Council of State passes vote of confidence on President Tinubu

Temitope Mustapha, Abuja

Last updated Aug 13, 2024

The National Council of State has passed a vote of confidence on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, commending Nigerians for resisting unconstitutional change of government.

Briefing State House Correspondents on Tuesday after four hours of the council meeting at the Council Chamber of the State House, the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake said that the council also passed vote of confidence on President Bola Tinubu’s administration.

Alake disclosed that the Council meeting which was attended physically by Former Presidents, Muhammadu Buhari and Goodluck Jonathan had in attendance virtually, the former Former Heads of State, Yakubu Gowon and Abdulsalam Abubakar.

He further revealed that seven cabinet members of President Tinubu made individual presentations on roadmaps, prospects and challenges adding that areas of diversification of the Nigerian economy were more prioritized.

” As you all are aware, the Council of State just concluded its meeting with all the former heads of state in attendance, physically or virtually.

The last count, I think most of them were the physically attending was the former head of state, General Buhari and President Goodluck Jonathan, were there physically, and the rest were there virtually, via zoom.

So in essence, in principle, all of them were in attendance. And that’s a very eloquent testimony to the kind of support that they are giving to our current president, President bola Ahmed Tinubu.

A lot of issues were exhaustively discussed at the meeting. And of course, you know that, apart from the former heads of state, the Constitutional composition of the Council of State includes all governors,, security adviser, Attorney General and the rest. So the governors were all in attendance as well.”

The Minister also disclosed that the National Security Adviser to the President , Nuhu Ribadu also briefed the meeting on the Pre- ,during and post protest security measures as well as update on the entire security situation of the country.

“And some of us ministers who are invited to make presentations on our road map on what we’ve been able to achieve, the prospects and the challenges in our various ministries. And so myself, the Solid Minerals, coordinating Minister of the Economy and the finance minister, Mr Wale Edun was also there to make presentation. The Minister of Budget was also there he made his presentation. The Minister of works also made presentation, the Minister of Trade and Investment. Dr Doris was also there. The Minister of Agriculture also was invited.

So these seven of us ministers made individual presentations to the council of state meeting, and our presentations were well received from the feedback that we got immediately after individual presentations.

And of course, at the end of it, matters of state were discussed, in a robust manner and frank manner. And the National Security Adviser also was on hand to present the security situation of the country.

Dr Alake added that the council discussed exhaustively matters related to National issues while they were also briefed on progress made on each sectors of the economy.

“Matters of state were discussed in a robust manner ,National security Adviser was also on hand to brief on the security situation of the country,he also briefed the council of state on Pre, during and post efforts made to contain the protest”

Dr Alake described the protest as insurrection and a movement that attempted forceful change of government.

“And he did inform the Council of State about the pre, during and post event of the last protests, which I do not call a protest. I call a movement to effect a change of regime by force, which was also resisted.

And so, you know, the council thanked Nigerians at large for resisting any unconstitutional move to change government, if anybody is not satisfied with the government, any current administration, there is always an election coming, so you wait for election and cast your vote.

So the NSA briefed the Council on the security situations, and allayed fears all round.

So after the NSA’s briefing, generally, he allayed everybody’s fears and spoke on the tightness of the security around the country, and also reassured all and sundry that nobody will be allowed to truncate our hard earned democracy.

Any change of government has to be through the ballots and not through the barrel of the gun or through insurrection or through any other unconstitutional means, only through the ballot box can any government be changed. And he reassured on the security readiness of all security agencies in the country, to secure our territorial integrity and to protect Nigeria’s Democracy.

Now the details of the presentation that the ministers did will be too long for you, but succinctly put is just to let the Council of State know the progress being made in each sector of the economy. And the emphasis, of course, by the Renewed Hope Agenda, is on economic diversification. And that’s why I was there. That’s why Agric was there. That’s why all the other ministers you know that constitute, or the ministries that constitutes the plank of the Renewed Hope Agendas, economic diversification and transformation.”

Speaking on the participation of the members of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, the Chairman, the Governor of Kwara State Abdulrazaq Abdulrahman ,said the 36 state governors of the Federation unanimously passed vote of confidence on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu with satisfaction on the activities of his administration in the last 14months.

He added that frank and fruitful discussions were held and the Council reached satisfactory conclusion that the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is on the right track.

“We The high note of the meeting was a unanimous passage of a vote of confidence on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR, Commander in Chief of the Nigerian armed forces.

“members, especially those of the Nigerian governor’s forum, were satisfied with the presentation by the members of the Federal Executive Council, and after that meeting, there was an executive session between members of the Nigerian governor’s forum and Mr President, and Frank and fruitful discussions were held between both parties, and I’m glad to say we’re on the right track. And to say in the same vein, members of the NGF also, like the members of the Council of State, passed a vote of confidence on Mr President.

The last council of state meeting held on February 10, 2023, under former President Muhammadu Buhari. At the time, Former President Buhari had convened the meeting over the 2023 elections.

The council comprises of president as chairman and vice president as deputy chairman, all living former Heads of State and Presidents, all former Chief Justices of Nigeria, President of the Senate, Speaker of the House of Representatives, all state governors and Attorney-General of the Federation as members.

PIAK