ABUJA-THE Council of State yesterday described a recent protest against bad governance in the country as an attempted regime change.
The council, comprising former Presidents and Heads of State, the President of the Senate and Speaker of the House of Representatives, the serving and retired Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, as well as state governors, also passed a vote of confidence on President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
The former leaders that passed the confidence vote on President Tinubu included Generals Yakubu Gowon, Muhammadu Buhari and Abdulsalami Abubakar, as well as former President Goodluck Jonathan.
Both former Presidents Buhari and Jonathan attended the meeting physically, while Generals Gowon and Abubakar joined virtually.
However, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, IBB, were absent and there was no reason given for their absence.
Briefing State House correspondents after the meeting holding for the first time under President Bola Tinubu’s administration, the Minister of Solid Mineral Development, Dr. Dele Alake, said the council praised Tinubu for resisting a forcible takeover of government.
Alake said the National Security Adviser, NSA Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, briefed the council on the security situation in the country, especially on issues before, during and after the nationwide protests.
He said the #EndBadGovernance protest was not a protest but a movement, adding that the Council of State thought that nobody should be allowed to truncate the hard-earned democracy and that any change would be through the ballot box and not by insurrection.
He revealed that seven ministers made presentations to the council on the progress being made on economic diversification and economy.
Alake said: “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 physically attending. The former heads 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 they are giving to our current 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.
“Seven of us ministers made individual presentations to the council of state meeting, and our presentations were well received from the feedback we got immediately after individual presentations.
“Of course, at the end of it, matters of state of the nation were discussed, in a robust and frank manner. And the National Security Adviser also was on hand to present the security situation of the country.
“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 it a movement to effect a change of regime by force, which was also resisted.
“The council thanked Nigerians at large for resisting any unconstitutional move to change the government, that if anybody is not satisfied with the government, any current administration, there is always an election coming, so you wait for the election and cast your vote.
“So the NSA briefed the council on the security situations and allayed fears all around.
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 insurrection or any other unconstitutional means, only through the ballot box can any government be changed.
“He reassured on the readiness of all security agencies in the country, to secure our territorial integrity and protect Nigeria’s democracy.”
On the vote of confidence passed on Tinubu’s administration, the governor of Kwara State and Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, NGF, Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, said the council unanimously passed a vote of confidence on Tinubu in the way he had governed the country.
He said: “We, indeed, had a very robust meeting. The high note of the meeting was a unanimous passage of a vote of confidence on President Bola Tinubu, Commander-in-Chief of the Nigerian armed forces.
“Members, especially those of the Nigerian Governors Forum, were satisfied with the presentations by members of the Federal Executive Council, and after that meeting, there was an executive session between members of the Nigerian Governors Forum and the President.
“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 the President.”
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