The Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) has called on the Department of State Security (DSS) to stop over heating the polity with statement that some entrenched politicians are planning an interim government against the President-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
In a communique made available to newsmen at the end of its meeting signed by the Chairman of the Forum, Governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal in Abuja on Saturday asked the DSS to arrest those concerned.
The Governors condemned in the strongest terms, any unconstitutional means of regime change and pledged its commitment to continue to defend Nigeria’s democracy as elected leaders.
The Forum held that issuing statements without arrests is akin to heating up the polity and causing unwarranted tension in the country. The forum therefore called on the DSS to do its job by immediately arresting and prosecuting all those involved in the plot as a matter of urgency.
However, the governors acknowledged that the 2023 general election was not perfect.
“The forum deliberated extensively on the alleged plot by some unscrupulous elements to install an interim government, as contained in the recent statement issued by the Department for State Services (DSS)” Tambuwal said in the statement.
On the implementation of the National Development Plan (2021-2025), the Forum nominated six Governors to represent the six geopolitical zones of the country in the National Steering Committee.
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The Governor of Kwara State was nominated for the north central region, Governor of Bauchi State.for north east, Governor of Zamfara State for north western, Governor of Edo State for South south, Governor of Anambra State for South East and Governor of Ekiti State for south west.
“The communiqué said that the Forum received a briefing on the cancellation of the proposed privatization of Five (5) National Integrated Power Projects (NIPPs) by National Council on Privatization (NCP) and the withdrawal of the matter at the Federal High Court between the 36 States of the Federation Vs the Federal Government of Nigeria which was instituted to halt the process to enable stakeholders address the concerns by States and Local Governments who collectively own a joint stake of 53% in the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC).
“The communiqué explained applauded this move by the NCP which appears to have taken into consideration the recommendation of the States to halt the process due to ill-timing amongst other reasons.
According to the communique, the Forum congratulated members who were re-elected for a 2nd term in office adding, “While we acknowledge that the election was not perfect, we will take advantage of the learning points to strengthen our democracy and electoral processes.”
Regarding the refund of backlog of Stamp Duties due to State Governments, the Forum restated its commitment to engaging with all stakeholders and exploring all legal channels available to it in ensuring that monies which ought to have since been used for development projects are duly refunded to the States.
The Forum said that it is set to conduct its flagship induction programme for its newly elected and re- elected governors.
This event, the communiqué said will bring together newly elected, re-elected, past governors, national and international leaders, captains of industries and development partners, is scheduled to hold from 14th -17th May 2023.
The event, the communiqué said is designed to build the capacity of Governors to establish, organize, manage, and set agenda/priorities using best practices whilst leveraging the tools of their trade – people, processes, programmes and public opinion – for greater and more effective governance.
It said that the second part of the Induction programme will hold from 17th -19th May, 2023 and will focus on the Governors’ Spouses Summit designed to strategize on how the activities of the Governors’ spouses can best complement the roles of the Governors in promoting good governance at the sub-national level and help the spouses better understand the processes of transitioning to their new roles as first ladies.
