PDP Governors Call For Restructuring, State Police, Ranching

The Peoples Democratic Party Governors’ Forum has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to send an Executive Bill to the National Assembly to ammend the constitution in order to enable creation of state police.

The governors led by Sokoto State governor, Aminu Tambuwal, said this is imperative in the face of the worsening insecurity in the country.

This was said in a communique issued by the governor in Ibadan on Monday at the end of their one day meeting in the Oyo State capital.

The governor also backed the call for restructuring of the country and voiced their support for the position of the Southern governors on ranching as the sustainable method of raising livestock .

They also called on the President to summon the meeting of the Council of State with a view on addressing the threats to Nigeria’s union.

The communique read, “The meeting called on Mr President as the Chief Executive Officer of Nigeria and Commander in Chief of Nigerian Armed Forces to immediately send an Executive Bill to the National Assembly to amend the Nigerian Constitution to devolve more powers to the states with respect to security arrangements culminating in some form of state policing and the general security architecture.

“In the interim, Mr President should summon an immediate meeting of the Nigerian Police Council, which comprises Mr President and all state governors and other critical stakeholders to evolve and implement strategies to combat the present threats to our union, especially with respect to policing.

” The meeting agreed that the police force still remains the appropriate institution to secure our democracy and should not be subjected to personal attacks. The welfare, training, equipment, funding of all security agencies should be given priority.

“The meeting supports the earlier position taken by the Nigeria Governors Forum, Northern Governors Forum and recently by the Southern Governors Forum to adopt ranching as the most viable solution to the herders / farmers clashes in Nigeria; the restructuring of the Nigerian federation to devolve more powers and functions to the States; and reform of various civil institutions to achieve efficiency and equity for all sections of Nigeria.

“The meeting enjoins all Nigerians to work together to achieve peace and harmony with one another, devoid of discrimination based on ethnicity, religion and other cleavages.

“To this end, the meeting called on the incompetent and rudderless APC Government to take bold and deliberate steps to de-escalate and lower tensions in our country, and concentrate on projects and policies that will enhance and promote national unity and cohesion.”

Those in attendance were: Aminu Waziri Tambuwal ( Sokoto State), Udom Emmanuel ( Akwa Ibom State),
Douye Diri (Bayelsa State) Samuel Ortom (Benue State) and Ifeanyi Okowa Delta State.

Others were Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu State) Nyesom Wike (Rivers State) Seyi Makinde (Oyo State), Ahmadu Fintiri (Adamawa State) and Godwin Obaseki ( Edo State)

Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State and the Deputy Governor of Zamfara State, Mahdi Mohd, were also present at the meeting.