PDP governors knock FG over duplicity on fuel subsidy, delay on electoral bill

Governors of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) rose from a meeting in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, yesterday, charging the Federal Government to immediately bring to account all persons involved in the recent importation of contaminated fuel.

They also asked President Muhammadu Buhari to sign the Electoral Act Amendment Bill into law, saying waiting for 30 days is another sign of unwillingness by the President to give the country a reformed electoral framework.

The meeting, attended by 11 of the 13 governors, frowned at what it described as “duplicity, inconsistency and insincerity of the APC-led Federal Government on the fuel subsidy regime, which has been badly and corruptly administered.”

The governors are: Abia State Governor Okezie Ikpeazu; Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri (Adamawa); Udom Emmanuel (Akwa Ibom); Bala Mohammed (Bauchi State); Douye Diri (Bayelsa); Samuel Ortom (Benue); Ifeanyi Okowa (Delta); Godwin Obaseki (Edo); Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu); Oluseyi Makinde (Oyo) and Nyesom Wike (Rivers).

They demanded investigation into fuel consumption figures released by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC), declaring: “The figures of consumption ascribed to Nigerians appear fictitious and bloated.”

They decried “the opaque nature of NNPC operations” and called for accountability and reconciliation of remittances into the federation account.

They welcomed court decision on Police Trust Fund deductions from the federation account, and urged the Federal Government to stop similar unconstitutional deductions from the account.

In a communique read to journalists, shortly after the meeting, by Ikpeazu, the meeting also urged the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission to expedite action on the new revenue allocation formula, thereby increasing allocation to states and local councils.

The meeting, which was presided over by the Abia State governor, in his capacity as vice chairman of PDP Governors’ Forum, “deplored the way Central Bank of Nigeria is being run as an alternate government, indeed, a government within a government.”

It said: “It is time to streamline its functions and processes to be constitutionally compliant.”