Only 5 Govs Attended Northern Governors Meeting

Most Northern Governors shunned the meeting of the Northern Govers Forum on  Thursday as only five governors were physically present at the forum’s crucial meeting in Kaduna.

Governor Issa Yuguda of Bauchi; his Katsina State counterpart, Ibrahim Shema and Governor Ibrahim Geidam of Yobe State failed to attend the meeting and did not send any of the states’  officials to represent them.

In all, only five of the 19-member body was present at the meeting held at the Gen. Hassan Katsina House, Kaduna, while 11 of the governors sent either their deputies or their secretaries to the state governments.

Yuguda and Shema had played prominent roles in the Nigeria Governors’ Forum election penultimate Friday, where Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, defeated Plateau State Governor Jonah Jang by 19 to 16 votes.

It was reported that the failure of either Yuguda or Shema to step down for each other led to the choice of Jang as the northern governors’ consensus candidate.

However, the chairman of the Forum, and Governor of Niger State, Dr. Babangida Aliyu, defended the turnout,   explaining  that the fact that most of the governors  sent their deputies showed  that they were adequately represented. He said most of them  gave reasons why they could not attend.

He said, “If I send my deputy to a place whether I like it or not whatever decision is taken there is part of my decision and I have been saying it loud and clear that if I die today before  I am even buried,  my deputy will be sworn in. “We  have had  an example in Kaduna State. So sending a deputy did not reduce the level or the importance of any decision taken there.”

The governors,  according to Aliyu,  kicked against the proposed banning of the Almajiri system of education in the region where children of school age roam the streets in quest of Islamic education.

Urging    political  leaders  to focus on issues that would engender national development and the consolidation of  the democratic gains,  the governors  condemned the killing of security operatives in Nasarawa State  by the Ombaste group.

  “The forum further expressed concern over the economic problems facing the nation, especially  the North  and resolved to have an economic plan  that would  form the basis for the economic  development of the North.