BY ROBERT OBIOHA
The on-going leadership crisis rocking the Nigerian Governors' Forum (NGF) following its inconclusive election is not good for the polity.
It is surprising that an election of 35 governors that would ordinarily produce one chairman ended up producing two chairmen.
While Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State claimed to be the elected chairman of his own faction of the NGF, Governor Jonah Jang of Plateau State also laid claim of being endorsed by majority of the governors to be the chairman of his faction of the NGF.
Incidentally, President Goodluck Jonathan has recognized and thrown his weight behind the Jang's camp. While Amaechi's camp claimed that he won clear and clean, the Jang's camp claimed that the election was a voodoo show that did not reflect the reality on ground. Amaechi's camp has shown a video clip indicating that he won.
But Jang's camp has challenged the video and asked Amaechi to show Nigerians the four hours their deliberation lasted on the day of the election unedited.
The NGF's Director-General who served as the electoral umpire, Aishana Okaru, announced that Amaechi won by 19 votes against Jang's 16. Jang's camp cried foul and said that Amaechi manipulated the ballot amid other charges. I hope that the 2015 polls will not end up producing two presidents or even more for the country like the NGF's shameful poll.
If our 35 governors could not conduct a free and fair poll, I wonder how they conduct council polls in their states. The outcome of the NGF poll speaks volumes of our nascent democracy and the need to deepen it.
The NGF election has shown that some of our state actors are not as democratic as we take them to be.
Many of them are autocrats masquerading as democrats. Such political masqueraders are a danger to our bourgeoning democracy. Is this a manifestation of greed or vaulting ambition on the part of some of the contestants to the NGF chairmanship?
Has this got anything to do with 2015 politics as being alleged in some quarters or is it a sign of things to come in the polity? Does this election support the opposition viewpoint that it is a sign of how the opposition will thrash the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) come 2015? But how come the PDP could not even produce one chairman of the NGF? Instead, it ended up producing two PDP NGF chairmen and the opposition is smiling that it is winning.
Why didn't the opposition elect one of their own as the NGF chairman instead of queuing behind a PDP governor? Would that make them to realize their ambition? It is worrisome that the two chairmen of the two factions of the NGF are both members of the PDP family affair.
Where is the opposition in this game plan? Is Amaechi actually driven by patriotism or personal ambition? Is Amaechi stretching his luck too far? Can he survive this political cataclysm? In whose interest is the Jang's group working?
Will Jang be able to hold the NGF together? Is this a death knell to NGF? These questions deserve honest appraisal because the Jang's camp said that there is no second term for NGF chairmanship while the Amaechi camp claims that the second term provision is contained in the NGF constitution. The NGF constitution is highly contested by Jang's camp, which insists that such a document is yet to be ratified.
This looks like a recipe for confusion and more confusion in the days ahead. But if the governors cannot revolve the NGF logjam, then the body which is alien to the extant Nigerian constitution, should be allowed to die a natural death or be scrapped.
After all, Nigerians did not elect their governors to form a forum that will cause confusion in the polity and distract them from governing their states. The NGF has been so bastardized that every political party and every geo-political zone has its own variant. The forum is irritating to the polity.
It has lost focus and has nothing of value to offer Nigerians. Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State said recently that the main objective of the governors' forum is to serve as a peer review mechanism for governors to compare notes on polio and other developmental issues. His view tallies with those of governors Olusegun Mimiko (Ondo) and Liyel Imoke (Cross River).
But what is happening in the forum now clearly shows that the forum has been unduly politicized and used by some clever members to leverage on their future political ambition. The forum has derailed from its major objective.
Let every governor forget the forum and mind his state business for which he was elected into office if they cannot resolve their differences. Nigerians should never lose sleep over an association that is not recognized by the constitution.
The outcome of the governors' forum inconclusive election is never a measure of what 2015 will be like as being touted by the opposition. Those basking on such euphoria are either ignorant or politically naïve.
Via: Sun News Online