Stop Beating War Drums, Northern Govs, Leaders Tell Nigerians

Governors of the 19 Northern states and traditional rulers in
the region have implored Nigerians to stop beating drums of war,
saying the North is committed to the unity of the country.

They made the imploration at a meeting of the committee set up
by the Northern Governors Forum and the Northern Traditional Rulers
Council to aggregate views of Northerners on the restructuring
debate in the country.

Chairman of the committee and Sokoto State governor, Aminu
Tambuwal, who spoke on behalf of the governors and royal fathers,
appealed to agitators across the country to be calm.

According to him, even if the country goes to war, people will
still have to come back to discuss their issues on the round
table.

He said, “There is a process going on in the country for
engagement and I am sure the federal government is willing to
listen to all these agitations at the end of the day.

“And don’t forget that even if you embark on a war at this
stage, you don’t get result through war. You will always come back
to the round table and discuss the issues. So, I want to call on
all Nigerians to give peace a chance”.

Tambuwal said the committee agreed that a technical committee be
set up to work on the previous documents, conferences and position
papers and then come back to the committee of the whole house
within three weeks.

He continued: “Thereafter, every state will conduct public
hearing and we will be meeting on 24th October 2017 by the grace of
God to review all that. So, by the end of October, God willing, we
shall be able to get back to the larger body of the Northern
Governors Forum and Northern traditional leaders and Council.

“All the issues that are going to be brought up by a technical
committee that has been constituted by this body will be critically
looked into so that we can subject them to a very robust database
debate across the North and the outcome of that will be presented
to Northern governors and traditional rulers”.

In his remarks, the Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, also
called for the unity of the country, just as he stressed that
dialogue was the only way of addressing the agitations.

He said, “I believe in the conversation. We have just looked
into three main items that stood out clearly. The first is that we
have heard our commitment to the unity of the country and we are
going to have a regional conversation to express the pressing issue
that has been raised.

“The second point is that, we have to look into constitutional
reform of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. This is important
because it will help us to answer questions like what exactly is
the division of power of state, what exactly should be the role of
local government and whether there should be an opportunity for
different state to discuss issues around fiscal responsibility,
sharing of revenue and all that can be discussed.

“And it is not just sharing of revenue but also whether the
entire revenue of the government should be used for payment of
salaries, constitution amendment and the issue of national minimum
wage”.

The meeting also had in attendance Governors Nasir el-Rufai of
Kaduna, Umar Tanko Almakura of Nassarawa and deputy governors of
Gombe and Plateau states.

Also in attendance were Emirs of Zazzau, Dr Shehu Idris; Etsu
Nupe, Yahaya Abubakar; Gbong Gwom Jos, Da Jacob Buba Gyang and
Emirs of Fika and Gummi.

Governors of the 19 Northern states and traditional rulers in
the region have implored Nigerians to stop beating drums of war,
saying the North is committed to the unity of the country.

They made the imploration at a meeting of the committee set up
by the Northern Governors Forum and the Northern Traditional Rulers
Council to aggregate views of Northerners on the restructuring
debate in the country.

Chairman of the committee and Sokoto State governor, Aminu
Tambuwal, who spoke on behalf of the governors and royal fathers,
appealed to agitators across the country to be calm.

According to him, even if the country goes to war, people will
still have to come back to discuss their issues on the round
table.

He said, “There is a process going on in the country for
engagement and I am sure the federal government is willing to
listen to all these agitations at the end of the day.

“And don’t forget that even if you embark on a war at this
stage, you don’t get result through war. You will always come back
to the round table and discuss the issues. So, I want to call on
all Nigerians to give peace a chance”.

Tambuwal said the committee agreed that a technical committee be
set up to work on the previous documents, conferences and position
papers and then come back to the committee of the whole house
within three weeks.

He continued: “Thereafter, every state will conduct public
hearing and we will be meeting on 24th October 2017 by the grace of
God to review all that. So, by the end of October, God willing, we
shall be able to get back to the larger body of the Northern
Governors Forum and Northern traditional leaders and Council.

“All the issues that are going to be brought up by a technical
committee that has been constituted by this body will be critically
looked into so that we can subject them to a very robust database
debate across the North and the outcome of that will be presented
to Northern governors and traditional rulers”.

In his remarks, the Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, also
called for the unity of the country, just as he stressed that
dialogue was the only way of addressing the agitations.

He said, “I believe in the conversation. We have just looked
into three main items that stood out clearly. The first is that we
have heard our commitment to the unity of the country and we are
going to have a regional conversation to express the pressing issue
that has been raised.

“The second point is that, we have to look into constitutional
reform of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. This is important
because it will help us to answer questions like what exactly is
the division of power of state, what exactly should be the role of
local government and whether there should be an opportunity for
different state to discuss issues around fiscal responsibility,
sharing of revenue and all that can be discussed.

“And it is not just sharing of revenue but also whether the
entire revenue of the government should be used for payment of
salaries, constitution amendment and the issue of national minimum
wage”.

The meeting also had in attendance Governors Nasir el-Rufai of
Kaduna, Umar Tanko Almakura of Nassarawa and deputy governors of
Gombe and Plateau states.

Also in attendance were Emirs of Zazzau, Dr Shehu Idris; Etsu
Nupe, Yahaya Abubakar; Gbong Gwom Jos, Da Jacob Buba Gyang and
Emirs of Fika and Gummi.