Crisis is currently rocking the
Governor Jonah Jang faction of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum.
Investigations showed that some governors in the faction are
grumbling over happenings in the forum.
A governor, who belongs to the
faction, said that they were not happy with what he called the “over-bearing
influence of one of us.”
The NGF has been divided into two
factions since June 24 when it held its election with one faction led by the
Plateau State Governor, Jang, and another headed by his Rivers State
counterpart, Rotimi Amaechi.
The governor told our correspondent
that with what is happening, it might be difficult for the forum to meet its
target.
He said, “As I speak, the strategic
committee, which we named ‘Think Thank Committee,’ has not been able to meet.
“Members of the committee, which is
headed by the Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Godswill Akpabio, have not met even
once.
“Apart from Akwa Ibom, other states
in the committee are Delta, Katsina, Abia and Bauchi.”
Besides, the governors were said to
have been divided over several letters written to different embassies by its
Sole Administrator, Mr. Osaro Onaiwu, informing them about the “change in the
NGF leadership.”
In the letters, Onaiwu informed the
embassies not to attend to letters written by the Director General of the NGF
faction, Mr. Bayo Okauru, saying that he (Onaiwu) had taken over his (Okauru’s
) job.
However, at a hurriedly called
meeting of the forum, which was held at the Benue Governor’s Lodge in Abuja
last week, majority of the governors were said to have frowned at the attempt
to make their disagreement international.
It was said that while a few
governors were behind Onaiwu, majority of them said what he did was wrong.
At a point, one of the governors was
said to have asked who employed Onaiwu since he had not been given any
employment letter.
A governor at the event said, “We
resolved that it was wrong for him to have done all those things without our
consent and moreover, we have not employed him as our DG.
“We know that we are making moves to
resolve this matter and at the end of the day, we would all come together under
one umbrella. That is why we scolded him.”
It was also gathered that President
Goodluck Jonathan was under an intense pressure to recognise Governor Rotimi
Amaechi as the chairman of the NGF.
Amaechi defeated his co-contestant
for the position, Jang, with 19 to 16 votes during the chairmanship election.
However, because Amaechi was not the
candidate of both the Peoples Democratic Party and the Presidency for the
position, President Jonathan has been relating with Jang as the chairman of the
forum.
Jang, with the support of the
minority of the governors, decided to open a factional secretariat at the
Maitama District of Abuja instead of Asokoro, where the NGF secretariat is
located.
The recognition of Amaechi is one of
the issues raised with the President when he was met by five governors in Abuja
nine days ago.
The governors have been going round
the country, meeting influential people to discuss the crisis in the country
and the PDP
The governors are Aliyu Babangida
(Niger), Rabiu Kwakwanso (Kano), Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto), Sule Lamido (Jigawa)
and Murtala Nyako (Adamawa).
Investigations by our correspondent
in Abuja showed that the President was already thinking about the proposal,
which some of the aggrieved governors had allegedly given him as a prelude to
having peace in the PDP.
One of the governors, who craved
anonymity, said that they were aware of the pressure and that they were waiting
for the President to brief them.
However, Onaiwu said he was not aware
of the pressure on the President to recognise Amaechi.
He said Jang was still doing his work
and that he was being accorded the needed recognition.
He said, “I’m not aware of the
pressure as you said and I can tell you that Governor Jang is being accorded
the needed recognition anywhere he goes.
“I’m also not aware of the crisis in
the forum as you alleged. We are moving on. That insinuation might be the
handiwork of our detractors.”
Tags
Politics