It has become a norm these days to see the opposition checking all moves taken by the presidency, a pattern has developed that sees the presidency looking behind the backs, the opposition has said its governors supported Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State as Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum to disgrace President Goodluck Jonathan and the Peoples Democratic Party.
The spokesmen for the APC told reporters that the merger of major opposition parties was to oppose the interests of the PDP and the President in the NGF election, the way opposition did during the election of the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
The National Publicity Secretary of the Congress for Progressive Change, Mr. Rotimi Fashakin, said the opposition parties were out to oppose any attempt by Jonathan to act as an authoritarian.
He said, “If you look at the actions of the progressives, you will notice that we have been consistent for quite some time. If you will recall that at the election of the current Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, the PDP had already zoned the position to the South-West, because they had nominated Mulikat Akande-Adeola, who is now the Majority Leader. But because of the cooperation of the lawmakers from the progressive parties, Tambuwal got the position.
“It is exactly the same thing we are witnessing now. With the cooperation of the progressive governors, Amaechi disgraced Jonathan, by winning the NGF election despite the federal might that was against him. Let it be clear to Nigerians that what happened at the NGF election is a dress rehearsal for 2015.”
Fashakin added, “The progressive parties will always do anything that will stop Jonathan from assuming an imperial status. We will continue to oppose Jonathan’s authoritarian tendencies. We supported Amaechi because Jonathan’s intervention in the governors’ forum election was self-serving. As a progressive opposition party, our duty is to oppose that. So, we have no apologises for that.”
When asked if APC was wooing Amaechi and the PDP governors in his faction of the NGF, Fashakin said some of the governors were afraid of openly opposing Jonathan.
“We saw that when the chips were down, some of the governors who were purportedly against Amaechi voted him in the secret ballot. Just wait, there are many more surprises awaiting Jonathan and the PDP,” he said.
Also, the National Publicity Secretary of the Action Congress of Nigeria, Mr. Lai Mohammed, said the decision to support Amaechi was taken at the APC governors’ forum, not at the party level.
He said, “All ACN governors are in support of Amaechi but the decision was taken at the APC governors’ forum. It was not discussed at the party. You know the APC has its forum and they discuss their affairs as it concerns the merger. Remember they were all in the Maiduguri and Yobe and they hold meetings regularly. So, they decided to vote for Amaechi at the NGF election. Is there anything wrong with that?”