The National Council of State Tuesday passed a vote of confidence in the administration of President Bola Tinubu.
This is also as the council insisted that any change in government in Nigeria must follow constitutional procedures.
The counci’s meeting at the State House in Abuja was the first since Tinubu assumed office May 29, 2023.
The council of state whose membership includes former presidents and heads of state, is an organ of the federal government saddled with advising the executive on policymaking.
Briefing State House Correspondents shortly after the meeting, Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrasaq of Kwara State, said the Council commended the President for policy decisions he has taken since assuming office.
He said at a separate executive meeting between the Governors and President Tinubu after the National Council of State meeting, the governors also passed a vote of confidence in the President.
The Council received a report from the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu on the security situation in the country and a preliminary report on the recent protests.
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“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 Ahmed Tinubu GCFR, Commander-in-Chief of the Nigerian armed forces.
“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.
“We also wished him well and prayed for God guidance for him,” he said.
The Minister of Solid Minerals, Dele Alake said the protests was viewed as a disguised attempt at disrupting the activities of the current administration.
The Minister said that the #EndBadGovernance was not a protest but a movement and that the Council of State thought that nobody should be allowed to truncate the hard-earned democracy and that any change will be through the ballot box and not by insurrection.
He disclosed that seven ministers made presentations to the council on the progress being made on economic diversification and economy.
He 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 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 council thanked Nigerians at large for resisting any unconstitutional move to change the government, if anybody is not satisfied with the government, any current administration, there is always an election coming, so you wait for an election and cast your vote.
“The NSA equally 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.
“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.”
Those who attended the meeting physically were former Presidents Goodluck Jonathan and Muhammadu Buhari, while former Heads of State, Generals Gowon Yakubu and Abdulsalami Abubakar joined the meeting virtually.
However, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, IBB, were absent and there was no reason given for their absence.
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