AMBASSADORIAL NOMINEES | APC Govs. present Protest letters to Buhari

Governors of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who had last week rejected President Mu­hammadu Buhari’s nomina­tion of non-career ambassa­dors, have finally written letters to him to express their griev­ances.
At an emergency meet­ing with the President on the matter penultimate Monday at the Presidential Villa, Abu­ja, the governors were asked to formally write Buhari on the matter.
Governor of Benue State, Samuel Ortom confirmed to State House Correspondents on Monday after he met with Buhari at the Presidential Villa, that the governors’ protest let­ters were before the President for his consideration.
Ortom admitted that it is the prerogative of President Buhari to choose whoever he wants to serve in his govern­ment, “but we have written where we have reservations and it is being attended to.”
Most of the APC governors had expressed reservations over Buhari’s nomination of non-ca­reer ambassadors because they were not consulted before the list was sent to the Senate for confirmation.
Governor Ortom said he came to the State House to get the President’s assistance on security challenges in Benue State.
“We have been having se­curity challenges but thank God, with the collaboration with some security agencies in my state and the support of Mr. President, I can say that is rel­atively calm.
“Today, on the issue of herdsmen and farmers, we have been able to through di­alogue agree to work together in a manner that there will be a win-win situation”, he said.
He disclosed his decision to construct a cargo airport in the state capital, Makurdi, is to as­sist in the export of the huge agricultural produce from the state to other parts of the coun­try and abroad.
The airport project, ac­cording to him, will be execut­ed through a 85 percent con­tribution from a consortium of private sector firms with Benue State only putting in 15 percent of the cost.
Also, on security issues, Governors Jigawa State Ba­daru Abubakar and Ahmed Abubakar of Bauchi State who met with President Buhari, said they were making efforts to stop the excesses of Fulani herdsmen.
“We believe we need a co­ordinated fight between Bauchi and Jigawa to finally drag them out of the forest and finally put rest to the problem there. The President is willing to assist us and certainly, we will see some action”, Badaru said.
Abubakar said the recent visit of the Northern Governors to America was because Wash­ington “believes whatever situ­ation that exists in the northern part of Nigeria has a multiplier effect on the whole nation, so if you are able to solve the prob­lem before it becomes a nation­al problem, it will help.”
“We discussed the root causes of insurgency and illit­eracy, poverty, lack of empow­erment of youth and women and the issues of Internally Dis­placed Persons (IDPs) in Bor­no, Bauchi, Taraba, Gombe,” he said.
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