. Revealed! Governors who made Amaechi's victory possible
. Jang's faction meets Anenih, Sambo and Tukur –Jonathan
. Amaechi's ballots questionable –Mimiko
. Count me out of crisis in Governors' Forum
video recording of Friday's Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) election exclusively obtained by Sunday Mirror has revealed what transpired during the poll.
The election which has led to a cleavage in the Forum with a faction being led by Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, and the pro-Jonathan camp led by the Plateau State Governor, Jonah Jang, shows clearly that all 35 governors at the meeting were in full agreement during the conduct of the poll, the counting of the results and the decision to announce the outcome of the election to the public.
From the video which was recorded by one of the governors with his smart phone, Sunday Mirror observed that all the governors sat in a boardroom of the Rivers State Governor's lodge where the election was held.
Only two people were observed standing – the Director-General of NGF Secretariat, Ashishona Okauru who was in charge of the election proceeding, the second person was another man whose identity was unknown but was assisting Okauru with the conduct of the election.
When the counting of votes began, from the video recording, the expectation was that Jang would win because the ballots that were initially picked were all in his favour.
This made one of the governors present to jocularlycomment, 'Jang in earl lead'. It eventually turned out that he had only 16 votes. After the counting of votes, the DG was heard clearly saying, "it's obvious that Rotimi Amaechi had won and all the governors in attendance agreed and a decision was thereafter taken by all those present to go out and announce the result to waiting journalists. This was eventually done by Okauru.
The video further revealed how the Chairman of the PDP Governors Forum and Akwa Ibom State Governor, Godswill Akpabio, went to challenge his colleague who was recording the proceeding with his telephone and who responded, "If you don't want to appear, why don't you turn your back to the camera".
Sunday Mirror can also authoritatively reveal how Ondo State Governor, Dr. Segun Mimiko, on seeing how the election was going, said openly that he was stepping down as the deputy chairmanship candidate. The other governors, especially the pro- Amaechi camp were heard telling him it was unnecessary because if he didn't step down, he would still lose. Which was what happened eventually.
A source informed our correspondent that from what transpired during the election, it was rancour-free." "Pro-Jonathan governors took the decision to form a parallel forum after the process had been completed and the results were announced," the source said.
The video also recorded profuse sneezing by one of the governors during the election, and he was observed using Kleenex to clean his nose intermittently. Meanwhile, the identity of the governors who made Amaechi's victory possible has been revealed.
The governors had pledged to support the presidency's candidate and abide by the party's decision but at the last minute changed their mind. They are: Governors Babangida Aliyu (Niger), Sullivan Chime (Enugu), Makatada Wamako (Sokoto), Saidu Dakingari (Kebbi), Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano), Martins Elechi (Ebonyi) and Murtala Nyako (Adamawa).
These governors with 11 opposition governors, according to our sources voted for Amaechi while Peter Obi (Anambra) and Segun Mimiko (Ondo) voted for Jang. Several meetings have been held ever since then particularly with Vice-President Namadi Sambo and Chief Tony Anenih who is PDP BoT chairman.
A meeting was also held last night with chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur. At the meetings held early yesterday at the Benue governors lodge, 16 governors were present and they thereafter told the press that there was no proper election as Governor Amaechi refused to step down from office before insisting on election.
They also insisted that the norms in NGF was that candidates are endorsed and not elected, saying that Jang was validly endorsed by all the zones including the PDP Governors' Forum. Chairman, South-East Governors Forum, Peter Obi, who until yesterday was the vice chairman of the NGF said: "A new vice chairman has emerged, as you know we in the South-Eeast have always worked together as governors.
We have seen it in the last election and yesterday again, the South-East together supported the candidacy of Jang. We all in the meeting here signed." Chairman, South-south Governors Forum, Governor Liyel Imoke said:
"As chairman of the South-South Governors Forum, we also participated in the process that led to the emergence of Governor Jonah Jang. Of course, the South-South has always stood behind this administration, we would continue to do that and we would continue to support the new chairman and his vice to succeed.
We team up with the governor to make sure that there is no bad signal in the Governors' Forum and forge ahead to ensure that we have a united country moving forward.
The vice chairman of the Northern Governors Forum, Gabriel Suswam said: "Yesterday (Friday), the meeting of the northern governors unanimously adopted the new leadership led by Governor Jonah Jang and the northern governors are strongly behind the new leadership of the Nigerian Governors Forum led by Governor David Jonah Jang and supported by Governor Mimiko, the Iroko.
Chairman of the PDP Governors Forum, Godswill Akpabio said: "Even before the formal meeting of the Nigerian Governors' Forum, it was agreed that the chairmanship of the Nigerian Governors Forum be zoned to the PDP which is the party with the largest number of governors in the Forum. There was a meeting of the PDP Governors' Forum.
The decision of the Northern Governors' Forum was announced and you need to know that as Nigerians that chairmanship of the Forum should be two years in the South and two years in the North.
That has been the resolution of the governors. And so it was incumbent upon the Northern Governors' Forum to meet to bring out the leadership before presenting it to the Governors Forum.
Yesterday, Governor Aliyu Babangida who is the chairman together with Governor Suswam of Benue came up with Governor Jang as the new chairman and presented him to the PDP Governors' Forum and accordingly, the PDP Governors' Forum formally adopted Governor Jang.
The PDP Governors' Forum would work with Governor David Jang as chairman and Mimiko as vice chairman of the NGF."
National Mirror