The 36 State Governors said last night that the issue of removal of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua was not a viable option for the resolution of the nation’s political crisis. Fielding questions from State House Correspondents at the end of their about one and half hours meeting with Jonathan at the Akinola Aguda residence of the Acting President, Akwa Ibom State Governor, Godswill Akpabio, said the governors resolved that the president remained the president while the Acting President remained the Acting President.

According to him governors resolved that Jonathan should continue to function as the Acting President for now. Akpabio said the governors expressed satisfaction at the way Jonathan has continued to govern the country as Acting President.

“We noted that the president has returned to the country and we noted the need for him to recuperate and get better soon before he can think of assuming duty. For us the issue of his resignation is not an option for now. For us what is important is for us to be compassionate, to be sympathetic and to realise that anybody no matter highly placed, even if you are a Christian and you are a Pope can get ill. Thank God he is back now and he is recuperating and we are satisfied that recovery is on the way. We are praying for him,” Akpabio said.

Akpabio’s position was also corroborated by Chairman of the Governors Forum and Kwara State Governor Dr. Bukola Saraki pledged the governors’ support for Jonathan as Acting President. While denying that the issue of Yar’Adua’s resignation was discussed by the Forum, Saraki  said the decision of the governors was to ensure that they provided good leadership at this crucial stage of the nation’s development.

“We congratulated the acting president for stabilising the polity of the country at the moment. And we in return, pledged our support to the acting president during this trying time.

“We encouraged and said he is doing a good job and that he has the full support of the Governors Forum in this exercise. We agreed to have regular consultations during this period among the Forum. He also educated us on a number of issues, for example on the Presidential Advisory Council that was set up, the reason behind it and other things.

“By and large, we emphasized the need for government to work very hard to ensure that we all play our role to provide leadership at this crucial time and the need to talk to members of government to ensure that some of the comments made are well guided.
“At the end of the day, we acknowledge what he is doing and appreciate it and we said that the 36 governors will support the acting president for this country to move forward,” Saraki said.

Also commenting on the outcome of the meeting governor Timipre Sylva of Bayelsa State said the governors cautioned Government officials on the need to be careful in their utterances at this moment of the nation’s development in order not to overheat the system.

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