NGF CRISIS: OBASANJO'S PEACE MOVE CRUMBLES

The efforts of former President Olusegun Obasanjo to douse the tension among the governors
elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party have failed.
Obasanjo met with the governors on Tuesday night at the Presidential Villa, Abuja to intervene
in the crisis rocking the Nigeria Governors' Forum.
A major decision at the meeting was to persuade both Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi;
and his Plateau counterpart, Jonah Jang, to step down for a neutral person as Chairman of the
NGF.
But The PUNCH learnt on Wednesday that the two governors had refused to step down.
Amaechi and Jang are both claiming the chairmanship of the forum since its controversial
election three months ago. The NGF has since split into two with Amaechi and Jang controlling
different factions.
Before the Tuesday's meeting, which ended at a few minutes after 3am, Obasanjo had earlier met
with the governors on Monday night.
The two meetings were said to have centred on discipline in the PDP, the NGF crisis and sundry
issues among which are the crisis in Rivers State; matter of automatic tickets for political office
holders, and lack of cohesion among the governors.
On Wednesday, it was gathered that some of the governors in the Jang faction of the NGF raised
the matter of persuading both Jang and Amaechi to step down but those in the Amaechi Camp
objected, saying that the matter was beyond what could be discussed at the meeting.
Though a source at Monday's meeting said that there was hope that the issue would be resolved,
he said that the matter assumed a new dimension at the resumed meeting on Tuesday when both
parties refused to shift ground.
A source close to the two governors, on Wednesday, said, "There was nothing like that. Both of
them have agreed to stick to their mandate."
He added that though Jang was "almost ready to step down because those who voted for him
were at the meeting, Amaechi however said he needed to meet those who elected him since his
supporters cut across party lines during the election."
The source added that Obasanjo had agreed to meet with President Goodluck Jonathan on the
matter.
Speaking through the Plateau State Commissioner for Information, Mr. Yiljap Abraham, Jang
said, "The meeting is still inconclusive."
The Rivers State Commissioner for Information and Communications, Mrs. Ibim Semenitari,
described Amaechi as a defender of democratic principles and would not hesitate to yield to the
opinion of the governors that voted him as their chairman.
Semenitari, who spoke with one of our correspondents in Port Harcourt on Wednesday, explained
that the governors had not asked Amaechi to step down, so he remained the NGF chairman,
She said, "What I know is that Nigerians are aware of the democratic process by which the
chairman of the Nigeria Governors' Forum was picked. As far as I know Governor Chibuike
Amaechi, I also know that he believes that the democratic process should not in any way be one
that we will treat with levity.
"Everybody who knows Amaechi knows that he does defend democratic principles. What I am
certain of is that the Chairman of the NGF as of today is Rt. Honourable Chibuike Rotimi
Amaechi.
"But if all of the governors, especially the governors who voted for Governor Amaechi, ask him to
step down, that would mean that the majority of the governors have decided that there should be
a new chairman. Naturally, he would concede to his colleagues. But today, that is not the case."
Meanwhile, one of the aggrieved northern governors, Murtala Nyako of Adamawa State, on
Wednesday met with the President behind closed-doors at the Villa, Abuja.
That was the first time Nyako would meet with Jonathan alone since the crises rocking the PDP
and the NGF started.
While speaking with State House correspondents at the end of his meeting with Jonathan, Nyako
insisted that Jang did not have any claim to the NGF chairmanship because he did not win the
election.
When asked specifically whether the governors resolved at their recent meeting with Obasanjo
that both Jang and Amaechi should step down as the chairman of the NGF, the governor said,
"You are saying Jang should step down, step down for what? Did he win the election? What we
are saying here is that if he is going to step down because he is second winner, then that is their
business and it is not the business of others or the winner to tell him to step down. He is
number two, he got the second highest votes and that is the way forward. Step down for what?
From number two to where? Number three or four?"
Nyako said the crisis in the NGF was unnecessary because it was clear that Amaechi won the
election.
He said one of the criteria of electing a leader for the forum was that their chairman must be
trustworthy.
He said while the governors wanted a chairman that would have a cordial relationship with the
President, they could not be comfortable with a chairman that would turn himself to the
President's "yes man."
Nyako said, "The election in the governors' forum has become an issue. It should not be an
issue. When you say 16, 17, 18, 19, and 20, even someone who is in elementary school knows
which one is higher.
"If one group got 19 votes and the other got 16, in a democracy even in the eyes of the people in
elementary school, they know that 19 is higher than 16. It should not be turned into a
controversy."
When asked whether the NGF issue was discussed in the meeting with Obasanjo, he simply said,
"It was part of it but you should understand the rationale."