A founding member of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Osita Okechukwu, has urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to be wary of pressure from governors and special interest groups, warning that they could undermine two key progressive achievements.....KINDLY READ THE FULL STORY HERE▶
Okechukwu highlighted the financial autonomy granted to local government councils through a landmark Supreme Court ruling and the allocation of 450,000 barrels per day of crude oil to local refineries as significant milestones that should be preserved. The former Director General of Voice of Nigeria (VON) made this statement on Sunday in Abuja during a discussion with journalists about the state of the nation.
The APC Chieftain objected to a purported three months extension of the enforcement of the Supreme Court judgment, saying the apex court did not grant such a bazaar to the governors.Moreover, he argued that the President could risk contempt of court, if he allows the governors to goad him into putting the judgment on hold, even for a day.
Okechukwu said, “To me the two most outstanding progressives records of President Tinubu are the Supreme Court landmark judgment which conferred financial autonomy to local government councils and his allocation of 450,000 barrels per day of crude oil to local refineries. They should not be scuttled.”
He lamented that from the look of things the governors had goaded Mr President to not only dampen the power of the citizenry over local government council administration, but also to risk contempt of the Supreme Court landmark judgment.
He also admonished the group he euphemistically dubbed Special Interest for denying the citizenry the opportunity of availability and reduction of fuel pump price, debt burden and envisaged employment and stabilisation of the Naira, among other anticipated progressive gains from crude oil allocation to local refineries.
Reminded that the local government councils financial autonomy is on hold for three months, Okechukwu disagreed vehemently, pointing out that the Supreme Court judgment did not award such bazaar to governors, just as he expressed fears about the extension of this illegality.
Prodded further Okechukwu said: “One just have to appeal to Mr President to beware of governors and special interest. My brethren you may not gauge how low APC’s approval rating is, which made us members to jubilate that our approval rating will rise again with the financial autonomy to local government councils and allocation of crude oil to local refineries, only for the celebration to be cut short.”