August 13, (THEWILL) – The National Council of State has passed a vote of confidence in President Bola Tinubu.
Kwara State Governor and Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, disclosed this to State House correspondents after a meeting of the Council on Tuesday, in Abuja.
THEWILL reports that President Tinubu, on Tuesday, presided over the National Council of State meeting held at the Council Chambers of the Presidential Villa.
The National Council of State consists of the President, who is the Chairman; the Vice President, who is the Deputy Chairman; all former presidents and Heads of State, serving and all former Chief Justices of Nigeria, the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, governors of the 36 states of the federation, Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice.
Tuesday’s meeting had former Presidents Muhammadu Buhari and Goodluck Jonathan physically at the meeting.
Governor Abdulrazaq said the council unanimously passed a vote of confidence in Tinubu for the way he has governed the country.
He said the council was satisfied with the presentations made by Ministers on the progress of the economy.
According to him: “The high note of the meeting was a unanimous passage of a vote of confidence in President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, Commander in Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces.
“Members, especially those of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, were satisfied with the presentation by the members of the Federal Executive Council, and after that meeting, there was an executive session between members of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum and Mr President, and frank and fruitful discussions were held between both parties, and I’m glad to say we’re on the right track. And to say in the same vein, members of the NGF also, like the members of the Council of State, passed a vote of confidence in Mr President.
“We also wish him well and pray for God’s guidance for him. Thank you very much.”
Minister of Solid Mineral Development, Dele Alake, said seven ministers made presentations to the council on the progress, prospects, and challenges in their respective ministries, focusing on the Renewed Hope Agenda’s emphasis on economic diversification.
Briefing the council on the recent hunger protest, the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, described it as a “movement to effect a change of regime by force” that was resisted by Nigerians.
Alake said the NSA reassured that security agencies are ready to secure Nigeria’s territorial integrity and protect the country’s democracy.
“Of course, at the end of it, matters of state were discussed in a robust and frank manner. The National Security Adviser also was on hand to present the security situation of the country and he did inform the Council of State about the pre, during and post-event of the last protests, which I do not call a protest. I call it a movement to effect a change of regime by force, which was also resisted.
“And so, the council thanked Nigerians at large for resisting any unconstitutional move to change government. If anybody is not satisfied with the government, or any current administration, there is always an election coming, so you wait for the election and cast your vote. So, the NSA briefed the Council on the security situation and allayed fears all round.
“So after the NSA’s briefing, generally, he allayed everybody’s fears and spoke on the tightness of the security around the country, and also reassured all and sundry that nobody will be allowed to truncate our hard-earned democracy.
“Any change of government has to be through the ballots and not through the barrel of the gun or through insurrection or through any other unconstitutional means, only through the ballot box can any government be changed. And he reassured of the security readiness of all security agencies in the country to secure our territorial integrity and to protect Nigeria’sdDemocracy.
“A lot of issues were exhaustively discussed at the meeting. And of course, you know that, apart from the former heads of state, the Constitutional composition of the Council of State includes all governors, Security Adviser, Attorney General and the rest. So, the governors were all in attendance as well.
“And some of us Ministers were invited to make presentations on our road map on what we’ve been able to achieve, the prospects and the challenges in our various ministries. And so myself of the Solid Minerals, Coordinating Minister of the Economy and the Finance Minister, Mr Wale Edun, were also there to make presentations. The Minister of Budget was also there and he made his presentation. The Minister of Works also made a presentation. The Minister of Trade and Investment, Dr. Doris, was also there. The Minister of Agriculture also was invited.
“So, these seven of us Ministers made individual presentations to the Council of State meeting, and our presentations were well received from the feedback that we got immediately after individual presentations.”
