund.
He was alleged to have exempted APC states and PDP states, whose governors were at loggerheads with him, from the gesture.
“That issue was brought to the
President’s attention and he has ordered the release of N2bn each to the
APC states that did not benefit during Jonathan’s administration,” the
source said.
To further cushion the effects of the
downturn in economy on the states, Buhari was also said to have, during
the meeting, approved that 50 per cent of money spent by states on
federal roads be released to them.
Okorocha had, while briefing State House
correspondents after the governors’ meeting with Buhari, said the state
governors from the ruling party were concerned about the incessant
happenings in the National Assembly and had resolved to look into the
matter.
The two chambers of the National
Assembly have continued to witness crisis since inception following the
emergence of leaders, who were not the preferred candidates of the
ruling party, the APC.
Crisis is currently brewing in the House
of Representatives following an allegation by a former Chairman of the
House of Representatives Committee on Appropriation, Abdulmumin Jibrin,
who accused the leadership of the House of padding the 2016 budget to
the tune of N40bn.
Okorocha added, “We have come to
reassure Mr. President that the APC governors are solidly behind him in
his fight against corruption; his fight against insurgents and all his
laudable projects.
“We are concerned about the incessant
happenings in the National Assembly and we have taken it upon ourselves
to look into the matter; that is the crisis in the National Assembly.
“We are going to look into the matter
because we need a strong and vibrant National Assembly to make things
move fast in the country.”
Okorocha defended the recent decision of
the Nigeria Governors Forum for six state governors to travel to
Germany for what they called “vocational training.”
“There is nothing like jamboree trip. We
are going to Germany because we cannot do everything here without
exchanging ideas. Everything you do in your home and your business, you
share ideas.
“So, we want to see how they have done
what they have done to succeed. It is the aspiration of Nigeria to be
like other countries of the world,” he said.
When asked if the trip would be funded
by states, some of who owed workers’ salaries, Okorocha responded, “So,
who will fund it, you!?”
Despite the continued hardship in the states, the governor stated that a lot of improvement had been recorded in some states.
He noted that what the states were
getting from the Federation Account was close to what they were
collecting when crude oil was selling above $100 per barrel.
Other governors, who attended the
meeting, included those of Kaduna, Kwara, Zamfara, Benue, Kano, Sokoto,
Plateau, Niger, Ogun, Borno, Osun, Edo, Kogi, Adamawa, Nasarawa and
Kebbi.
The meeting was also attended by
Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo; Secretary to the Government of the
Federation, Babachir Lawal; and the Chief of Staff to the President,
Abba Kyari, among others.
Ekeweremadu, however, declined to speak
on the plans being hatched by the APC governors to remove him as the
Deputy Senate President.
One of his aides, who was contacted by
one of our correspondents on Tuesday night, said he had no comments
until he was well informed on the matter.
Copyright PUNCH. 
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