July 28, (THEWILL) — Going through the list of former state governors, a.k.a Governors’ class of ’99, who met with President Bola Tinubu at the Presidential Villa, Abuja at the weekend showed a political wall that exists within the group.
The Class of ‘99 governors are colleagues of President Tinubu, who served from 1999 to 2007.
Of the 26 of them that are still alive, 13 attended the meeting. Thirteen were also absent. Odd number, you may say, but the reality is that of those 13 that were absent, only three chose to stay away for obvious political reasons, while the remaining eight are known men of the President who might have stayed away because of pressing needs.
Among those who were conspicuous by their absence are former Rivers State governor, Peter Odili; Senator Abdullahi Adamu of Nasarawa State and Dr. Rabiu Kwankwaso of Kano State. They currently have differences with President Tinubu.
Odili was caught on the wrong side of the supremacy battle between Governor Siminalayi Fubara and Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike and the various attempts to resolve the matter amicably since the imposition of emergency rule in the state. Dr. Rabiu Kwankwaso incidentally had a face-off with the presidency at the weekend over his allegations of marginalisation of the North by the present government, an allegation that the presidency denied with copious data.
Senator Abdullahi Adamu, erstwhile governor of Nasarawa State had a fall-out with President Tinubu during the runup to the 2023 presidential election when, as National Chairman of the governing All Progressives Congress, APC, he openly opposed Tinubu’s candidacy on the platform of the party and supported the then President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, as the party’s candidate. The undercurrent of that episode is yet to blow over.
In the first meeting in July 2023, two months after the President assumed office, Orji Uzor Kalu (Abia), Attahiru Bafarawa (Sokoto), Joshua Dariye (Plateau), Bisi Akande (Osun) and Ahmed Markafi (Kaduna), who were absent at the weekend reunion, were in attendance. Ten members of that class are dead. They are Malla Kachala of Borno State, Chinwoke Mbadiniju of Anambra State, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha of Bayelsa State, Umaru Musa Yar’Ardua of Katsina State, Abdulkadir Kure of Niger State, Abubakir Hashidu of Gombe State, Abubakar Audu of Kogi State, Lam Adsina of Oyo State, Adebayo Adefarati of Ondo State and Mohammed Lawal of Kwara State.
On the roll call at the weekend meeting were Cross River State Governor, Donald Duke; ex-Bauchi State Governor, Adamu Mu’azu; ex-Taraba State Governor, Jolly Nyame; ex-Plateau State Governor, Joshua Dariye; ex-Ebonyi State Governor, Sam Egwu; ex-Edo State Governor, Lucky Igbinedion; President Bola Tinubu; ex-Benue State Governor, George Akume; ex-Ekiti State Governor, Niyi Adebayo; ex-Adamawa State Governor, Boni Haruna; ex-Akwa-Ibom State Governor, Obong Attah; ex-Jigawa State Governor, Saminu Turaki; ex-Kebbi State Governor, Adamu Aliero, and ex-Delta State Governor, James Ibori.
During the banter and sharing of memories, the ex-governors took time to tell the President some home truths, according to them in a statement after the meeting.
They said they told the President to create cottage industries in all the local government areas of the federation so as to create jobs for the people rather than giving 5, 000 bags of rice as palliatives that cannot sustain them.
Speaking after meeting behind closed doors on Friday, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, Chairman of the Class of 99 governors and former governor of Edo State, Chief Lucky Igbinedion, stated that they advised the President to urgently do something on the economy, noting that people at the rural areas are bearing the brunt of the harsh economic situation in the country.
Speaking on the reason for their visit, Chief Igbinedion said, “We came to see one of our own Class of ’99 and to bring about topics about the state of the nation. We are glad that Mr. President received us warmly and we spoke basically about the security situation of the nation, the economy and, of course, agriculture. The President expressed his concern about these various issues that we came to discuss with him.
“And we also offered suggestions on how he can bring about succour to the people. The people, especially in the rural areas, are feeling the impact of the harsh economy and he assured us that he is looking into it.
“We also spoke about the stability of the naira, which he also addressed appropriately. So it has been a very fruitful deliberation with Mr. President. And of course, he assured us that whatever suggestions or way forward that we might have, his doors are always open for such conversation.”
On their assessment of the president’s efforts and what they want him specifically to address henceforth, Igbinedion said:
“Well, the first and foremost thing is security. We told him that without security, there can be no progress, there can be no stability.
“And secondly, the economy, needs to be stabilised by ensuring that foreign exchange remains stable and people can afford it. But what is most important is creating industries, especially cottage industries, that can employ people, rather than just giving out palliatives.
“We implored him to try as much as possible to create cottage industries in all the local government areas of the federation where people can be employed, because if you give palliative to somebody today, what happens tomorrow? If he has N5,000 in the morning, how about lunchtime or dinner time, what is he going to do?
“ N5,000 cannot buy much. So, I thought these are part of the really heart-to-heart discussions we had with the President and he agreed with us to say, Yes, he’s going to look into it, and we appreciated it.”
Amos Esele is the Editor of THEWILL Newspaper. He has over two decades of experience on the job.
