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With less than 24 days left for President Goodluck Jonathan to bow out of the presidential villa, old and incoming governors elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress, APC, have accused him of milking the country’s economy dry.
The aggrieved governors under the umbrella of Progressives Forum also informed the president-elect, General Mohammadu to be ready to battle unprecedented financial challenges as he steps in as the Commander-In-Chief from May 29.
Chairman of the Forum and Imo State Governor, Chief Rochas Okorocha gave the disclosure, Tuesday, after the governors paid a congratulatory visit to Buhari on his electoral victory in Abuja.
According to Okorocha, the non-payment of April salaries by the federal government was a clear indication that the economy was in ruins.
He said, “We must admit that Nigeria economy is in a bad shape and it is obvious that most governors will not be able to pay the salaries of workers in their states. There is no magic for any governor to pay salary under this preset situation.
“We hope to present it to the president-elect, Gen Mohammadu Buhari, as one of those challenges the states and federal governments are facing in terms of payment salaries. It has become obvious that both governments may not pay April and May salaries.
“We have an incoming president who will inherit an almost empty treasury. The situation paints bold pictures of the challenges we have ahead of us. The truth is the state of our economy is in very bad shape which we need to discuss with the president-elect, make some projections with him and see how we can move the country forward,” he lamented.
Speaking with newsmen shortly after the meeting, the Imo governor said, “This is the first introductory meeting to deliberate on all that took place during the just concluded elections, the challenges, merits and demerits. The meeting also created an avenue for the APC governors to familiarize ourselves with each other.
“It is on record today that APC has 22 governors-elect while we are even looking forward to getting more by the time we finish with court processes. Part of our arrangements was to pay a courtesy visit on the President-elect to assure him of our cooperation with him,” he noted.
On some APC governors missing during the meeting, Governor Okorocha added, “You know that after this tedious election campaigns, most of them went out to have some rest. We have to hurriedly put together this familiarisation meeting after we were able to get an appointment to meet the president-elect. All the same, we are together,” he said.
Responding to congratulatory remarks after everyone had spoken, Gen Buhari promised to make security one of his top priorities as he prepares to take the oath of office.
He further stressed that no Nigerian should live in fear or in Sambisa Forest.
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