- Lalong confirms ambassadorial list was drawn up without consultation, president to review list
- Tallen, Bugaje turn down nominations
After months of blaming the ousted
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-led gov
ernment for Nigeria’s economic
woes, the All Progressives Congress (APC)monday finally accepted
responsibility for the dire economic situation in the country.
The Chairman of the Progressives
Governors’ Forum and Imo State Governor, Rochas Okokorocha, who spoke
after the governors of the ruling APC met with President Muhammadu
Buhari at the State House, Abuja, however, said the party was also
determined to fix the problems.
Owing to the government’s refusal
to accept responsibility for the economic recession, the president had
come under heavy criticism for always blaming the economic problems in
the country on past administrations.
But Okorocha yesterday said: “We are
only trying to clear the mess of the past. But we must take
responsibility and we must never shift the responsibility to anyone.
“As APC, we are responsible for
everything happening in Nigeria, we are responsible: the good, the bad,
the ugly. But we are promising Nigerians that we shall fix it.”
When asked to provide more insight on
what was discussed on the floundering economy, Okorocha said: “There is
no surgery that is not painful. Nigeria is going through a very serious
economic surgery and that is the pain we are experiencing.
“We share the pains of Nigerians, every
human being must feel it. We also feel what they are going through, but
we are asking for a little patience, let us do things the right way and
do it once and for all.
“I am sure that by next year you will
begin to see changes. The price of rice will drop, price of the dollar
will begin to stabilise and we will see a lot of changes.
“But at this painful moment, nobody
likes it. It is like a woman in the labour room, when she is in the
labour room there is no joy, but she has to pass through that moment and
in that moment she doesn’t wear her high heel shoes, no makeup, no
champagne, no party because she is going through a process. But shortly
after that process, joy cometh once she sees the child.”
On this basis, he appealed to Nigerians to bear with the government.
However, Okorocha said that the economic
hardship was not a problem brought by APC government. Instead, he said
it was a problem that existed long before APC came to government.
He said the governors came to encourage the president and congratulate him for securing the release of the 21 Chibok girls.
The governor also said his colleagues
advised the president not to relent in securing the release of the
remaining schoolgirls still in captivity.
He added: “Also, we came to report to
Mr. President that his agriculture policy is producing results, because
this time around, we will have a bumper harvest in most parts of the
country in rice production and other things, so that policy should be
sustained.
“And the funding policy by the Central
Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme should be
encouraged because it is yielding results.
“In the next couple of years, Nigeria
would be self-sufficient in agriculture and would not need to import any
more food into this country. That is a great achievement.”
Okorocha said the governors also urged the president to go on with the fight against corruption.
He said the governors understood that in
the pursuit of good programmes, certain lapses would be noticed, but
said that such lapses should not stop him from pursuing a good cause.
“We encouraged and thanked him for the efforts he is making to move this country forward,” he added.
He also revealed that the governors and the president also discussed the Ondo State governorship election.
“We are happy that we have delivered the
first state under his administration which is Edo but in Ondo, the
governors have decided to show support for that election so that APC
will take over the government of Ondo State,” he said.
On if the controversy surrounding the
party’s nomination in Ondo State would not affect the party’s chances
during the election, Okorocha said: “I agree with you to some extent,
but I believe before the election all things will be fixed, because Ondo
is coming back to APC and we would do all we can to make that happen.”
However, Okorocha said the governors did
not discuss the lingering face-off between the judiciary and the
Department of State Services (DSS).
He also revealed that the issue of
asking the National Chairman of the APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, to
resign did not arise during the meeting with the president.
According to him, “We are not talking
about anybody resigning. We are talking about rebuilding the party to
make it a stronger party, right from the booth level to the national
level.
“Let me say to you, the chairman of the
party and the party itself are having friction, yet could be said to
have done well. We come from a party that nobody expected will ever win
this election.
“So we need to give them kudos and if
there are areas that need adjustments we must do that.”
Asked what was
the reaction of the president to their visit, Okorocha said Buhari was
very quiet but appreciated the support the governors had come to show
him.
He said: “The president was quite happy,
but said he appreciated our support for him and we are looking forward
to how we can work together to strengthen the economy and the party.”
Also speaking, the Governor of Plateau
State, Simon Lalong, explained why the former deputy governor of the
state, Mrs. Pauline Tallen, rejected her ambassadorial appointment.
He also confirmed THISDAY’s report
yesterday that some of the governors had issues with the ambassadorial
nominations from the president.
He said: “Pauline is an astute
politician from my state, and part of the issue we also raised was on
some of the appointments that were made. So all the states that had
complaints are going to put them in writing and the president promised
he is going to look into them.”
Asked if the excuse given by Tallen for
rejecting the appointment was convincing enough (she had cited her
husband’s ill-health for rejecting the nomination), Lalong said: “Well,
it is not only about her husband, I think there is the dimension of
Plateau politics, because I had already made complaints to Mr. President
that appointments should not be concentrated in one zone.
“And so all these appointments came
again from one zone. So the complaints that are coming from our state
are not about her own personal interest, it is the fact that two
ambassadorial appointments are coming from the same zone that we had
complained about, and that is my zone.
“We had asked that the next appointment
should go to the other zones – the central and the northern zones. So
when that nomination was announced, the kind of uproar that followed it
necessitated the intervention.
“And I think as a mature politician, she
stepped down and sacrificed that for the people of Plateau. We are
still working on a replacement for that. It is not a big issue, but
sometimes a little consultation would have solved that problem because
these are issues in the interest of the state.
“So you cannot have two appointments,
very key appointments like that coming from a particular zone that is
already overloaded with appointments. All the federal appointments are
from the southern zone, so it would not be fair. So it is the issue of
fairness on which we approached Mr. President.”
Tallen Explains Why She Rejected Nomination
Earlier yesterday, Tallen announced that
she had turned down her ambassadorial nomination in order to be fair to
other parts of the state in terms of federal appointments, reported the
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
Confirming THISDAY’s report monday on
the rising disenchantment in the APC over the names of ambassadorial
nominees sent by Buhari last week to the Senate, Tallen, a former
Minister of Science and Technology and Labour Party governorship
candidate in Plateau in 2011, made this known in Abuja.
“I hail from the same local government
and tribe with Governor Simon Lalong. I turned down the nomination
because of balancing of appointments, I don’t think it is right for me
to accept the appointment.
“Secondly, proper consultation was not
done. My governor was not consulted because I called him when he was in
the United States to ask, he said that he was not aware.
“For me, I was consulted and I turned
down the appointment even before the announcement was made,” further
revealing that her husband’s ill-health is another reason why she cannot
accept the appointment.
Tallen said that the president gave her another option and assured her that Plateau would not miss its two slots.
The former deputy governor, who thanked
Buhari for the honour, said her name was supposed to have been removed
from the list of nominees, but was surprised when the announcement was
made and her name was still on it.
Other than Tallen, Alhaji Usman Bugaje
from Kastina State also turned down his nomination by the president,
reported online news medium, The Cable.
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