The South-west Governors’ Forum has urged President Bola Tinubu to institute a new constitutional order that would ensure true federalism in Nigeria.

Ondo State Governor Rotimi Akeredolu, who is the chairperson of the regional group, stated this in a statement on Tuesday, on behalf of the governors .

He said this should be one of the first steps to be taken by the new Tinubu administration.

Akeredolu also admonished the president to hire men and women with the required expertise in governance to serve in his government

“The new Administration has its jobs well defined, the very first being the urgent need to assist in birthing a new constitutional order which takes into account, keenly, the principles of federalism,” a statement by its Chairman and governor of Ondo State, Rotimi Akeredolu, said.

“The success recorded at fixing the basic defects in the 1999 Constitution, As Amended, will determine, largely, the pattern and the depth of the deliberative governance designed to achieve development.

“All existential issues will be addressed realistically. We must encourage the new Government to tread this honorable path. The new thinking should anticipate active participation by the constituent units of the Federation as coordinate partners in revenue generation and the security of lives and property of the citizenry.

“I do not doubt that Mr President is ready to deliver on this mandate of rectitude. His record of service in Lagos State leaves no room for any doubt concerning his capacity to turn things around positively.”

According to the governor, only those with proven capacity to deliver should be brought on board.

“This is not the time to gloat on the electoral victories recorded in the last general elections. It is not a season for recriminations,” Mr Akeredolu said.

He said the divisive rhetoric of “we against them” should cease with the declaration of the winners by the electoral body, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

“We admonish ourselves on the need to remain focused on the socio-economic programmes for the emancipation of our people,” he said.

The governors urged all the new leaders to cast aside all tendencies which promote and deepen cleavages of different hues, adding, “All hands must be deployed on deck.

“There must be conscious attempts to bring on board only those with proven capacity about expertise,” he said.

“The President must ensure that all those who are bent on setting Nigerians on one another are neutralized.

“As Nigeria takes yet another momentous step on her journey towards greatness, it behooves us to join all good people in the country and our friends and well-wishers from all over the world to celebrate this seamless transfer of power to a new set of elected leaders, at both the national and state levels.

“Most importantly, all decent people must pay glowing tributes to the commitment of the immediate past President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, General Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, for this phenomenal leap towards political stability and economic prosperity.

“On this occasion, I felicitate the new President, Senator Ahmed Bola Tinubu, GCFR, most heartily, for his resilience, equanimity, doggedness, and uncommon tenacity to achieve set objectives. I congratulate the Vice President, Senator Kashim Shettima, GCON, for being a part of the team who will steer the affairs of the country for the next four years.

“I rejoice with the All Progressives Congress for working assiduously and sustaining the momentum until the final victory was won. I congratulate Nigerians for being witnesses to history.”

Mr Tinubu had severally advocated “true federalism” prior and during the electioneering campaigns of the last general elections.

However, politicians in the geopolitical divide are not quite agreed on the extent of devolution of powers to states.

Group Asks President to Declare Assets Publicly

A group, African Centre for Media and Information Literacy (AFRICMIL) has called on President Bola Tinubu to declare his assets in accordance with Paragraph 11 of Part I of the Fifth Schedule to the Constitution and make it public as a way of committing to the genuine fresh beginning he promised Nigerians.

AFRICMIL said it believes that declaring his assets and making it public would place Tinubu on a much higher moral pedestal than his predecessors who were not on record to have taken any significant action regarding this constitutional obligation.

It said besides the moral capital that accompanies such a rare gesture, the president would be seen to have reinforced belief in the “Renewed Hope” agenda on which his governance plan is anchored, and which was the mantra at every turn in his campaign trail.

The group stated this in a statement by its coordinator, Chido Onumah.

Tinubu was inaugurated on Monday as Nigeria’s 16th leader.

AFROCMIL said the anti-corruption agenda of the new administration remains vague even though in his inaugural speech Mr Tinubu said his administration would “take proactive steps such as championing a credit culture to discourage corruption while strengthening the effectiveness and efficiency of the various anti-corruption agencies.”

The group said it looks forward to a more detailed and unambiguous anti-corruption programme and is ready to work with the Tinubu administration to tame the vicious monster of corruption currently ravaging the country.

“Before we get a full understanding of the new administration’s trajectory on fighting corruption, we would like to propose to President Tinubu that an important tool for enhancing transparency and accountability and reducing corruption is whistleblowing.

“We are disappointed at the failure of the immediate past government to enact a whistleblowing and whistleblower protection law, even though it introduced the whistleblowing policy as one of its anti-corruption strategies in December 2016 and approved a draft whistleblower protection bill in December 2022.

“To address this disabling lapse, we are using this opportunity to call on this administration to take steps to sign the whistleblowing and whistleblower protection bill into law without further delay. A whistleblowing law would boost the confidence of citizens to report fraud, block leakages and increase the revenue which the new administration badly needs to sustain effective governance at this time,” the statement said.

AFRICMIL also called on former president, Muhammadu Buhari, to declare his assets and make it public as a token gesture of redemption for his severely diminished integrity.

“This is not the first time AFRICMIL would be requesting elected officers to publicize their assets records as a mark of upholding transparency and accountability in governance through personal example.

“In 2011, AFRICMIL dragged the Code of Conduct Bureau to court seeking an order compelling the CCB, within the ambit of the Freedom of Information (FoI) Act, to make available to the public the asset declaration form of President Goodluck Jonathan.

“In 2017, AFRICMIL again sued the CCB for refusal to make available the asset details of principal officers of the National Assembly since 2011. Following the unfavorable judgment of Justice Adamu Abdu-Kafarati of the Federal High Court, AFRICMIL took the matter to the Appeal Court. The case has yet to be heard,” the group stated.

AFRICMIL said it will not relent in its advocacy for good governance through activities that are targeted at holding public officers accountable.