• ACN, others decry controversy over group's election
• 'Probe anti-Amaechi governors' signatures'
• Jang seeks Rivers helmsman's support
NIGERIANS who are shocked at the unresolved crisis in the Nigerian Governors' Forum (NGF) over the election of a new chairman Sunday warned that the dispute could threaten the 2015 general elections.
This warning came as Governor of Plateau State, Jonah David Jang, sought the support of Rivers State Governor Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi for his leadership of the NGF.
Both Jang and Amaechi are claiming to have won the election for a new chairman of the NGF at the weekend.
Jang Sunday attributed his 'emergence' as the NGF chair to "divine grace". In an interview with reporters in Jos at the Yakubu Gowon Airport, he only responded to three questions.
The governor, whose chartered jet marked 5N-BMR landed at the airport at 9.15 a.m., was prevented by the Director of Press Affairs to the Governor, Mr. James Mannok, from answering more questions.
In response to a question whether he really bargained for what he got, he said: "I did not bargain for what I have got. But that is God's will."
On his 'emergence' as the NGF chairman, Jang said: "Well, as far as I am concerned, I have been given an assignment and by the grace of God, I will do my best to unite the forum to make sure that the Governors' Forum has the right leadership for the people of Nigeria because we are governors that govern the states.
"We are bound to work together with one another. The NGF leadership election or selection or whatever you want to call it, should not divide the governors. We have one purpose. We are elected by the people and we have to work for the people. We have worked with Governor Rotimi Amaechi very successfully and Amaechi should just come down and work with me so that we can continue to give Nigerians the right leadership for electing us as their governors."
The governor said that as he had once worked with Amaechi as chairman of the NGF, he expected him also to work with him so that they would collectively give the nation the right leadership.
The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) Sunday described as a bad omen for the 2015 general elections the rejection of the result of the NGF by some governors.
In a statement in Lagos Sunday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said: "The message that the Presidency, through the puppet governors, is sending to the nation is that the outcome of the 2015 elections will only be valid if a certain candidate emerges the winner."
The party said: ''If an election involving only 35 governors can generate so much controversy and threaten to overheat the polity, what will happen when millions of Nigerians vote in 2015? Is this how President Goodluck Jonathan, who is the godfather of the losing governors, has been sanitising the electoral process as he has been enthusing?
''The show of shame by the bad losers supporting Governor Jonah Jang, of course at the behest of the Presidency, is an extension of the threat that has been issued by some rabble rousers that it is either Jonathan for 2015 or there will be no Nigeria as we know it. This is the Gbagbo Option that plunged Cote d'Ivoire into a crisis in which it is yet to fully emerge. This is what the puppet governors are pushing for, hence they must be called to order urgently!"
The ACN continued: ''Governors who participated willingly and fully in the NGF election have suddenly turned around and called the election a fraud after their candidate has lost. What were they thinking when they voted? Could it be that they were so sure that their arm-twisting tactics had worked and hence were sure of victory, only to be drubbed?
Did they deviate from the Presidency's script that they should only use the consensus they extracted from unwilling governors instead of an election to determine the NGF chairmanship?
''If they realised the ballot papers were not serialised, as the bad losers later claimed, why did they participate in the election? Couldn't they have raised an objection and refused to participate? Were they dragged to the venue of the polls screaming and kicking? If so, where is the evidence that they were forced to act against their will?'' it queried.
The ACN condemned what it described as the meddlesomeness of the Presidency in the election of "what is not - in reality - more than a social club", and particularly criticised "President Jonathan, as the leader of his party and of the country, for expending so much of the little goodwill he has on the NGF elections."
The party added: ''Irrespective of the tepid denial by the Presidency, Nigerians are aware that the arrowhead of the puppet governors, Governor Godswill Akpabio, is acting at the behest of the Presidency. What President Jonathan did by his meddlesomeness is to stake his Presidency on the NGF elections, thereby making the elections a referendum on his leadership of his party and country. In both instances, he got the outcome he deserved: A leader who cannot hold his party together cannot hold a nation together.
''And here are some of the lessons that the Presidency should learn, if it so wishes, from the outcome of the NGF elections - There is always a limit to hubris and the use of naked power against perceived opponents. Needless to say that latent power is more potent than naked power. A leader should never do things just because he can. The Presidency and the ruling party have lost control of themselves. They are bound to also lose control of the nation - democratically - in 2015. Make no mistake about it!''
The ACN also called for a probe of the "apparently forged document being circulated by the losing governors to show they had harvested the signatures of 18 governors pushing for a consensus candidate just before the elections."
The party said the fact that the signature of a governor, who neither attended the meeting of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chapter of the NGF nor send a representative, was included in the consensus list was an indication that the signatures were harvested long before the meeting and the day of the election.
"Of course, it is also clear that the dates on the typed document were cancelled and new dates handwritten.
''If the losing governors are insisting that the list is genuine and that the signatures were obtained at the NGF-PDP meeting shortly before the voting, then they owe Nigerians an explanation on how a man who did not attend the meeting or send a representative could have signed the document in question,'' it said.
The ACN advised Akpabio and his group to accept the result of the NGF elections instead of threatening to break the NGF - and overheat the polity - just to satisfy their masters, saying national interest should supersede parochial interest.
On his part, Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, described the 're-election' of Amaechi as Chairman of the NGF as victory for democracy, adding that the decision of the forum to opt for election instead of consensus was as a result of democratic growth.
Fayemi, who spoke with journalists at his Ishan-Ekiti country home at the weekend, however, urged Nigerians to see the 'emergence' of Amaechi as NGF's chairman as strictly a demonstration of his colleagues' confidence in his leadership of the forum and not a victory over the Presidency.
Fayemi said: "It is a contest among governors for the chairmanship position and it would be wrong for anyone to consider it a contest between President Goodluck Jonathan and Amaechi as the President was not a contestant.
"This country belongs to all of us and we are committed to working closely with the President of Nigeria. He is our leader. We have respect for him and his office. So, let no one think it is a defeat to the President. It was a race between Governors Jang and Amaechi."
The governor recalled that the leadership of the forum since 1999 was based on consensus but took a different direction because of the growth of democracy. He said there should be no controversy since the election was credible.
Fayemi described as 'sad' comments by the anti-Amaechi governors that the NGF election was rigged. According to him, the idea that the election was rigged tainted the integrity of its proponent. He added that the election which was recorded on tape was one of the most credible he had witnessed.
He said: "Governors routinely decide who becomes their chairman and they have done so consistently since 1999. The only difference is that as democracy grows, competition also grows with it. What was usually done on the basis of consensus before now went in the direction of outright election and a winner emerged."
Fayemi added that the outcome of such a credible election ought not generate the type of reaction from the opposing camps except some people were pursuing some agenda that were never made known to others.
"There should not be any reason for hidden agenda among the governors since the NGF is a voluntary body which lacks recognition by the Nigerian constitution," he added.
The governor maintained that it was expected that there would be a winner and a loser in any contest and that the result of the NGF election should not cause a division among the governors.
Also, a group of former legislators within Ebonyi State chapter of All Nigeria People's Party (ANPP), known as the New Frontiers (ANPP-NF), commended the Governors of Rivers and Yobe states, Rotimi Amaechi and Ibrahim Gaidam respectively, for the "boundless democratic sprit and sense of brotherhood" exemplified in their recent public actions.
In an interaction with journalists in Abakaliki at the weekend, leader of the ANPP-NF, Mr. Patrick Mgbebu, praised the Yobe State governor "for finding time to come and commiserate with us over the death of our former state chairman, Chief Livinus Nwambe."
Mgbebu, a former member of Ebonyi State House of Assembly, said Gaidam's visit to Ebonyi ANPP at such a critical period of the unexpected demise of Nwambe had bolstered their resolve to take the party to new heights, adding that the ANPP-NF, which he leads, would remain eternally grateful to the Yobe State chief executive for his fraternal visit.
The ANPP-NF leader congratulated the Rivers State governor on his 're-election' as chairman of NGF.
"Governor Rotimi Amaechi has become a pillar of hope in Nigeria's democracy; his re-election has shown that the sanctity of the ballot could upstage the tyranny of potentates. It is our ardent hope that Governor Amaechi would discharge those double responsibilities by fighting for the oppressed people of this country who yearn that their voices and votes would count," Mgbebu added.
The former legislator regretted that the dispute over the governors' election would lead to intense politicking and concerns for the 2015 election thereby slowing down governance both at the federal and state levels, stressing that the governors were short-changing the masses that gave them the mandate to serve them.
Besides, the Coalition to Save Nigeria (CSN) yesterday described the crisis over the NGF's election as a shame.
A statement by the national president of the group, Philip Ugbodaga, yesterday urged the governors to go back to their respective states and entrench development there.
The statement said the crisis could be linked to the 2015 general elections.
"What happened at the NGF election is quite disheartening and speaks volumes about what to expect in 2015. It is not surprising that a body consisting of only 36 Nigerian governors is unable to conduct an election to change their leadership. The show of shame that played out is symptomatic of the general electoral immaturity that has characterised our electoral history since independence," it said.
The statement wondered: "Where was the NGF when prices of petroleum products were criminally raised in 2012 in a country that is an oil-producing nation? What is the NGF position on the mass unemployment, abject poverty, and the unprecedented misery and hopelessness enveloping our country and what is their position on the massive corruption that is threatening the existence of our dear nation and the lack of affordable and efficient healthcare delivery in our country? When some people describe the re-election of Governor Rotimi Amaechi as a victory for democracy, rule of law, good governance, due process, courage, vision and transparency, we ask: what vision and what courage? Apart from perhaps Lagos, Edo, Akwa Ibom and a few other states, we challenge anyone to show us the evidence of the courage and good governance in the rest of the states! We challenge anyone to show us the transparency in the application or misapplication, the use or misuse and the appropriation or misappropriation of the billions of naira entrusted to them since they mounted the mantle of leadership in their respective states."
According to the group, neither Amaechi nor Jang nor the NGF holds the key to the socio-economic and political rejuvenation of the country.
Former governor of Kano State and Senate Committee Chairman on Local Government Administration, Kabir Ibrahim Gaya, said that the controversy that trailed the election of the chairman of the NGF was a signal to what political leaders were ready to make out of the 2015 general election. "How can 16 governors for God's sake come out and say that their candidate won the election after the returning officer had declared that Amaechi won with the vote of the 19 governors. Can you see that this is a clear signal to what these people want to perpetuate in 2015? We are all watching how they want to turn this result," he said.
Besides, a human rights group, Forum For Justice & Human Rights Defence (FJHD), yesterday asked the Presidency to immediately disband the governors' forum in the interest of national unity and security.
In a statement yesterday by the national co-ordinator of the body, Mr. Oghenejabor Ikimi, he stated that the forum was further worsening the political crisis in the country by creating
factions among the governors.
The Guardian