PDP Governors Meet In Bauchi, Urge NASS To Entrench Electronic Transmission Of Election Results….See All Decisions Reached

By Daniel Dafe

Governors elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Monday met in Bauchi, Bauchi State to once again deliberate on the state of the nation.

A communiqué issued at the end of the 11th meeting of the PDP governors said they “reviewed the deteriorating state of our democracy, the economic and security situation in the country and the state of the PDP as the main opposition platform in Nigeria and came up with vital resolutions.

According to the communiqué, on the Electoral Act Amendment Bill, the Governors identified with the need for free, fair and credible elections in the country and called on the National Assembly to entrench Electronic transmission of results of elections in the nation’s electoral jurisprudence.

PDP Governors’ Forum also requested the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to deploy appropriate technologies necessary to ensure that the votes of every Nigerian is counted and made to count.

The meeting further called on the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), especially, the Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF), Nigerian Communications Satellite Ltd (NIGCOMSAT), Telephone Companies (Telcos) and all relevant stakeholders to ensure that universal access and service of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are provided especially in rural, un-served and under-served areas of the country before the 2023 General elections.

The governors also condemned the attempt to foist on all political parties, one method of conducting primaries, that is, by DIRECT METHOD ONLY, through the Electoral Act Amendment Bill.

They noted that the method is prone to massive rigging, saying that this is evidenced by a situation where President Buhari scored about 15 million votes in the 2018 APC Direct Primaries only to score 15 million votes from the entire country in the 2019 General Election.

The Governors advised that political parties should be allowed to decide whether to use direct or indirect method of conducting primaries as part of internal democracy in political parties.

Furthermore, the Governors reiterated, once again, the need for the NNPC and other revenue generating agencies of Government to strictly abide by the Constitution by remitting all their revenue less cost of production into the Federation Account as provided for by S.162 of the Constitution.

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Continuing, they condemned, once again, the use of what they described as underhand tactics to arm twist some PDP Governors and other stakeholders to join the APC, saying that APC has wrecked Nigeria’s economy, turned Nigeria into a killing field and has nothing to offer Nigerians but misery and bad governance.

Also, the Governors slammed Mr President and APC, saying that they have turned the Presidential Villa that belongs to all Nigerians, into the new APC headquarters, where they added that coerced PDP members are being paraded at intervals.

On the economy, they urged the APC Federal Government to collaborate more with State Governments to stem the unemployment scourge affecting the youths of Nigeria through technology and increased production in all fields of endeavour, reiterating that Government should stop paying lip service on the Ease of Doing Business, as foreign direct investments have continued to fall partly due to obstacles placed on foreign companies wishing to invest in Nigeria.

On solutions to tackling insecurity, they opined that it is time to bring the activities of bandits, kidnappers and terrorists to an end through increased use of military equipment, traditional means of conflict resolution and technology for surveillance and the development of the political will to flush them out.

“Kidnapping, banditry and terrorism ARE NOT BUSINESS VENTURES as claimed by APC but heinous STATE CRIMES that are destroying the Nigerian economy, the educational and social future of our children and causing significant social upheavals in society,” the governors added.

Also, the PDP Governors enjoined all Nigerians to take advantage of the ongoing registration of Voters by INEC to register to vote, as they called on the general public, especially youths and Women to use the opportunity of the PDP E-REGISTRATION exercise which will kick off soon, to register as PDP members, adding that PDP Members should update their membership electronically.

In attendance at the meeting were:
Rt. Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, CFR – Sokoto State – Chairman
Gov. Okezie Ikpeazu -Abia State – Vice Chairman
Gov. Udom Emmanuel – Akwa Ibom State – Member
Gov. Sen. Douye Diri – Bayelsa State – Member
Gov. Samuel Ortom -Benue State -Member
Gov. Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa – Delta State – Member
Gov. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi – Enugu State – Member
Gov. Nyesom Wike, CON – Rivers State – Member
Gov. Engr. Oluseyi Abiodun Makinde – Oyo State – Member
Gov. Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri -Adamawa State -Member
Gov. Godwin Obaseki – Edo State -Member
Gov. Bala Mohammed -Bauchi State – Member
Gov. Arc Darius Ishaku -Taraba State -Member
Deputy Gov. Mahdi Mohd -Zamfara State -Deputy Governor