Contrary to an agreement reached by governors of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) to support a consensus candidate, Jonah Jang of Plateau State at the previous and still-contested Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) chairmanship election, nine of the governors reneged on the agreement and backed the incumbent Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State.
This was revealed by Governor Sule Lamido of Jigawa State in an interview with the Hausa Service of the Voice of America monitored in Abuja on Tuesday.
He listed himself and six other governors as those who went against the gentleman’s agreement PDP governors had, insisting that the election was for the NGF, and not the PDP.
“I also voted for Ameachi. Look, in the PDP, myself, the governor of Kano, the governor of Niger, the governor of Kebbi, the governor of Sokoto, the governor of Kwara, the governor of Rivers, the governor of Adamawa, nine of us PDP governors voted for him.
“This election was for the NGF, not a candidate for the PDP; there is nothing to it.”
In a veiled reference to the consensus reached by the Northern Governor Forum to present Governor Jonah Jang as consensus candidate.
He said, “For one group to come and say ‘this is your leader, let’s present him to the nation’. Things are not done like that. People forget easily we are all reasonable people and the PDP was founded by reasonable people.”
Lamido also took a swipe at the party’s leadership led by Alhaji Bamanga Tukur over the suspension of Sokoto State Governor, Aliyu Wamakko, describing it as reckless and lacking circumspect.
He said, “Any reasonable politician, who has foresight, knows that doing anything that will cause trouble for party members or bring confusion, a leader should avoid it.
“The suspension of Wamakko was a mistake that shows a lack of leadership. Secondly, there was recklessness because what was his offence?
“The truth is Bamanga Tukur was defeated in Bauchi or was he not defeated during the zonal elections in Bauchi? He was defeated, not so?
“Myself, Wamakko, the governor of Kano and others came together and said what they (North East) did was wrong, so we will not agree; let us go for an election.
“The North East said its consensus candidate was Babayo. Bamanga Tukur was brought to us at the convention and we elected him, even from this, you have your answer (about the NGF election).”