2015: Why we want to rescue Nigeria – Opposition govs

TEN governors drawn from four leading opposition parties yesterday rose from a meeting in Lagos vowing to rescue Nigeria from the abyss she had been flung into by the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
Rising from a six-hour meeting at the Lagos House, Marina, the governors elected on the platform of the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP, All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, and Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, said rescuing Nigeria was a mission that must be accomplished and the surest way of achieving this was through a merger of the opposition parties to beat PDP at the 2015 polls.

Those at the meeting included Governors Babtunde Fashola (Lagos), Ogbeni Raufu Aregbesola (Osun), Ibikunle Amosun (Ogun), Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti) and Abiola Ajimobi (Oyo) of the ACN.

There were also Rochas Okorocha (Imo), APGA and Tanko Al-Makura (Nasarawa), CPC.
The rest were Governors Kashim Shettima of Borno State and Abdul Aziz Yari (Zamfara) of the ANPP.
Governor Ibrahim Gaidam of Yobe State, ANPP, was represented by Senator Jejere Alkali.
However, Governor Adams Oshiomole of Edo State, ACN, and his Ondo State counter-part, Olusegun Mimiko of the Labour Party, LP, were not at the meeting. The LP has not officially signified its intention to join the merger talks.

On the purpose of the parley, Fashola asked Borno State Governor to brief newsmen “on the contents of the meeting and the decisions that we have taken. Essentially it is a meeting about our concerns on Nigeria and the way forward.”
Reading the communiqué Shettima said: “We endorse the merger to rescue Nigeria. We, the governors of Borno, Ekiti, Imo, Lagos, Nasarawa, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Yobe and Zamfara, rose from a meeting at Lagos House, Marina today, Tuesday, February 5, 2013. Having reviewed the situation in our country, we resolved that to rescue Nigeria is a task that must be done.
“As progressive and patriotic leaders of our people across party, religious and geo political zones, we are extremely concerned about the state of the nation and we put our heads together in the interest of our people to deliberate on what can be done to rescue our country.
“As governors, we fully endorse the merger initiatives already commenced by our various political parties and we will put our full weight behind these efforts.
Nigeria is greater than all of us, we have a duty to make it work for our people and future of our children yet unborn.”

VANGUARD