A plot by some governors to remove their colleague in Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi as the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum failed in Abuja on Wednesday night.
Sources told this correspondent that while the pro-Jonathan governors had hatched a plan to remove Amaechi prior to the Wednesday meeting of the Governors’ Forum which took place at the Rivers State Governors Lodge in Abuja, Amaechi and his allies, who were in the majority in the forum, had already devised a plan to counter the plot.
Amaechi was said to have directed the Director-General of the Forum, Mr Asishana Okauru to include change of leadership in the agenda of the meeting. As soon as the meeting started, Amaechi asked the entire forum’s secretariat staff, including Okauru to excuse the governors “for a brief discussion.”
A governor who attended the meeting, who asked not to be named, said, “As soon as the administrative staff left the hall, Amaechi threw the bombshell, stating they would discuss the leadership of the forum as there are uncomplimentary comments that he was dictatorial.
“He then asked that any of us interested in taking over as the chairman of the forum to indicate his interest, saying he was ready to step down.”
No hands were raised.
Amaechi has been the chairman of the forum since June 2011 following the completion of tenure of former Kwara State Governor, Dr Bukola Saraki.
Further investigations showed that a governor from North-West and another from the South-South (names withheld) were behind the failed plot to remove Amaechi.
On the other hand, two of Amaechi supporters, Dr. Musa Kwankwanso (Kano State); and Sule Lamido (Jigawa State), said the forum was satisfied with the River State governor’s style of leadership, and they were supported majority of the 33 governors and deputies, who attended the meeting.
When the plotters sensed the warning signs, they decided not to push further.
The opposition governors, who were said to have counselled against changing what they called “a winning team”, further supported Amaechi and they also allegedly advised their colleagues not to allow interference of any sort in the forum.
When the plot failed, one of the change proponents, and a governor from the North-West, immediately left the meeting in annoyance.
He was the only governor that did not stay till the end of the meeting.
There was a similar attempt during Saraki’s tenure to remove him as the chairman of the forum.
A faction then named the former Governor of Ogun State, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, as Saraki’s replacement.
Earlier, this year, the forum had passed a vote of confidence in Amaechi.
Amaechi’s problem with some of his colleagues, allegedly supported by the Presidency, might not be unconnected with his reported ambition to run on the same ticket with Lamido for the President in 2015.
Both governors have however denied the allegation.
Recently, Amaechi, and the Niger Delta Minister, Godsday Orubebe, engaged in media war over the poor state of the East–West Road.
On January 24, an elder statesman and a former Minister of Information, Chief Edwin Clark, said the forum was a threat to the nation’s democracy.
Clark, a confidant of the President, added that members of the forum were breaching the nation’s constitution with impunity as well as behaving like an opposition party to the Federal Government.
Meanwhile, the governors after their meeting called for a concerted effort to eradicate polio in the country.
Amaechi, who read a statement on behalf of his colleagues, also said, “Members exhaustively discussed the administration of the forum and resolved that all its organs be made functional at the next meeting.’’