The Presidency has come down hard on state Governors, who it alleged, have
turned states under them to their personal fiefdoms.
It believes that posterity will be hard on such Governors
who are the bane of development in the states.
Political Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan, Ahmed
Ali Gulak, who expressed this view in a chat with our correspondent, described
some of the chief executives as “Governors in the Diaspora and exiled
Governors.”
The Presidential aide spoke against the backdrop of
unconfirmed reports that some Governors from the North are warming up to
challenge Jonathan in the event that he declared his intention to seek
re-election in 2015.
According to Gulak, who was one time Speaker of the
Adamawa State House of Assembly, apart from the fact that none of the Governors
from the North has the capacity to challenge the President if and when he
declares to run, they lack the moral standing to do so.
“Let me ask you; how many of the Governors have the moral
conscience and courage to do so? What are they going to sell to the people as
their marketing points?
“As far as we know, some of these Governors you people
idolise are disappointments.
“Most of them, not all any way, have failed the people
who voted them to power; they have turned their states to their fiefdoms and
this is the bane of development in the nation.
“It may interest you to note that some of the Governors
have now turned themselves to Diaspora Governors in flagrant disobedience to
the Constitution, thereby denying the people access to development.
“The real problem we have in governance today in this
country is the attitude of most of the Governors.
“In some of the states, the Governors’ wives have equal
powers with their husbands, their children are also accorded the same respect
as their fathers; it is as bad as that in most states and the result is that
there is no development in the states because most of them hardly spend 10 full
days in a month in their respective states,” Gulak said.
But Ekiti State Governor, Fayemi Kayode, apparently
reacting to Gulak’s claim, alleged that it was the Federal Government instead
that is oppressing the states.
He also debunked claims of governors being stumbling
blocks to the ongoing constitution reform, insisting that governance has
progressively advanced in the country since 1999.
Fayemi, who made the assertions at the weekend, added
that no Governor in the country knows the amount of revenue accruing to the
Federation Account monthly.
He, therefore, challenged the Federal Government to
exhibit the same regime of transparency it has recently employed in publishing
allocations to the states on inflows into the Federation Account.
“I don’t believe that Governors are the devils that they
are painted by a variety of people who cannot even stand up to scrutiny
themselves.
“We have just become the football that everybody wants to
kick. If you are a Governor, you are a rogue; if are a Governor you are a
criminal. Yet, nobody can come around and give specificity on what you have
done.
“There are Governors that have misbehaved, but what I
have noticed as a detached observer is that we have seen progressive
improvement from those who get into Governor’s office from what used to happen.
“Accountability has also increased because our people are
more conscious of their rights,” he stated.
Fayemi cited statistics showing that Ekiti has the
highest life expectancy, the lowest HIV prevalence rate and the lowest maternal
mortality rate in the country as well as robust infrastructural development as
indications of giant strides of his administration.
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