Just when it was thought that Governor
Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State, had won his re-election as chairman of the
Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF), the story changed. In its inimitable fashion, a faction
of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party sympathetic to President Goodluck
Jonathan, reached for its bag of tricks and purloined a document meant to
reverse Amaechi’s victory.
According to the
truly magical paper shared among journalists by Governor Godswill Akpabio of
Akwa Ibom State, Governor Jonah Jang of Plateau State was the “real winner,”
while Governor Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo was the “deputy.”
The statement,
released on a letter head that did not even call the governors’ forum by its
proper name, claimed that Jang and Mimiko were endorsed by 16 PDP governors;
one Labour Party governor; one All Progressive Grand Alliance governor; and one
All Nigeria Peoples Party governor, and dismissed Amaechi’s election as a sham
and a fraud.
Governor Akpabio
said they had pulled away and only recognised Jang as the duly elected and
recognised chairman of the NGF. Akpabio was conveniently silent about the
mutilations in the dates of the second paragraph of the letter he issued and
the fact that that letter was signed in April after one of the NGF meetings
ended in a deadlock.
He also omitted
to mention that Jang, who in whom President Jonathan’s faction is now well
pleased, was not even in the reckoning in April and had, in fact, rejected his
nomination by the Northern Governors’ Forum yesterday on grounds of “old age!”
So, are there
two or more factions of the NGF now? What does this portend then for the
polity? What does this mean for 2015? Is the PDP already preparing a result,
just waiting to alter it if the result does not favour its candidate?
The PDP has no
one but itself to blame for the crisis in the NGF; it mismanaged the process
leading to yesterday’s election.
The re-election
of Governor Amaechi as the chairman of the NGF came to many as a surprise as it
was believed that the governor whom the presidency drew battle lines with was
on his way out of the seat.
It was common
logic to think that whomever the presidency backed for the elections would
certainly win the race. But if what transpired yesterday at the Rivers State
Governor’s Lodge was anything to reckon with, it could well mean that the
proverbial 60-year reign of the PDP foretold by Vincent Ogbulafor is ending
even before it has started.
Things have not
been the same since the defiance of the House of Representatives’ members to
kick against the party’s zoning formula and elect Aminu Waziri Tambuwwal and
Emeka Ihedioha as its speaker and deputy speaker respectively. The ruling PDP
is gradually losing grip on its members and the opposition is obviously waxing
stronger.
And now the same
scenario has played up at the Governors’ Forum with the PDP, which has 24 of
the 36 state governors linking the wounds. The thinking is that clearly the
ruling party is no longer in charge.
If the presidency
and in effect the PDP had indicated interest as it did in the candidacy of
Governor Ibrahim Shema of Katsina State to wrestle the incumbent Amaechi out of
the NGF seat, it would have expected that as it was the case in the past when
the party’s decision remained supreme, that an obviously would-be frustrated
Amaechi would be forced to step down after reading the writing on the wall -
since it would be needless to contest due to the bloc votes of the 24 PDP
governors that would have indicated where their votes would swing to. The
combined opposing votes of at most 12 governors would still not match the 24
that is intact for the chosen PDP’s candidate.
In yesterday’s
election the reverse was the case. Governor Amaechi must have been full of
confidence going into the election after gauging the mood of his colleagues and
checking the likely support. Unlike the scenario painted above, the 11
opposition governors, now branded as “APC Governors” must have queued behind
Amaechi, leaving him to canvass the extra 8 governors (totalling 19, with which
he won the election) from the governors of PDP extraction. What this means is
that ahead 2015, the PDP cannot say its house is accommodating genuine and
faithful party members. And may as well play into the hands of the opposition!
Is a dirty 2015 here?
Source: Leadership
No comments:
Post a Comment