The All Progressives Congress (APC) Governors Forum chaired by the Imo state governor, Hope Uzodinma on Friday passed a vote of confidence in President Bola Tinubu.
The motion for the confidence vote raised at the APC National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of the party held at the Conference Center of the Presidential Villa was seconded by the Kaduna state governor, Uba Sani.
This came as the President threatened to deduct and transfer funds accruing to local governments directly from the source and send directly to the local council’s if the state governors refused to implement the Supreme Court ruling on the council autonomy.
Tinubu also declared that the establishment of state police was a must even as he stressed that war against terrorism and banditry must be won
The President said democracy must be protected by all means urging that the party leadership must be tolerant and accommodating.
On local government autonomy, he said
“Like I said yesterday, know that you have your elections at the local government level. You are the supervisors, the vigilators, the INEC and everything of the local governments you elected them.
“Nobody helped you the governors. Since you elected them, it means you know them, you are responsible for their survival, but the Supreme Court has curved it for you again, saying, give them their money directly. So if you wait for my Executive Order because I have the knife, I have the yam, I will cut it before if we do the arithmetic, we know the percentage, and I’ve said it to the RMAFC I’m just being very respectful and understanding with my governors. Otherwise, if you don’t start to implement it, FAAC after FAAC , you will see.
The ultimate no is our Supreme Court. We have to comply. We have to respect the judgment.”
On the establishment of state police, he told the governors: “please summon the IG and start looking at the ramification and which way to institute controls and prevent abuses. We are going for state police. I would do the forest rangers. We will have them. We will defeat those terrorists and bandits.”
The President in his comments on the party said the leadership should be accommodating urging them not to joke with its e-registration exercise.
He urged never to discountenance the God factor on the leadership selection process describing his emergence as the President despite all the hurdles placed on his way ahead of the 2023 elections as the work of God.
He said “God, got us here. I am a symbol
of that God, because without him, I won’t be here.”
“We must continue to be resolute that this democracy that we take in our hands must not fail. To me, we say we are bigger. Yes, we are larger and we are taller, but it is in our hand now
to be accommodating. That’s the only way we can be resilient, be tolerant,
move a little bit.
We I listened to the chairman on the e-registration. Allow it. No elbow. Don’t shut the door against the people you are in charge. Now, if you fail to do so, we’ll take it away. We know how to do it.
We’ll do it on your behalf. When we do it on your behalf, that’s leadership failure on your own part if you abuse the trust.
So please don’t let us joke with it. We have a need for that E registration.”
The President also warned the National Assembly to steer clear of making laws outside the exclusiveist warning that where they detailed, he would with old assent to whatever law so passed.
He specifically warned the lawmakers against passing any law on lotto or lottery warning that he would never sign such law.
Vice President Kashim Shettima in his remarks commended the President for his political brickmanship by berthing a coalition that morphed into APC to dislodge opposition.
