President Bola Tinubu on Tuesday received a vote of confidence from members of the Council of State, comprising former Presidents and past Heads of State, as well as former Chief Justices of the Federation.
Tuesday’s Council of State meeting is the first presided by Tinubu since he assumed office.
Former Presidents Goodluck Jonathan and Muhammadu Buhari were present at the meeting, while Yakubu Gowon and Abdulsalami Abubakar joined virtually.
Ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo and Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida neither attended physically or joined online.
The Council of State described the recent hunger and bad governance protest as an insurrection and a movement aimed at regime change
Briefing State House correspondents after the meeting, the Governor of Kwara State and Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq said the council unanimously passed a vote of confidence on Tinubu on the way he has governed the country.
He said the council was satisfied with the presentations made by ministers on the progress of the economy.
He said, “We indeed had a very robust meeting. The high note of the meeting was a unanimous passage of a vote of confidence on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR, Commander-in-Chief of the Nigerian armed forces.
“Members, especially those of the Nigerian Governors Forum, were satisfied with the presentation by the members of the Federal Executive Council, and after that meeting, there was an executive session between members of the Nigerian Governors Forum and Mr President.
“Frank and fruitful discussions were held between both parties, and I’m glad to say we’re on the right track. And to say in the same vein, members of the NGF also, like the members of the Council of State, passed a vote of confidence on Mr President.
“We also wished him well and prayed for God guidance for him.”
Also speaking, the Minister of Solid Mineral Development, Dr Dele Alake, said the council also praised Tinubu for resisting a forceful takeover of government.
Alake said that the National Security Adviser, NSA Mallam Nuhu Ribadu briefed the Council of State on the security situation in the country especially on issues before, during and after the nationwide protests.
The Minister said the Council of State agreed that nobody should be allowed to truncate the hard-earned democracy and that any change will be through the ballot box and not by insurrection.
He revealed that seven ministers made presentations to the council on the progress being made on economic diversification and economy.
They include those of Solid Minerals, Economy and Finance, Budget, Works, Trade and Investment, and Agriculture.
On his part, minister of Finance, Wale Edun, said he updated the council on the economy, progress made in terms of the macroeconomic policies.
“We looked at the data, or we reported on the evidence and the data of this half year for which data was available compared to the first quarter and the second quarter of 2023.
“And in broad terms, the economy is growing. The balance of payments, in particular, the trade balance and a current account balance are in surplus. The exchange rate is stabilizing, and inflation, though high, uncomfortably high for the liking of Mr. President and his team, it is slowing and it is set to fall.
“But in particular, there has been support for the economy from investors, foreign investors, by way of portfolio investors, domestic investors, who are participating in important private-public partnerships, particularly infrastructure sector and foreign direct investment, the economy is beginning to recover,” he said.
