A fresh revelation has emerged, contradicting earlier claims by Kwara State Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq that the National Council of State (NCS) passed a vote of confidence in President Bola Tinubu at its inaugural meeting last week.
It has been uncovered that no such confidence vote was taken.
Recall that according to Governor AbdulRazaq, who also serves as Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), the Council and the NGF jointly passed a vote of confidence in President Tinubu.
“The high note of the (Council) meeting was a unanimous passage of a vote of confidence on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR, Commander in Chief of the Nigerian armed forces,” the Kwara governor said.
However, a high-ranking official present at the meeting has come forward to dispute this claim, describing it as “a dummy sold to reporters.”
The official said the Council of State is a serious advisory body, comprising esteemed members, including former Presidents, Heads of State, and top judiciary and legislative officials. The meeting, the source said therefore cannot be likened to a town hall gathering, where such votes are commonly taken.
“The meeting is a very serious one that has a list of to-do things which we call agenda or agendum. There was nowhere a motion for a debate on whether or not to pass vote of confidence was on the agenda of the meeting. In any case, I know that such votes are passed in a Parliamentary system of government, and Nigeria runs a presidential system,” the Authority Newspaper quoted the official as saying.
According to him, “after the end of the Council meeting, Attorney-General of the Federation, Mr. Lateef Fagbemi, suggested that, in the light of the #endbadgovernance protests, it would be good for the Council to show solidarity with President Tinubu,” offered the official.
“No sooner had the AGF made the proposal than Senate President Godswill Akpabio rose to, in his words, second the motion for Council to pass a vote of confidence on President Bola Ahmed TinubuTinubu,” adding, “to be fair, no former Presidents/Heads of State, nor governors present at the meeting commented on the motion by Fagbemi and Akpabio,” he narrated, adding, “I’m sure the former leaders at the meeting must have been thoroughly embarrassed by Governor AbdulRazaq’s claim.
Former Presidents Goodluck Jonathan and Muhammadu Buhari were physically in attendance at the meeting.