APC Plans To Boycott National Dialogue The All Progressives Congress has said it will not participate in the planned national dialogue announced by President Goodluck Jonathan on October 1. It hinged its decision on the fact that the “dialogue was nothing but a mere constitutional amendment process’’ which is already being carried out by the National Assembly. This decision was taken at the party’s National Executive Committee meeting in Abuja on Tuesday. It coincided with the Progressive Governors’ Forum’s threat to use all constitutional means, including legal action, to compel the Federal Government to pay all shortfalls in allocations to the 36 states of the federation. Some of the governors elected on the platform of the party were also at the meeting, which was also attended by a former governor of Lagos State, Aswiaju Bola Tinubu. Briefing journalists after the meeting, the Interim National Publicity Secretary of the party, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, described the planned conference as diversionary. Besides, he said the Federal Government lacked credibility to organise such a conference. Mohammed said, “What we see today is that this government has lost focus; it has lost credibility, it has lost control of the economy. Insecurity and corruption have attained an uncontrollable proportion and at this point in time, this government lacks the credibility to organise a meaningful national conference. “In any event, we see this thing as nothing but a diversion and what are we talking about a national conference for when even the President(Dr. Goodluck Jonathan) himself has said the outcome of the conference would be subjected to the approval of the National Assembly? “So, what we really have to do is a constitutional amendment, not a national conference and we shall not be a party to that.” Asked to be categorical whether the party was going to boycott the conference, Mohammed said, “There is no issue of boycotting. I have put it clear to you: this is diversionary. “If it is a clear or meaningful national dialogue, we will participate, but this isn’t. The President himself has said whatever is discussed will be subjected to National Assembly. So, what you are having is a constitutional amendment.” Tinubu, who had spoken against the conference when he returned from a medical trip abroad recently, did not speak with journalists after the meeting. He simply walked away when Mohammed was speaking with journalists. Also on Tuesday, the PGF rose from a short meeting in Abuja with a threat to employ all constitutional means, including going to court, if the Federal Government failed to pay up all outstanding allocations to the states. One of the governors said, “When we mentioned constitutional means, it also means going to court if need be.” Members of the forum had at the meeting discussed several issues, including the dwindling federal allocation to the states. The meeting was attended by Governors Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti); Rauf Aregbesola (Osun); Abiola Ajimobi (Oyo); Ibrahim Geidam (Yobe); and Rochas Okorocha(Imo). The governor of Borno State Kashim Shettima was represented by his deputy, Zannah Mustapha and The governors of Lagos, Edo, Zamfara, Ogun and Nasarawa states, did not send representatives. The Governor of Edo State, Mr. Adams Oshiomhole, was said to be attending an event in Lagos where his Lagos State counterpart, Babatunde Fashola (SAN), was also said to be present. The other governors were said to have travelled out of the country. The meeting, which was held at the Ekiti State Governor’s Lodge located at Asokoro, Abuja was brief. Fayemi, who briefed journalists after the meeting, said the time had come for the governors to employ all constitutional means to deal with the several deductions from the states’ monthly allocations. He added that they were no longer comfortable with the way the Federal Government was treating them on the matter. Fayemi said, “We discussed issues that are pertinent to national finance, particularly the Federation Account Allocation Committee work. “We have come to a critical juncture as far as FAAC discussions have gone over the last three months. “You aren’t unaware of what has been going on; you are also aware of what our finance commissioners have had to do in removing themselves from the meetings of FAAC and we continue to insist that we condemn the illegal and unconstitutional deductions. “Averagely, all our states lost 40 per cent of their normal earnings in the last two to three months from the FAAC and we believe this isn’t defensible in any way.” He said that the benchmark that the National Assembly agreed for 2013 budget was still very realistic because there was no time from January till now that oil has sold for anything less than $105 per barrel. Fayemi said that even at some particular time, oil sold for $110 per barrel. “So, there is still no basis for the kind of incomplete allocations to the states in this regard and we have decided to take appropriate constitutional measures in order to tackle this flagrant abuse of the Constitution of Nigeria and the Appropriation Act, particularly of the National Assembly,” he added. Also speaking , Okorocha said the APC governors condemned the conduct of the Delta Central Senatorial election. He claimed that its outcome might be a prelude to the conduct of the 2015 general election. The governor added that the meeting demanded a fresh election in Oguta Federal Constituency in Imo State, since the previous one was declared inconclusive by the Independent National Electoral Commission. He said that for the past two years, the people of the zone had been denied representation by INEC. Okorocha said, “We are very much concerned about the danger posed by the recent election in Delta State and we condemn in this respect, that that wasn’t an election at all. “The reports that we have received so far show that it was mere manipulation of the entire electoral process and we are worried that this poses a great danger to the 2015 elections. “From what we are seeing, we must stand up to those things now or Nigerians might pay a bigger price for it in 2015.”
Posted on: Wed, 23 Oct 2013 06:12:52 +0000
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