The governors under the Peoples Democratic Party have declared support for one of their members, Simi Fubara of Rivers State after condemnation that followed lack of support from the National Working Committee of the party.
The NWC has been accused of working against the governor who is rumoured to be preparing grounds for defection.
Party stakeholders including the Board of Trustee of the party have accused the NWC being led by Umar Damagum of pandering to the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike and harming Fubara’s fight against Wike faction of the state assembly in court.
The NWC has failed to provide documents and deposition in court in favour of Fubara raising concerns of its complicity with Wike, who has been fighting Fubara for control of State resources and political structure since he served out his term as governor of the state.
However, at its regular meeting in Jalingo, the Taraba State Capital, the PDP governors in a statement signed by the forum’s chairman and governor of Bauchi State said “the Forum notes the political impasse in Rivers State where court judgements are employed to determine the outcome of the party congresses.
“The PDP Governors’ Forum restates its stand with the Governor of Rivers State and will engage the NWC of our great party to revisit the congress with a view to correcting the anomaly and allowing His Excellency Governor Siminalayi Fubara to take his rightful leadership position of the party in the state.”
The meeting which was held on Friday evening with a communique released late into the weekend also warned against rigging the forthcoming Edo governorship election.
It said “with regard to the forthcoming governorship election in Edo State, we condemn the pronouncements by the President to compromise the election in favour of his Party as well as the systematic intimidation of PDP supporters by the Nigeria Police and call on the Inspector General of Police to call his men to order.”
The forum noted “with a sigh of relief the end of the #EndBadGovernance protests which were edging to a major national crisis.
“We salute the dexterity of the Governors especially of the PDP extraction in handling the situation in their respective States with maturity, thereby restraining hoodlums and other unscrupulous elements from hijacking the protests.
“The Forum reiterates that peaceful protests are the inalienable rights of the citizens through which they vent their genuine grievances.
“The Forum commiserates with the families of those innocent souls that were lost and calls on the Federal Government to ensure fair and speedy trial of those who were arrested.”
The Forum lamented that rather than undertake a review of macro-economic and social policies with a view to giving them a human face, the Federal Government “has resorted to blackmail.
“We call on Mr. President to show statesmanship by restraining his officials from blame games that make the sub-nationals look bad by mentioning piecemeal interventions that cannot solve the problem.
“We remain unshaken in our firm resolve to stand with the suffering Nigerian masses and to take all legitimate steps to ameliorate their plight.”
It further noted with concern the “refusal of the Federal Government to distinguish between the Federal Government of Nigeria, FGN revenue and revenue accruing to the Federation which must be allocated in accordance with extant laws.
“We call on the Federal Ministry of Finance and the Accountant General of the Federation to be more transparent in obeying the law, particularly section 162 (1) (2) (3).”
It called on the “Accountant General of the Federation to stop behaving like the Accountant General of the Federal Government and to exercise her role in line with the constitution.
“Therefore, we call for the separation of the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation and that of the Accountant General of the FGN,” the forum said in the communique.