THE Council of State has passed a vote of confidence on President Bola Tinubu at its first meeting since Tinubu became president on May 29, 2023.
The Council of State comprises former Presidents and past Heads of State, serving Vice President, the Senate President, Speaker of the House of Representatives, and governors.
The council advises the President on policymaking.
Former Heads of State Yakubu Gowon and Abdulsalami Abubakar participated virtually, while former presidents Goodluck Jonathan and Muhammadu Buhari were physically present at the meeting, which took place at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Tuesday, August 13.
Former president Olusegun Obasanjo did not participate in person or virtually at the meeting.
He had justified the recent #EndBadGovernance protest, which most probably necessitated the Council’s meeting.
The governors of Kwara, Imo, Kogi, Rivers, and Ebonyi, among others, were also in attendance at the meeting.
The Council condemned the recent #Endbadgovernance protest which held for ten days across the country.
Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake, who briefed journalists after the meeting, described the protest as being laced with wicked motives.
Alake said the National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu, briefed the council about the events surrounding the just concluded #EndBadGovernance protests.
He claimed the organisers tried to forcefully change the government given the events that characterise the protest.
The minister said the council commended Nigerians for “resisting any unconstitutional move to change government” during the protests.
“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. If anybody is not satisfied with the government, there is always an election coming, so you wait for the election and cast your vote.
“So 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 would be allowed to truncate our hard-earned democracy,” the minister said.
Alake said any change of government must be through the ballots and not through the barrel of the gun or any other unconstitutional means.
He added that the NSA reassured of the readiness of all security agencies to secure the nation’s territorial integrity and to protect its democracy.
Similarly, the chairman of the Governors Forum and Kwara State Governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq who also briefed journalists after the meeting, disclosed that the governors had a private discussion with Tinubu and expressed their confidence in his administration.
The Council of State meeting followed a ten-day protest tagged #EndBadGovernance that almost grounded the nation.
The ICIR reported that insecurity, inflation and a hike in the cost of living among others pushed many Nigerians to stage the protest.
Tinubu had stopped fuel subsidies and devalued the local currency – the naira – thus causing a spiral hike in food and commodity prices and making life unbearing for many citizens.
A reporter with the ICIR
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