Security Meeting: How Akpabio Asked Jonathan to Sack Governors of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa

While the controversy over the exclusion of governors of the All Progressives Congress (APC), at last Thursday’s National Security Council meeting between President Goodluck Jonathan and governors of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and their allies from the APGA and Labour party is yet to fully settle, facts have emerged over what was discussed at the meeting.

Governors from the APC were initially invited to the meeting meant to discussed the raging spate of insurgency in the country, but was later withdrawn even without properly informing the opposition governors.
The decision to un-invite the APC governors reportedly followed the insistence by some PDP hawks like Governor Godswill Akpabio who asked for their exclusion to enable them take certain decisions that are not in the interest of the opposition governors. Although the PDP and a presidential aide, Reno Omokri wrongly blamed APC governors for boycotting the meeting.
At the meeting, Mr. Akpabio allegedly told Mr. Jonathan that it would be in the best interests of the party and the president if the governors were not in office by 2015 when elections would be conducted in the country.
According to Sahara Reporters, some of the governors present at the meeting with the president were taken aback by Mr. Akpabio’s suggestion. The Akwa Ibom governor insisted that his suggestion reflected the views of the majority of PDP governors and stakeholders, adding that he had been mandated to push for that move. He added that Governor Segun Mimiko of Ondo State could confirm that most of the governors and political stakeholders want the president to take action against the three governors.
Mr. Akpabio stated that the sacking of the three governors now that the state of emergency is due for renewal would enable the president to appoint friendly administrators to oversee the three troubled states.
“We were shocked when [Governor Akpabio] said that it was the position of the house that the three governors should be sacked immediately. The president asked whether that was true, but nobody said yes,” a source said.

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