(http://peoplesdailyng.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Gov.-Rotimi-Amaechi-and-Gov.-Jona-Jang.jpg) (http://peoplesdailyng.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Gov.-Rotimi-Amaechi-and-Gov.-Jona-Jang.jpg)No, I'm authentic NGF chairman — Amaechi
Jang's faction is smear campaign — Fayemi
Why Amaechi can't be our leader — Obi
By Lawrence Olaoye, Abuja and Ayodele Samuel, Lagos
Factional Chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) and Plateau state governor, Jonah Jang, yesterday said he never bargained to lead the Forum but has accepted it as God's design.
Jang who spoke to journalists on arrival at the Yakubu Gowon Airport in Jos pleaded with Governor Rotimi Amaechi to back down and accept him as the new leader of the Forum
Amaechi had been declared winner of the election but the Jang group revolted against his declaration citing Jang's purported endorsement by 19 governors in a pre-election agreement.
He said he would do his best to get Amaechi to work with him as the new leader of the group.
Asked about his impression of the election, Jang said" As far as Iam concerned, I have been given an assignment and by the grace of God I will do my best to unite the forum and make sure the forum provides the right leadership for the people of Nigeria because we are governors that are governing our respective states. And so we are bound together to work with one another. The NGF election or selection as you call it, should not divide the governors. We have one purpose and were elected by the people to work for them. We have worked with Governor Amaechi the former Chairman of NGF before and I am appealing to him to calm down and also work with me so that together we will continue to give Nigerians the right leadership for electing us as their governors."
Meanwhile, a body known as the Plateau Merger Group has faulted Jang's declaration as the new chairman of the forum based on a pre-election endorsement.
The group in communique at the end of a meeting on Saturday jointly signed by the Plateau ANPP Chairman, Hon. Nazifi Ahmed, and State Secretary of the CPC, Pastor Dabit Joseph hailed the re-election of Amaechi by the governors.
Responding to the creation of parallel NGF by Jang, Amaechi said he stands by the result declared by the Director General of the NGF, Dr. Asishana Okaoru, at the end of the election.
The governor who spoke through his Information Commissioner, Mrs Ibim Sementari, when contacted yesterday said that nothing has changed from the result as declared which gave 19 votes to Amaechi while Jang got 16 votes.
She said going by the result, the only authentic chairman of the Forum is Amaechi, adding however that the governors are matured people and would resolve any disagreement that there is in an amicable way.
Similarly, The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has described as a bad omen for the 2015 general elections the rejection of the result of the NGF by governors who are undoubtedly acting the script written for them by the presidency and the leadership of the PDP.
The in a statement issued in Lagos yesterday 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.
''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 sanitizing the electoral process as he has been enthusing?
ACN condemned the meddlesomeness of the presidency in the election of what is not – in reality – more than a social club, and particularly criticized 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.
''Irrespective of the tepid denial by the presidency, Nigerians are aware that the arrowhead of the puppet governors, Gov. 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."
ACN advised Gov. 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.
Meanwhile, the Anambra state governor, Peter Obi, has said that Amaechi cannot be the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors' Forum because second term is alien to its constitution.
According to him the NGF constitution modeled after the American Governors' Forum allows for only single non renewable term.
Obi revealed that the amended constitution which Gov. Rotimi Amaechi relied on to run in the controversial election was not only doctored, but was never ratified by the larger body of governors.
He claimed that Amaechi's re-election could not stand because he was not the consensus choice of the body. "Four out of the five governors in the South-East say Gov. Jang is their choice; five out of the six governors in the South-South recognise Jang as their chairman; in the North it is the same thing, so what are we talking about? This is a body of equal partners, a voluntary group, and there has never been a time we had election. It had always been by consensus. They doctored the constitution which was never even ratified."
Explaining why Amaechi cannot be re-elected NG Chairman, Anambra state governor, Peter Obi, has asserted that second term is alien to its constitution.
According to him the NGF constitution modeled after the American Governors' Forum allows for only single non renewable term.
Obi revealed that the amended constitution which Gov. Rotimi Amaechi relied on to run in the controversial election was not only doctored, but was never ratified by the larger body of governors.
He claimed that Amaechi's re-election could not stand because he was not the consensus choice of the body.
Conversely, the Ekiti state governor, Kayode Fayemi, in a statement he personally signed and made available to newsmen yesterday insisted that Amaechi actually won the NGF election.
He stated: "We are particularly worried about the deliberate misrepresentation of events at the election in the media by some members of the Forum in the bid to justify the setting up of a parallel group, following the defeat of Governor Jonah Jang in the keenly contested chairmanship election.
"While we are not interested in joining issues with the Pro-Jang group in their smear campaign in the media, we feel compelled to correct some of the negative impressions being created in the minds of unsuspecting members of the public through a pot pourri of fabricated stories and outright lies.
"It is on record that all the 35 governors present voted and there is an electronic evidence of this, and Delta State Governor, Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan served as the Returning Officer in the Friday election that produced Governor Amaechi as chairman of NGF.
"Whereas the pro-Jang group had reportedly premised their position on earlier endorsement of Governor Jang's candidature by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governors Forum and the Northern Governors Forum, it suffices to state without any fear of contradiction that endorsement of a candidate does not translate to actual votes in any election. And even if they want to claim it as the result of the election, how come it was originally dated April and contained the names of Governor Ibrahim Geidam of Yobe State and Governor Hassan Dankwambo of Gombe State who were absent ?
"A candidate can have countless endorsements ahead of an election, but electoral victory is determined mainly by the number of votes he is able to garner at the election.
Contrary to the rather bizarre position being canvassed by the pro-Jang group, we do not see any reason for us to demonstrate that we won the election. The results of the election, as announced by the electoral officer is clear on the victory of Governor Amaechi. Rushing to Abuja to create the impression of being the so-called authentic Governors' Forum is not only childish but petty."
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