Tinubu Tasks Nigerians To Reject Underperforming Govs At Polls

BY EDMOND ODOK – Ahead of the three off-circles gubernatorial elections in Bayelsa, Imo, and Kogi states on 11th November 2023, President Bola Tinubu has challenged Nigerians to vote out governors who are underperforming and not meeting the people’s expectations.

President Tinubu threw the challenge while responding to the request made by some Islamic scholars urging the Federal Government to effectively monitor the distribution of palliatives given to states to cushion the biting effects of fuel subsidy removal on Nigerians.

Addressing the delegation at the Presidential Villa on Thursday, he said the Federal government is not in a position to give directives to states, and being closer to the grassroots, the people must brace up to the task of demanding good governance from their elected officials

However, the President promised that the governors would be robustly engaged to embrace effective and transparent distribution and implementation of the palliative packages meant for their people across the country.

President Tinubu, who hinted that Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) would receive more palliatives as part of measures to boost the nation’s economic growth, said; “The people reside in the states. Even if I set up a panel, I will have to go through the governors and the local governments. We will continue to talk to the governors. Nigerians must hold them accountable.

“It’s unheard of that in a constitutional democracy; a president will sit here and give orders to states. I can only appeal to them to implement. The people reside in the states, and if the governor is not doing well, the people must vote them out”.

The Islamic Scholars’ request for the President’s intervention is against the backdrop of the N5 billion palliative package made available by the Federal Government to each of the 35 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to address the hardship arising from the fuel subsidy removal.

There have been huge concerns in many quarters that given past experiences, especially in some states that would be having their governorship elections later this year, some governors are likely to abuse the process and divert the funds into other sundry expenses.