APC govs demand urgent meeting with Jonathan on dwindling FAAC
Governors of states controlled by the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the country want to meet with President Goodluck Jonathan over the issue of dwindling federal allocation to the states.
APC governors expressed dismay development, saying that they did not believe that the country was broke.
Chairman of the forum, Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State, who spoke to newsmen at the end of their five-hour meeting in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, on Wednesday, said the dwindling resources for states coming from FAAC, as monthly allocation may make it impossible for states to pay workers’ salaries.
In his words, “This has become a very serious concern to us as governors and we felt that issues that affect the lives of our people must never be politicised. We refuse to accept the fact that this nation is broke and thank God that the Federal Government has confirmed that the nation is not broke.
“If the nation is not broke, what is due to states should be given to states. This idea of cutting down what should go to states does not in any way promote democracy and democratic dividends.
“And so, we as progressive governors do call on the Federal Government to look into the issue of dwindling resources and convince us as to why the states should not get what is due to them. We don’t know why our colleagues from the PDP side are not talking on this matter. But if they are not talking, it is either they are not affected or somehow they are getting something from the backdoor which we don’t know.
“And if that is not the reason, I think the president or the Federal Government should act quickly to quell the present ugly situation, which this terrible condition of dwindling resources points out to us by making sure that the states get what is due to them at least to pay salaries of their workers.”
The chairman of the APC governors’ forum, while veering into the political front, said there won’t be imposition of candidate in the party.
According to him, the the forum was in full support of consensus as one of the ways of producing its presidential candidate or any candidate of the party, “for as long as it is done with regard to respect to internal democracy.”
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The meeting was attended by Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara State, Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State, Rochas Okorocha of Imo State, Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State, Hashim Shettima of Borno State, Rabiu Kwankwaso of Kano State and Ibrahim Geidam of Yobe State.
Absent were Raji Fashola of Lagos, Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun, Adams Oshiomhole of Edo, Umar Tanko Al-Makura of Nasarawa, Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara and Aliyu Wamakko of Sokoto states.
