As the elections of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum approaches on Friday, the intrigues playing out around who becomes the next chairman of the powerful Governors’ Forum have not ceased playing out, with speculation that Governor Isa Yuguda of Bauchi State might be adopted as the consensus candidate with the backing of the Presidency.
The Director-General of NGF, Ashinana Okaru confirmed to this correspondent in Abuja on Tuesday that the forum will hold its meeting on Friday with the election on the agenda.
“Yes. There is a meeting is meeting on Friday and it is for election. It will be after Wednesday, when the tenure of the incumbent chairman, Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State would have elapsed. It will take place at the Rivers State Governor’s Lodge, Asokoro, Abuja,” he said.
Sources privy to the matter said that Yuguda did not show interest in the job, having had his own plans post-2015 when he would have exhausted his two-term limit, but his colleagues presented his name in their bid for finding the best person for the job.
He is said to be open to the bid to becoming the NGF chairman.
“He (Yuguda) did not lobby for the position but they said he should take it. If it is the consensus of his colleagues that he should lead them, he will gladly accept the challenge,” the source stated.
Sources said that pro-Jonathan governors had at the last meeting of the NGF successfully argued the need to zone the post of NGF Chairman to the North, following the emergence of Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State as Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party Governors Forum (PDPGF).
Akpabio’s emergence as chairman of the PDPGF had together with that of Chief Tony Anenih as Chairman of the party’s Board of Trustees weakened Amaechi’s comeback plan.
“We cannot have the position of the President, Chairman of Board of Trustees, Chairman of PDPGF all in the South South and then add the NGF chairman to it. The logical thing to do is to take NGF Chairman to the North,” a source said of the calculations.
Governor Ibrahim Shema of Katsina State had hitherto been the preferred choice of the pro-Jonathan camp, but the support has swayed to Yuguda.
Though Amaechi had been quoted as saying he will contest the NGF election, a source said that the candidate would emerge by consensus, adding that since the post is to be held in trust for other colleagues who are equals, no governor can lead the other by the nose.
A source quoted one of the governors as saying: “We are governors and we will ensure the new NGF Chairman emerges by consensus. There is no need for the wide gulf being created between the Presidency and the NGF, after all, the two occupants of Aso Rock were former governors.
Meanwhile, Amaechi, who has been engaged with President Jonathan in a long-running battle that has taken many dimensions over the past few months, is not giving up easily on his quest for a second term for the NGF chairmanship.
It was learnt that Amaechi in the company of Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State had gone to lobby Governor Babangida Aliyu of Niger State who is also the chairman of the Northern States Governors’ Forum to solicit his support in mobilizing support for Amaechi. Also, former Kwara State Governor and the immediate past chairman of the NGF, Senator Bukola Saraki was at the Niger State Governor’s Lodge by 8am on Tuesday to solicit support for Amaechi.
So far, the support of Aliyu seems to be leaning towards Amaechi as it is said that barring any last-minute changes, he is going to call an emergency meeting of Northern governors to ensure a bloc vote for Amaechi.
Before the visit of Amaechi to lobby him, he had played host to his colleagues from Benue and Akwa Ibom States, Gabriel Suswam and Godswill Akpabio who were there to solicit his support for any candidate sponsored by the Presidency.
Amaechi previously had the support of most of the PDP governors, but they were said to have developed cold feet because of the posturing of the party and other interests between Amaechi and the Presidency.
It was learnt that the governors may have been sending signals to the Amaechi camp to avoid an all-out confrontation with the presidency, which his eventual emergence could cost the forum. It is believed that, were election to be held today, particularly if it is a secret ballot, the Rivers governor would prevail no matter how tiny the margin. But the implication, according to the source, is that the forum would be seen to have been divided down the line.
Amaechi seems to enjoy the support of most governors in the opposition party, and some others in his party. But what is not clear is whether the PDP governors would hold out in support for too long against the backdrop of the pronouncement, penultimate week, by the chairman of the PDP Board of Trustees, Chief Tony Anenih, where he alleged that the NGF had been hijacked by the opposition governors. Anenih’s posturing is viewed as the thinking of the presidency.
Meanwhile, it has been learnt that the Senate PDP caucus is dispatching a high-level delegation said to be led by the deputy president of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu on a mission to resolve the PDP crisis which has seen the emergence of a new party executive in the state via a High Court order and the suspension of legislative activities by the Rivers State House of Assembly. The delegation is a product of the resolution of the caucus last week wherein they also agreed to intervene in the face-off between governor of Akwa Ibom State Akpabio and Senator Aloysius Etok.
Ekweremadu’s delegation, according to the source, would prevail on the governor and other contending forces in the imbroglio to sheathe the sword and possibly advise the governor to recognise the present executive for now, since it has been given legitimacy by a court order, pending the outcome the appeal.