Govs’ Forum: Daniel’s Selection Undemocratic —Fashola

Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State has denounced the purported election of  his counterpart in Ogun State, Otunba Gbenga Daniel as Chairman of the Governors’  Forum.

Fashola stated that Daniel’s election was totally undemocratic as only few governors  in the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP elected him illegally.

“The PDP governors among the ranks of the forum have acted in an undemocratic way.  The question of who leads the forum must be a democratic process,” he said.

According to Fashola, “it bothers me because the only single national agenda we have  as a country today is free and fair elections.

“It bothers me that people of the PDP have chosen as it were to usurp and subvert  the will of 36 governors. As I was told, only ten governors gathered to choose him  (Daniel).

“It is not a crisis per se, but we would put it behind us and resolve it, but it is  burdensome that this kind of thing can happen in a party that professes to conduct  free and fair elections.”

Fashola made the remarks while answering questions from newsmen shortly after he  declared open the 2010 Kuramo Conference.

The governor added that  the situation was very worrisome and that it called for  internal vigilance on the part of Nigerians about the mindset of the members of the  PDP.

On the Kuramo conference, he said the idea of the conference was a response to his  belief that at the turn of a new century and with globalization, a new legal order  was imperative in order to make the world more inclusive and to secure it for the  next generation.

“Kuramo 2010 seeks to provide the platform for the best minds to examine the  existing legal order for trade, finance, exploration of natural resources,  protection of the environment, global peace and the dignity of the human race.

“I hope that Kuramo 2010 will provide the roadmap away from the setback of  Copenhagen 2009 and help us stem the environmental challenge to our planet on an  equitable basis between rich and poor nations.

“I hope that Kuramo 2010 will help establish a new legal order for  dealing with trans-border crime, especially terror, in an efficient and expeditious  manner,” he stated.

Fashola also hoped that the conference would set the agenda for how African Banks  and financial institutions could have a say in how global finance was regulated as  Basel III came under consideration in view of the fact that capital regulations  inaugurated since Basel I in 1992 and reviewed in Basel II in 2004 did not succeed  in stopping the global depression and financial crises that “we are all grappling  with.”

“I hope that Kuramo will set the agenda for establishing a global financial order to  defining the regimes such as consumption tax in a globalizing world with daily  increasing trans-boundary electronic exchange of goods and services.

“I hope that Kuramo 2010 will help us find a lasting solution to homelessness on  this continent and develop a framework for financing homes through mortgages for  Nigerians and Africans and help us get rid of those little things that divide us and  steer us towards utilizing our enormous diversities of colour, tribe, language,  religion and so much more to secure the only thing that binds us together, the  sustainability of our planet,” he added.

—Kazeem Ugbodaga

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