State Governors elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress on Monday expressed their displeasure on how they were being sidelined in the choice of those being given federal appointments in their states by President Muhammadu Buhari, The Punch is reporting.
The governors protested to Buhari and Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo at a meeting they had at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Our correspondent, however, learnt that the complaints were not presented to Buhari at the larger meeting attended by the APC governors and some deputy governors.
A source, who spoke with our correspondent on condition of anonymity, said the larger meeting was only devoted to encouraging the President on the 21 Chibok girls recently released by Boko Haram, agriculture, the ongoing anti-corruption war and the forthcoming governorship election in Ondo State.
The source stated that the larger meeting, which also had in attendance political appointees like the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, and some presidential aides, lasted for a few minutes.
“During the larger meeting, the governors said they would like six of them to meet with the President and the Vice-President alone, but they did not disclose the agenda of the meeting then,” the source added.
At the second meeting, our correspondent learnt, the governors expressed their displeasure with the way they were being sidelined while deciding who would benefit from federal appointments in their states.
The source gave the names of the six governors who attended the meeting with the President and Vice-President as Rochas Okorocha (Imo), Adams Oshiomhole (Edo), Abdulaziz Yari (Zamfara), Simon Lalong (Plateau), Ibikunle Amosun (Ogun) and Nasir el-Rufai (Kaduna).
The source told The Punch: “The meeting was held right inside the President’s office.
“Presidential aides, including the SGF, were not part of that meeting.
“It was just between the President and the Vice-President on one hand and the six governors on the other hand.
“They told the President clearly that they wanted to discuss issues of national importance with him and that the six governors would represent them.”
Lalong confirmed this development to State House correspondents at the end of the meeting.
Lalong said Buhari had asked that state governors, who had complaints, put them in writing, while promising to look into them.
“So, all the states that have complaints are going to put them into writing and the President promised that he is going to look into it,” he said.
Specifically on the ambassadorial nominee from his state, Paulen Tallen, who has rejected her nomination, Lalong said the rejection was not only about her husband’s ill-health as she claimed.
He said the rejection had more to do on the need for all zones in the state to be treated fairly in terms of federal appointments.
The governor added: “The rejection is not only about her (Tallen’s) husband.
“I think it is the dimension of Plateau politics, because I had already made complaints to Mr. President that appointments should not be concentrated in one zone.
“All these appointments came again from that particular zone.
“The complaints that are coming from our state are not about her own personal interest.
“It is the fact that two ambassadorial appointments are coming from the same zone that we had complained about.
“That is my zone.
“We had said that the next appointment should go to the other zones, the central and the northern zones.
“So, when that appointment came, the kind of uproar that followed that appointment also necessitated an intervention.”
Meanwhile, a meeting of the National Economic Council, comprising all state governors, will hold inside the Presidential Villa on Tuesday (today).
The Vice-President will preside over the meeting, which will hold inside the Council Chambers.
Ahead of the meeting, state governors, on Monday evening, met under the auspices of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum.
The meeting, presided over by the forum’s Chairman, Yari, was held inside the old Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa.
It was called to give the governors the opportunity of taking a common position on issues to be discussed at the NEC meeting.
Trending
- Tinubu appoints renowned banker Jim Ovia as Chair of NELFUND
- Yahaya Bello: EFCC boss Olukoyede to face criminal trial for contempt of court
- President Tinubu appoint CEOs for two agencies
- Breaking: Veteran Yoruba actor, Ogunjimi is dead
- EX-PRESIDENT BUHARI MOURNS DEMISE OF SIDI ALI, DR. BAFFA YO
- Japa Crises: 58,000 of 130,000 registered doctors renewed licence, says MDCN
- 34-Km Ikorodu-Itokin Road Reconstruction: Gov Sanwo-Olu, Senator Abiru Pay Thank You Visit To Works Minister, Umahi, Make Case For Road Dualisation
- Yahaya Bello: EFCC Chairman’s conduct suggest vendetta, not fight against corruption – Concerned APC chieftains