From Femi Folaranmi, Yenagoa

 

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governors Forum has demanded the immediate signing of the Electoral Amendment Act.

 The forum at its meeting, at the Bayelsa State Government House, to review the state of the nation, said the delay in signing the amendments would indicate that the President Muhammadu Buhari led All Progressive Congress (APC) was unwilling to effect electoral reforms before the 2023 elections.

 A communiqué issued at the end of the meeting was read by the Vice- Chairman of the forum and Abia State Governor,  Okezie Ikpeazu, following  the absence of the chairman and Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Tambuwal.

Part of it read: The PDP governors urge Mr President to immediately sign the Electoral Act Amendment Bill into law. Waiting to run out the 30 days is yet another sign of unwillingness by Mr President to give Nigeria a reformed Electoral framework. If there are still misgivings on any aspect of the Bill, Amendments may be introduced at a later stage.”

  The forum while congratulating PDP for winning 43 out of 62 Councillorship positions in the just concluded Abuja Area Council election results noted that “in spite of improvements in the conduct of elections, the Gwagwalada and Abuja Area Council results show that manipulations are still possible.”

It therefore urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to tighten all observed loopholes and further improve on the functioning of the BVAS Machine for future elections.

 On the recent importation of contaminated fuel into the country, the forum called for the arrest of its perpetrators even as it reprimanded the Federal Government over its insincerity in the fuel subsidy regime.

“The Governors frowned at the duplicity, inconsistency; insincerity of the APC led Federal Government on the fuel subsidy regime, which has been badly and corruptly administered. The figures of consumption and ascribed to Nigerians appear fictitious and bloated. They called for proper investigation to be conducted on this matter.”

 It also commended the judiciary for its judgment on the Police Trust Fund deductions and expressed displeasure with some policies of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) akin to that of an alternate government.

“In the same vein, the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission should expedite action on the new Revenue Allocation formula in such a way as to increase allocation to states and local governments.

“The forum once again decry  the opaque nature of NNPC operations. They called for accountability and reconciliation of NNPC remittances into the federation account.

 “As the National Assembly winds down this current phase of the constitution review exercise, the forum urges that they revisit the issue of devolution of more powers to the states and local governments.

“This opportunity to rejig the framework for policing and securing Nigeria should not be missed. To this end, the Forum would set up a Panel of Consultants to have a thorough look at the security architecture of Nigeria and make recommendations. The Governors also urged the National Assembly to transfer some items from the Exclusive Legislative List to Concurrent List.”

PDP governors in attendance include Nyeson Wike (Rivers), Douye Diri (Bayelsa), Ifeanyi Okowa(Delta), Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri(Adamawa) Seyin Makinde(Oyo), Godwin Obaseki(Edo), Samuel Ortom(Benue), Emmanuel Udom(Akwa Ibom), Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi(Enugu) and  Bala Mohammed(Bauchi).