The Presidency and Rivers State Governor Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi are
set for the final showdown today as the latter seeks re election as
Chairman of the powerful Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF). The venue of
the epic battle is the Rivers State Governor’s Lodge, Asokoro, Abuja.
From Second Republic politician, Alhaji Tanko Yakassai and National
Chairman, defunct Peoples’ Salvation Party (PSP), Dr. Junaid Mohammed,
came an appeal that the governors should vote according to their
conscience and not succumb to any intimidation from the Presidency. The
Presidency and Amaechi had engaged each other in a battle of wits
ostensibly over the 2015 general elections.
The President is rumoured to be interested in going for a second term
while Amaechi is being rumoured to be eyeing the Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP) ticket as running mate to Governor Sule Lamido of Jigawa
State. Main contenders for the NGF’s exalted office include the
incumbent chairman, Amaechi and his Katsina State counterpart, Ibrahim
Shema.
A new entrant into the race is their Bauchi State counterpart, Mallam
Isa Yuguda. Both Shema and Yuguda are believed to be enjoying the
backing of the Presidency. Findings revealed that Governor Yuguda was
drafted into the race to replace Governor Shema if Amaechi succumbs to
intense pressure from the Presidency to withdraw from the race.
Meanwhile, the 36 governors who will be picking a new chairman to
direct their affairs for the next two years are already polarised along
pro-Amaechi and pro-presidency camps. Amaechi’s leadership of the
strategic platform has run into troubled waters over what notable PDP
stalwarts and Presidency foot soldiers claimed to be his anti-Jonathan
posturing.
Under Amaechi’s leadership of the NGF, there is a subsisting case
between the Forum and the Federal Government over the management of the
Excess Crude Account by the Presidency.
The monetary deductions from the Federation Account without recourse
to states had been viewed as an affront on fiscal federalism and the
governors under the aegis of NGF which had instituted a case at the
Supreme Court, challenging the Federal Government. An out-of-court
settlement attempt by the Presidency even collapsed as the NGF under
Governor Amaechi accused the Federal Government of insincerity in its
trouble-shooting initiative.
At its meeting held on January 28, 2013, the governors hinted that
talks between the NGF and the Presidency were not yielding positive
result and ‘’resolved to take no further adjournments in the subsisting
case in court, but seek a final resolution of the matter from the
Supreme Court.” Investigation also revealed that Amaechi’s January 28
pronouncement rattled the Presidency and it had since initiated moves to
unseat the embattled Rivers State governor.
In the camp of the pro-Presidency supporters are the South-South
governors, including the opposition governor in the zone, Comrade Adams
Oshiomhole, leaving Amaechi in the cold.
Leading this camp is the Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP) Governors’ Forum and Akwa Ibom State Governor Godswill Akpabio.
Working in league with Akpabio outside President Jonathan’s political
fortress are, Governors Theodore Orji, Gabriel Suswam, Seriake Dickson
and Peter Obi, of Abia, Benue, Bayelsa and Anambra states respectively.
The North holds the ace Amaechi enjoys the support of the Forum of
the 19 northern states governors under the leadership of the Niger
State’s Gov. Babangida Aliyu. Aliyu and his Jigawa State counterpart,
Sule Lamido have been able to impress it on a sizeable number of their
colleagues that today’s battle is not about Amaechi, but the survival of
the Forum as an autonomous pressure group in the country.
But in spite of their admonition, the Presidency has polarized the
camp as three of the governors from the North Central zone where
Governor Aliyu belongs, are supporting President Jonathan’s candidate.
The states are Kogi, Benue and Plateau. “Even as these North-Central
governors share Governors Aliyu and Lamido’s fear, they have not lost
sight of the fact that whichever camp emerges victorious, will use the
platform to feather its interest ahead of 2015 presidency.
Recall that Jigawa governor had been mentioned as aspiring for the
PDP’s presidential ticket, even as the PDP Governors’ Forum was created
to push Jonathan as a consensus candidate, through an affirmation
process .
All these talks about the need to protect NGFs’ independence is mere
sermons, ’’ a Daily Sun source submitted. The fear of emergency rule
With the proclamation of emergency rule last week in some states in the
North, some of the governors who had declared support for Amaechi’s
re-election, findings revealed, have since backed out. The governors in
Amaechi’s camp who are wary of the Federal Government’s high-handedness
are Al-Makura, Ibrahim Geidam, Murtala Nyako and Abdulaziz Yari of
Nasarawa, Yobe, Adamawa and Zamfara states respectively.
Daily Sun could not confirm, if Borno State Governor
Kashim Shettima also gave his word in support of Jonathan’s candidate
for the position at a private audience the former had with some of the
violence- prone states before his proclamation of emergency rule.
Meanwhile, Alhaji Yakassai and Dr. Mohammed have urged the NGF to
vote according to their beliefs and conscience. Yakassai further called
on the governors not to succumb to any pressure that does not represent
their views on good leadership and governance that would translate to a
better service to the people of Nigeria. Expressing same view was
Mohammed, who warned that any attempt to impose a candidate on the
governors would, in the end, be counter-productive to the nation’s
fledgling democracy.
Yakassai charged the governors “ to realize that the eyes of the
world are on them and therefore, they should not do anything that would
tarnish their image or tarnish the image of the country as a whole”.
He maintained that it is unfortunate that a simple matter like the
election of the Chairman of the NGF, which has for so long been
conducted without any form of rancour or controversy, should this time
around, generate unnecessary tension among the governors.
Mohammed said: “Any attempt to circumvent the Constitution for
whatever reason or to interfere in the running of those branches or
tiers of governance is prone to danger. Any attempt to reduce the
position of the governors to that of errand boys of the President,
through bullying, intimidation and blackmail, must be resisted by the
governors themselves and must be condemned by Nigerians.”
He noted that there are 11 non-PDP governors in the forum, adding
that among the governors, at least four of them are PDP governors who
profess to PDP only by their name. He therefore, argued that the NGF
should not be treated as a PDP affair where anything goes.
According to him “democracy presupposes credible and free choice. It
presupposes the integrity of the choice and the people who are making
the choice” adding, “ once that fundamental right of a people to freely
choose is tampered with or in any way curtailed, then something is
fundamentally wrong about that democracy.”
