The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governors’ Forum, on Monday backed the decision of the Southern Governors to ban open grazing in the region, stating that it is a viable solution to the ongoing clashes between farmers and herders in the south.
The PDP governors stated this after a meeting which held at the conference hall of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan, Oyo State.
The PDP Governors present at the meeting are; Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State; Governor Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom State; Governor Douye Diri of Bayelsa State; Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State; Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State; Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State; Governor Ahmadu Umaru Fintinin of Adamawa State; Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State; Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State and the Deputy Governor Mahdi Mohd, who represented the Governor of Zamfara State, Bello Matawalle.
Chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum, Aminu Tambuwal, who read a six-point communique at the end of the meeting, also called on President Muhammadu Buhari to as a matter of urgency send an Executive Bill to the National Assembly to amend the constitution to give room for more powers to the states.
The PDP governors in the meeting agreed that devolving more powers to the states will help in the fight against insecurity rocking the country. The PDP governors also called for a reform of the general security architecture.
While citing the rising cases of criminalities in the country, the governors called on the President to also summon a meeting of the Nigeria Police Council of which all governors and other relevant stakeholders must be present to agree on strategies that would combat the insecurity situation in the country.
The communique partly reads, “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.
“The meeting reiterated our earlier call for the National Assembly to expedite action on the passage of the Electoral Act that will ensure a free and fair election, including provisions for electronic accreditation and electronic transmission of votes.”
