NGF ELECTION POSTPONED TO THWART AMAECHI’S LANDSLIDE

THE Nigerian Governors’ Forum, against all expectations, suddenly postponed its election on Monday, saying the incumbent chairman of the Forum, Governor Rotimi Amaechi, should be allowed to finish his tenure in May before a successor is elected.

But beyond the official reason, however,The PUNCH learnt that the postponement was the outcome of intense Presidency manoeuvring vis-a-vis President Goodluck Jonathan’s 2015 ambition.

Sources said supporters of Jonathan pushed for the postponement when they received signals that the President’s candidate for the NGF chairmanship, Katsina State Governor Ibrahim Shema, was heading for a defeat against Amaechi.

“When it was clear that Amaechi would have easily won re-election, they (Jonathan’s loyalists in the NGF) quickly called for the postponement of the election, saying that the current leadership should be allowed to finish its tenure in the spirit of democracy,” a governor-participant at the NGF meeting in Abuja on Monday told one of our correspondents.

 The denial by the Presidency on Sunday, notwithstanding, the NGF under Amaechi was said to have constituted a burden to Jonathan who is said to be doubtful of the Rivers State governor’s loyalty.

“President Goodluck Jonathan does not have anything to do with who is or who becomes the chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum. The group is not a constitutional organ, though members have constitutional rights of freedom of association,” Jonathan’s Special Adviser on Political Matters, Ahmed Gulak, had said  in an exclusive interview with one of our correspondents in Abuja on Sunday.

 On the eve of the stalemated governors’ poll, the Peoples Democratic Party Governors’ Forum was born during a meeting presided over by Jonathan in Aso Rock.

Akwa Ibom State Governor, Godswill Akpabio, a known loyalist of Mr. President, is the chairman of the new forum that has continued to excite the PDP leadership and Jonathan’s men.

Feelers from the governors’ meeting which held at the Sokoto State Lodge, Abuja, on Monday, indicated that the Presidency persuaded one other governor from the north who was interested in leading the NGF to step down for Shema.

Besides Shema, the Benue State Governor, Mr. Gabriel Suswan, was said to have indicated interest in the NGF chairmanship.

A northern governor, who pleaded anonymity, said Shema was picked after the intervention of the Presidency.

He said, “The chairmanship of the NGF and the PDP governors’ forum will play a big role in who emerges as the president in 2015. The Presidency sees Shema as a moderate.

“Suswan, who is also close to the President, was persuaded to step down. He may be compensated with the Chairman of the Northern Governors’ Forum.”

Niger State Governor Babangida Aliyu is the incumbent chairman of the the Northern Governors’ Forum. Apart from nursing a presidential ambition, it was Aliyu that recently challenged Jonathan to respect an agreement he purportedly reached with governors in 2011 to serve only one term as president.

 It was gathered that the Presidency pushed for the emergence of the Akwa Ibom State, Governor, Mr. Goodswill Akapbio, as part of the move to stop Amaechi.

Amaechi, after the NGF poll was postponed on Monday said, “Members reviewed the affairs of the forum in the past 21 months detailing the activities, achievements and challenges experienced during the period.

“After the exhaustive deliberation of the issues of filling vacant positions, the forum resolved that elections in this regard be postponed till May when the chairman initial two tenures will expire.”

His deputy, Anambra State Governor, Peter Obi, also said that the incumbent chairman of the NGF was entitled to another term.

A governor told one of our correspondents that it would be an impossible task for Amaechi to retain the post as the election of Akpabio of Akwa Ibom, also in the South-South, is seen as a move to stop him.

But Obi, in an interview with one of our correspondents faulted the argument that the emergence of the PDP governors’ forum would affect the election of the chairman of the NGF.

He said, “The affairs of the PDP do not concern the NGF. The PDP has the right to have its chairman. Even the ACN (Action Congress of Nigeria) has its own forum. Even APGA has its own forum of Governors.

“We are not bothered about the PDP forum. Of course, the Chairman of the forum (NGF) has the right to re-contest in May.”

Besides Shema and Suswan, two Southern governors, Amaechi and the Abia Governor, Theodore Orji, were also said to be interested in the NGF chairmanship.

With the tipping of Shema by the 19 northern governors, the PDP might have succeeded in breaking the ranks of the opposition.

Prior to Monday’s meeting, 10 opposition governors, including the ones from the North, were reported to be rooting for Amaechi.

The governors, who were said to be backing Amaechi before Monday included Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto); Usman Dakingari (Kebbi);Sule Lamido (Jigawa); Musa Kwankwaso (Kano); Abdulaziz Yari (Zamfara); Kashim Shetimma (Borno); Ibrahim Geidam (Yobe); Murtala Nyako (Adamawa); Ibrahim Dankwambo (Gombe); Babangida Aliyu (Niger); Andulfatah Ahmed (Kwara); Tanko Al-Almakura (Nasarawa); Idris Wada (Kogi); Babantunde Fashola (Lagos); Abimbola Ajimobi (Oyo); Ibikunle Amosun (Ogun); Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti); Rauf Aregbesola (Osun); Adams Oshiomhole (Edo); and Rochas Okorocha(Imo).

The northern governors among Amaechi supporters were said to have made a U-turn when the northern leaders intervened and argued that the South could not produce chairmen of the PDP Governors’ Forum and the NGF

Amaechi has had a running battle with Jonathan over the former’s rumoured Vice- Presidential ambition.

The frosty relationship between the two, it was gathered, deteriorated with the public spat between Amaechi and one of Jonathan’s closest associates, the Minister for Niger Delta Affairs, Godsday Orubebe.

Amaechi took on the administration when he accused the minister of failing the people of the Niger Delta with the failure to complete the East-West road.

Orubebe in return accused Amaechi of, among other things, failing to deliver on the mandate given to him by the Rivers people.

Meanwhile, Akpabio has said that the PDP Governors’ Forum was formed to stand as a check on the new alliance party, the All Progressives Party. The APC’s founders have said that the party would wrestle power from the PDP in 2015.

“We are of the opinion that we should take steps to set up structures to meet the emerging challenge of APC,” Akpabio told journalists after the maiden meeting of the forum in Abuja on Monday.

Source: Punch