A member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has faulted a meeting between the governors of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and President Goodluck Jonathan held to discuss security issues, saying a broad based meeting involving all governors would have been better.
The spokesman for the Adamawa State government, Ahmed Sajoh, accused the PDP of side-lining the governors of the APC in an issue of national interest.
The meeting was held on Thursday and one of the PDP governors, Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State, told reporters after the meeting that the invitation was not extended to the APC governors.
Governor Akpabio said that the PDP governors requested to meet with the president before a broad based meeting involving all governors would be held on April 23.
But Sajoh told Channels Television on Friday that an announcement was made by presidency’s spokesman, Reuben Abati, that there would be a meeting between the president and all the governors.
“All of a sudden, they sent a text message to us that the meeting has been put-off and that it has been postponed to a letter date,” he said.
Sajoh also said that the action of the PDP governors was not right at a time where all governors should be involved in the meeting to seek solutions to the grave insecurity in Nigeria.
Skimmed Out
“We feel that there is something wrong with the system where you do not separate partisanship from real issues that affect the welfare and livelihood of the people.
“The APC was skimmed out of the meeting and I do not see a situation where security issues are discussed and governors of the north east are skimmed out.
“This is ‘being very partisan’ about an issue that is very grave for the nation. I think this is where we should all be above partisanship.
“There are lots of contradictions within the system as far as this security concerns are being addressed,” he said.
After Wednesday’s Federal Executive Council’s meeting, the Minister of Information, Labaran Maku, urged Nigerians not to play politics with the security situation, but Mr Sajoh said that holding a separate meeting that left other governors, most especially, the governors of the three north east states most hit by insurgents, out was an act that appeared like the ruling party was playing politics with the situation.
Broad Based Consultation
He insisted that the security challenges Nigeria was facing were not something that should be discussed in a meeting before a meeting.
“It should be discussed by all governors of the country. The president should have held the meeting with the PDP governors after a meeting must have been held with all the governors.
“This is a time that there should be a broad based discussion on the matter with the entire governor involved.
He insisted that a more broad based consultation was better than what he described as a ‘narrow consultation’.
He condemned the accusation of individuals or political parties for the bomb attack at Nyanya Motor Park on Monday without evidence, describing it as flagrant, callous and hopeless accusation.
“There is need for us to reassure each other that we are approaching this issue with an open mind,” he stressed.
Sajoh further urged President Jonathan to advise members of the PDP to stop being partisan about Nigeria’s security situation.
He requested for proper investigation of sources of arms, the strategic commander of the insurgents and their sponsors.
He also called for the punishment of captured members of the sect to serve as major deterrent, a measure he said the government had treaty with levity.
