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Tag: PGF

  • Benue killings: PGF backs Tinubu’s stance on security

    Benue killings: PGF backs Tinubu’s stance on security

    The Progressives Governors Forum (PGF) has declared its full support for President Bola Tinubu’s response to the recent killings in Benue.

    Chairman of the PGF and Gov. of Imo, Hope Uzodimma made this known to newsmen in Abuja on Wednesday, after a meeting with some progressive governors.

    He said that the Forum stood united with the President in his resolve to end violent attacks and hold the perpetrators accountable.

    President Tinubu had earlier on Wednesday, visited Benue to condole with Gov. Hyacinth Alia over the killings in Yelwata, Guma Local Government Area of the state.

    He said: “The Progressives Governors Forum is fully in support of President Tinubu’s position on the Benue killings”.

    “We were in Benue state, first, to show solidarity to our colleague, the Governor of Benue state.

    “To condole with him for that unfortunate incident and also, encourage Mr President in his efforts to address this situation in Benue state which continues to repeat itself.

    “We are satisfied with the position of Mr President on his planned action to stop further killings and violence, not only in Benue state, but almost in every part of the country.

    “Arising from that, we just rose from a meeting where we also discussed the state of the nation and the need for the sub-national governments to take security up to the rural communities.

    “Henceforth, we must do everything, whatever it will take, to protect lives and property in Nigeria which is the primary essence of government”.

    The governor also commended the President for all the strides and achievements he had recorded in two years.

    “We are satisfied by the way he is going and in the very nearest future, Nigeria will come out of this and prosperity will become the order of the day.

    “So we encourage all of us Nigerians and condole the families of those involved in the unfortunate incidents in the state and other parts of the country.

    “And we are showing our people who voted us to power that we have buckled up and we have braced up.

    “We are ensuring to provide to the security agencies everything that they require to ensure that every space, the governed and the ungoverned is adequately protected”.

    On what is the Forum’s recommendation to the President, Uzodimma said “If you listened well to the President, he even recommended that he is willing to support Benue State to establish a ranch.

    “I think what that goes to show is that to encourage harmonious relationships between herders and farmers so there will be a win-win situation.

    “It is not meant to impute any motive or theory that will not encourage the unity of this country.

    “We appreciate and commend the President for his speech and the position he has taken and the governor in his speech also recommended state police.

    “There is no difference between state police and community police. So it is decentralising security.

    “There will be a technical committee that will look at all the issues and put together a working paper for the governors going forward,” he said.

  • APC governors commend Adamu, Omisore over voluntary resignation

    APC governors commend Adamu, Omisore over voluntary resignation

    Governors elected under the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) commended Senator Abdullahi Adamu and senator Iyiola Omisore for resigning voluntarily.

    The Chairman of the Progressive Governors’ Forum (PGF) and Imo state Governor, Senator Hope Uzodimma while addressing journalist at the end of a crucial meeting in Abuja, said the actions taken by Adamu and Omisore were voluntary.

    Uzodimma said; “We deliberated on so many issues as they have to do with our party, the APC. You must have heard of the resignation of the National Chairman of our party and the National Secretary of our party. Those are voluntary actions that have been taken and with due respect to our former National Chairman and the Secretary, we commended the wisdom behind the action they have taken.

    “They served us well in the party and we are happy with their services and the party is united. There is no crisis in the party. They are happy and we also are happy and we are in support of their actions”.

    The meeting was being hosted by Imo State governor and Chairman of the forum, Senator Hope Uzodimma.

    Speaking on the current hardship in the country, he said, “On the upcoming FAAC, we are aware that as a result of the removal of fuel subsidy, it will increase the volume of money that will be received in our purses during the Federation Account meeting and we are working with the Federal Government to ensure that it is utilized in a manner that the citizens are happy and the economy of the country will be protected.

    “The current hardship occasioned by the price increase is being addressed. The subnational governments are working with the Federal Government and on Thursday there will be a meeting of the National Economic Council to cross the “I” and dot the “t’s”, he stated.

    The meeting was being hosted by Imo State governor and Chairman of the forum, Senator Hope Uzodimma.

    Governors in attendance include Dapo Abiodun of Ogun state; Umar Bago (Niger); Francis Nwifuru (Ebonyi); Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq (Kwara); Acting Ondo state Governor, Lucky Ayedatiwa; Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Alia (Benue), Uba Sani (Kaduna); Babajide Sanwo-Olu (Lagos); Mai Mala Buni (Yobe) and Dikko Radda (Katsina) and Bassey Otu (Cross Rivers).

  • Why we visited VP Osinbajo – APC Govs

    Why we visited VP Osinbajo – APC Govs

    Vice-President, Yemi Osinbajo, on Tuesday, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, received the All Progressives Congress (APC) governors.

    Osinbajo’s spokesman, Laolu Akande, in a statement on Tuesday, said the governors were on a felicitation visit to the vice- president as he recovered from the leg surgery done in July.

    The vice-president expressed his appreciation to the governors for their visit and good wishes.

    He harped on the need for urgent measures to address issues on the economy and the lingering strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) strike.

    The vice-president and the governors agreed to engage the pressing issues further with a view to bringing fast resolution for the benefit of the Nigerian people.

    “We all need to work together on these critical issues. We need to think through things, and we need to do it fast,” he said.

    Osinbajo also commended the expertise of Nigerian doctors, and the availability of cutting-edge medical facilities existing in the country.

    The vice-president regretted that doctors were restrained by regulations from advertising and as a result many people were unaware of the level of quality medical services available locally.

    Gov. Atiku Bagudu of Kebbi State, who is also the Chairman of the Progressive Governors Forum, spoke with State House correspondents shortly after the meeting with the vice-president.

    He said that the governors were excited that the vice-president had recovered from a serious medical procedure that he had.

    Bagudu said the governors appreciated Osinbajo, particularly for showing confidence, yet again, in the Nigerian medical establishment as he had the procedure in Nigeria.

    “We had the opportunity to ask him how capable the team that helped out was and how he would recommend that and how many Nigerians should take steps to find out the amazing opportunities and capacity that are in our medical establishments.

    “We felicitated with him and we thanked him for his leadership of the National Economic Council,’’ Bagudu said.

    Present at the meeting were Governors Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State, Simon Lalong of Plateau, Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State and Muhammad Badaru Abubakar of Jigawa.

    Others were Governors Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq of Kwara; Abubakar Bello of Niger, Dapo Abiodun of Ogun,  Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa state, and the Deputy Governor of Ebonyi, Kelechi Igwe.

  • PGF ex-DG advocates sanctions for leaders working against APC national convention

    PGF ex-DG advocates sanctions for leaders working against APC national convention

    Dr. Salihu Lukman, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has called for the sanctioning of party leaders working to undermine the national convention slated for Feb. 26.

    Lukman, immediate past Director-General of Progressives Governors Forum (PGF), an umbrella body of serving governors elected on the platform of the APC, made the call in a statement on Sunday, in Abuja.

    According to him, the campaign to return the party to its founding vision, must have strong expression and resonance at its forthcoming national convention, where new national executives are expected to be elected to manage the party’s affairs.

    The party’s affairs were presently being managed by the Gov. Mai Mala Buni-led Caretaker and Extra-ordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC).

    “Any leader, therefore working to undermine the national convention should be sanctioned,” Lukman stated.

    He noted that the current drift within the party was systematically destroying it and must be arrested before the situation got worst.

    Lukman added that members of the party, needed to appeal to their leaders at all levels, to return the APC to its founding vision, which encouraged internal debates and negotiations, based on which agreements were reached and respected.

    He further noted that APC being a party of change, encouraged members to be critical and promote internal debates, adding that its leaders should therefore not expect anticipatory obedience from members and Nigerians generally.

    According to him, the APC must be returned to a party founded on the sacrifices of leaders and members of its legacy parties at the national convention.

    The former PGF director-general noted that unlike the case of other political parties, the APC was extremely lucky to have a leader in President Muhammadu Buhari, who does not meddle in its affairs.

    “Sadly, this became the license for party leaders to abuse the trust of both the president and majority of party leaders and members.

    “Overtime, this has damaged the profile of the APC to the point whereby, based on the conduct of leaders and some elected representatives of the party, it is difficult to associate the APC with its founding vision of change.

    “Problems of intolerance to disagreements and criticisms, with some leaders expecting members to be blindly loyal, is becoming a common attribute,” he said.

    He added that views of party leaders had become dominantly decisions of party organs, even when consultations took place with clear decisions.

    Lukman further noted that as far as some decisions were not what some few party leaders wanted, they would not be implemented, even if President Buhari was part of the consultations and in agreement with such decisions.

    According to him, propensity to disrespect decisions and party leaders, including the president, is very high today in the APC.

    “This reality is very disturbing. APC today, wasn’t the APC of the period 2013 to 2015.

    “Perhaps outside President Buhari, there are very few elected leaders in APC who are still committed to the founding vision of the party to provide leadership to change Nigerian politics.

    “Given where the nation is coming from, under PDP, changing Nigerian politics would require departure from requiring citizens to be blindly loyal to elected leaders.

    “It should require that citizens and party members are free to disagree and criticise elected leaders.

    “In other words, politics of change should produce elected leaders, who should be highly tolerant and where possible,even accommodate disagreements and criticisms as part of the process of decision making,” he said.

  • JUST IN: DG of Progressives Governors Forum, Lukmam in surprise resignation

    JUST IN: DG of Progressives Governors Forum, Lukmam in surprise resignation

    As the 2023 general elections permutations gather momentum, the Progressives Governors Forum, PGF Director General, Salihu Lukmam, has surprisingly resigned.

    Sources close to the party say this is following the sharp division among the governors of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Caretaker Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) over whether the national convention should hold or not.

    It was gathered that Sunday’s meeting of the APC governors deliberated on whether the DG should be forced to resign or not.

    The governors were sharply divided over the matter.

    While majority of the governors opposed to the pressure to force Lukman’s resignation, few of the governors insisted on him to go.

    Effort to speak with the PGF boss proved abortve.

  • APC National Convention will hold in February — Governors

    APC National Convention will hold in February — Governors

    The Progressives Governors Forum (PGF), an umbrella body of governors elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has given assurance that the party’s National Convention will hold in February.

    Gov. Atiku Bagudu of Kebbi and Chairman of the PGF gave the assurance while speaking with journalists at the end of a closed door meeting on Sunday night in Abuja.

    Bagudu, who did not give a specific date for the event, said the February date as approved by President Muhammadu Buhari was sacrosanct and still feasible for the conduct of the event.

    He added that the APC Caretaker and Extra-ordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC), as an organ of the party, was in the best position to announce the specific date for the convention.

    “We are one group of stakeholders in the party and our party respects institutions. The appropriate organ of the party that will announce a date for the national convention is the CECPC,” he said.

    Bagudu said the meeting passed a vote of confidence on the Buni-led CECPC and two other governors, Gov. Muhammed Bello of Niger and Gov. Gboyega Oyetola of Osun.

    He noted that the governors had done an incredible job of running the party successfully and had mobilised people into the party fold, saying that the PGF was very happy with their conduct.

    “We discussed our upcoming convention which you may recall I had cause to address the press after we visited President Buhari in November 2021 where the president and the party agreed that the convention would take place in February.

    “We took inputs about the reviews and we noted all the misrepresentations in the press that we seek to correct that the PGF is one united body as you can see evidently from the attendance,” Bagudu said.

    He explained that the forum’s decision was unanimous, adding that it was united behind the president and the party’s caretaker committee.

    Recall that there has been immense pressure on the APC Buni-led CECPC to fix a specific date for the party’s national convention following Buhari’s approval that the event be held in February.

    Some of the party’s critical stakeholders had in the last few weeks engaged the caretaker committee over the delay to announce the venue and exact date for the convention.

    Dr Salihu Lukman, the PGF Director- General, recently called on members of the committee to resign their positions if they would not be able to conduct the party’s national convention in February.

    New members of the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) are expected to be elected at the convention to manage its affairs which was presently being managed by the CECPC.

    Those in attendance at the meeting included the Governors of Borno, Babagana Zulum, Jigawa, Mohammad Abubakar, Ondo State, Rotimi Akeredolu, Niger Abubakar Bello, Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, Ekiti Kayode Fayemi, Kogi, Yahaya Bello.

    Others were the governors of Cross River, Ogun, Zamfara, Ebonyi, Osun, Lagos State, Imo, Plateau, Kano State and Nasarawa.

    The Deputy Governor of Anambra, Nkemakonam Okeke, represented his governor at the meeting.

  • PGF boss, faults campaign for postponement of APC National Convention

    PGF boss, faults campaign for postponement of APC National Convention

    Dr Salihu Lukman, Director-General, Progressive Governors Forum (PGF), has described the call for the postponement of the All Progressives Congress (APC) National Convention by some persons from February to a later date as illogical.

    Lukman said this in a letter to APC leaders on Monday in Abuja while reacting to the development.

    Sen. Orji Uzor Kalu had on Dec. 13, 2021, written a letter to the Chairman, APC Caretaker and Extra-ordinary Convention Planning (CECPC) Gov. Mai Mala Buni, calling for the postponement of the convention.

    Lukman, however, warned that postponing the APC national convention could led to a repeat of 2019 Zamfara experience if the needful was not done.

    He said the APC CECPC should make a formal announcement about the date and venue for the convention to disassociate itself from such calls.

    He said such announcement is critical to prove that the committee is not interested in postponing the convention from the agreed February 2022 date as approved by President Muhammadu Buhari.

    “Statutorily, by the requirement of the Electoral Act, the party is expected to serve at least 21 days notice of the convention to the Independent National Electoral Commision (INEC).

    “This basically means that if the convention is to hold any day before February 28, 2021, the notice to INEC should be given on or before February 7, 2022.

    “That being the case, the temptation could be to argue that there is more time, some reminders would be necessary at this point,” Lukman said.

    He noted that Buni had done an excellent job since he emerged as chairman of the CECPC in June 2020 by ensuring peace within the party and should not allow his good works to be destroyed by postponing the convention.

    He called on APC leaders to wake up to their responsibility of providing the needed political leadership to the country.

    “No one should imagine that agendas set in 2014 or 2019 are sufficient to respond to contemporary challenges, which post 2023 governance will be expected to respond to.

    “If anything, it may also be important to emphasis the fact that to respond to contemporary challenges facing the country would require massive investment in human capital development.

    “This will call for a deliberate and aggressive policy to mobilise large-scale public investment to rebuild public schools at all levels.

    “The correlation between collapse of education since the mid 1980s, rising levels of unemployment and insecurity are very glaring,” he said.

    Lukman said APC must come up with practically convincing answers, which should form the basis of public support by Nigerians to guarantee its victory in the 2023 elections.

    He said the inability to discharge responsibility or avoid it by towing the path of a deceptive campaign for postponement of the party’s national convention could only spell doom for it.

    He added that this could also return Nigeria to the hands of those who laid the foundation for all the challenges currently facing the country.

    Lukman appealed to the APC CECPC to ensure that the February 2022 convention is not just about electing National Working Committee (NWC) members for the party.

    “There must be some reflections about the challenges facing the country, with priority focus on problems of insecurity, rebuilding public education and health through mobilisation of massive financial investment in these sectors,” he said.

  • Why we opposed Fani-Kayode’s red carpet reception in APC – PGF DG

    Why we opposed Fani-Kayode’s red carpet reception in APC – PGF DG

    Dr Salihu Lukman, Director-General, Progressive Governors Forum (PGF), has explained why some members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) are protesting against the defection of Mr Femi Fani-Kayode to the party.

    He gave the explanation in a statement on Sunday in Abuja while reacting to the recent defection of Fani-Kayode to the APC from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    Lukman, in the statement entitled: “APC’s High Profile Membership Recruitment and Issues for 2023″ said Fani-Kayode’s capacity to build and sustain relationships was short, not just politically, but in every aspect of his life.

    “Late on Thursday, Sept. 16, 2021, reports emerged that Fani-Kayode had joined the APC and was received by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa.

    “With the emergence of the report, public attention in the country has been dominated by negative commentaries,” the PGF DG said.

    He noted that the development had resulted in negative commentaries, mostly from APC members who wondered why Fani-Kayode should be accorded such a high profile reception by the party leadership.

    He recalled that one of the first persons to express disappointment was Sen. Babafemi Ojudu, Special Adviser to President Buhari on Political Matters.

    Ojudu, he said, had lamented that the reception given to Fani-Kayode made the day the saddest of his political career.

    “The protest against Fani-Kayode joining the APC has to do with his venomous nature, he abuses, insults, and disparages everybody, almost indiscriminately.

    “Almost every member of APC is angry that our leaders have brought someone like Fani-Kayode into our party. This is made worse by the red carpet reception given to him, which he doesn’t deserve.

    “But since it has happened, there is no need to cry over spilled milk. What is very clear is that our leaders, especially President Buhari have forgiven Fani-Kayode and embrace him as one of us,” he said.

    Lukman explained that as members of APC, the anger with Fani-Kayode was that he had abused the party, Buhari and virtually every leader of the party.

    He, however, advised that with all the negative things Fani-Kayode had said about the APC and its leaders in the past, if its leaders could accept him into the party, its members “should not be more Catholic than the Pope“.

    “Members of the APC should show understanding,” Lukman said.

    He noted that since 2015 many opportunistic political leaders like Fani-Kayode joined the APC, got all the welcome reception, but ended up betraying the party.

    He said such political leaders in some instances undermined the APC and its leaders.

    Lukman said part of the frustration of many APC members was that most times, it could be predicted that the party’s leaders were wrongly investing trust and confidence on the wrong people.

    “Contrastingly, those who are consistent and loyal to our party and our leaders hardly gained the deserved respect they should have.

    “This may not necessarily be intended, but it is there. Be that as it may, members need to move forward with every confidence and commitment to engage our leaders,” he said.

    He added that since the party’s leaders had developed the large heart needed to forgive Fani-Kayode, members should respect the decision.

    “To that extent, therefore, party members should respect the decision of our leaders to admit Fani-Kayode and welcome him with a red carpet reception.

    “On no account should we be distracted. If Fani-Kayode needs a red carpet reception to be a member of APC, millions of party member have demonstrated that they don’t need any form of recognition to work for Nigeria.

    “Being very consistent and stable members of the APC, we should also recognise that the party is partly what it is today on account of our little contributions over the years,” he said.

    He stressed that if the APC was to succeed in changing Nigeria, the party’s leaders and its members must commit themselves to developing strong and functional relationship.

    He said the ability to develop strong and functional relationship between APC leaders and members was the foundational requirement for APC leaders to be able to develop strong and functional relationship with Nigerians.

    Lukman said this would, however, require that APC members were able to respectfully tell leaders the truth, stressing that functional relationship with Nigerians was always crucial for winning elections.