AMAECHI: Audacity of conviction and NGF’s parley in Sokoto on november 24, 2013 at 12:54 am in politics By Soni Daniel, Regional Editor, North In what was termed a retreat, the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, NGF, led by Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State, chose to prick the conscience of the Federal Government of Nigeria in its handling of the nation’s finances in a manner that is somewhat opaque. The communiqué of the Forum read like an audacious inquisition. They made a strong statement at the end of the day. The absence of some governors notwithstanding, the Amaechi-led NGF made a mark with the assemblage of some of Nigeria’s leading lights to brainstorm on issues of good governance, democracy and national security, which are very germane to the national question. Although there was initial suspicion that the Presidency could scuttle the Sokoto meeting because of its aversion to the Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi’s leadership of the NGF, the governors braced for the two-day parley and wrapped up their discussions without any interruption from security agencies, which were however not in short supply at the venue. However, unlike when armed policemen, led by the Divisional Police Officer for Asokoro Abuja swooped on the Kano Governor’s Lodge in the federal capital territory and attempted to scuttle the meeting of the G7 Governors, those present in Sokoto provided cover for their Excellencies to brainstorm on the way forward for Nigeria. The successful hosting of the meeting of the governors by the Sokoto State Governor Aliyu Wamakko, and the adoption of a common position by the governors present, is seen by observers as a victory for the Amaechi group, which vehemently resisted the attempt by the Presidency to cage it. It was obvious from the outset that not all the 36 governors in the country would attend the retreat even though from the programme of the event, they were all listed and given possible roles to play. For instance, President Goodluck Jonathan, who was listed as the Special Guest of Honour and expected to read a keynote address, shunned the meeting just as the governors loyal to Governor David Jang of Plateau State, who wants to be called, known and addressed as the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum. Jang himself appears unhappy that the Sokoto event took place in the first instance. He reacted angrily to the outcome of the retreat when he described Amaechi as the leader of the ‘opposition governors’ forum’. The Plateau governor chided Amaechi further saying he remained the authentic NGF Chairman. The governor must have been emboldened by the declaration by Ahmed Gulak, Political Adviser to President Jonathan, that the River’s governor was not the NGF leader. The Jang statement followed the declaration by the Presidency that it only recognised the faction of the forum led by him. Affirming that the NGF was originally formed for peer review among the states and to provide needed social and economic elevation to the Nigerian people, he said: “Instead, Governor Amaechi has turned his team into an opposition group. They are now obsessed with the Presidency and the Federal Government.” Although Jang and his supporters are in the minority among the 36 governors, they all the same take pleasure in the massive backing they enjoy from the Presidency, which reportedly threw up the Plateau governor as a challenger to Amaechi. The governor, however, failed to get the support of the majority of his counterparts to be elected the NGF leader on May 24, 2013, paving the way for the balkanisation of the once united entity, but to the delight of the President, which had obviously become threatened by the Amaechi leadership of the forum. Fearless in speech and overwhelmed by courage, Amaechi, at the Sokoto retreat, declared, “Nigeria is faced with a lot of challenges, which can only be overcome if her leaders make conscious efforts to do the right thing. This retreat is coming at a crucial time in our national life, when we as leaders must live up to the expectations of the electorate, at a time when our insecure population looks up to us for security and social justice. As we brainstorm on the way forward for our states and county, it is my sincere hope that our resolutions would provide answers to the many questions plaguing our dear nation. “Today’s event provides yet another unique opportunity not only for an indepth deliberation on the state of the nation and the challenges confronting states, but also an occasion for renewing our vision as a forum,.” The opening speech by the governor changed the mood in the expansive conference hall of the Giginya Hotel, the venue of the meeting, and emboldened other speakers to fine tune their presentations, which mostly x-rayed the nation’s socio-economic matrix and proposed possible remedies. It also set the tone for the first set of speakers – Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka and erudite Catholic priest, Fr. Matthew Kukah, to fire on the tenets of “Good Governance and the Imperative for Managing and Leaving a Sustainable Legacy”. That done, the duo of Aminu Tambuwal, Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the former Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Nuhu Ribadu, held the participants spell-bound, with issues that shape the Nigerian federalism and consistently and substantially tilt the tide of our federalism towards unitarism. Federalism vs unitarism While contributing to the second topic of the day entitled, “Deepening Democracy and Federalism in Nigeria – The Role of States”, the two Nigerian politicians lamented the clear departure by Nigeria from the tenets that shape other nations’ federalism, thereby tilting Nigeria towards a unitary system in practice. Tambuwal decried the over concentration of powers in the federal level, leaving states and local government with little or nothing, thereby stifling development. The Speaker also lamented the current practice whereby resources are being controlled and shared by the centre instead of the states where they are produced as is the case in other democracies around the world. Tambuwal noted: “Nigeria is practising more of a unitary system than federalism. The unwieldy powers vested on the centre are examples and when you see the way the government is being run, you get the feeling that we are not practising the kind of Presidential system of government in the United States of America from where we copied our system. ”In fact, I want to say that our own federalism is peculiar to Nigeria as no other country in the world does the kind of things we do in the name of federalism. This is the only country in the world where the police force is controlled by the centre as if we were a unitary state,” the Speaker noted. ”The tragedy of our situation is that state Houses of Assembly have not been able to exercise adequate oversight over the executive, thereby making the executives to usurp the functions and finances of the local government councils in most places”. ‘Run in the dark’ When it was his turn to speak, Ribadu took a look at the way the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, was being run in the dark and asked for a change in the interest of all Nigerians. The former police boss said that Nigeria was one of the few countries in the world where the activities of its oil company were largely transacted in secrecy and global best practices that guide such operations around the world thrown overboard. Ribadu said it was also wrong for the Federal Government to handle the NNPC as a personal estate leaving out states and local governments from its operations. He noted, “Today, the NNPC is a producer, an importer, a marketer and a regulator paying to the Federal Government what it likes at any time and treating the states and local governments in Nigeria as if they have not stake in the establishment. “Let me say that states are very important because of the essential roles they play in the development of the communities and in the lives of Nigerians and should be allowed to have a say in what happens in NNPC,” the former anti-graft agency boss noted.The speakers noted that the ability by the government to deepen democracy and sustain good governance is largely hinged on its willingness to cater for the basic needs of the citizens and conduct its affairs openly and in accordance with global best practices that have made other countries to excel holistically. Presidential strategy By the time the speeches ended, the organisers were satisfied that they had made the point they wanted to put in the public domain and that the NGF under the Amaechi leadership had made its voice heard despite a calculated attempt to silence it in favour of the Jang group. As it were, even before the gathering ended, there was a deliberate attempt by presidential strategists to label the meeting as a flop, having been ‘shunned’ by many G7 Governors. One top government official wanted the impression that the there was a split among the G7 family since the governors of Jigawa, Kano, Niger and Kwara did not attend but dispatched their deputies to stand in for them. However, the attempt to disparage the success of the Sokoto meeting did not catch fire because many of the G7 Governors were out of the country at the time of the meeting and had communicated their positions to their colleagues even before departing Nigeria. It was noted that while Jigawa State Governor Sule Lamido had to take permission to attend to his two sons, who were taken in by the EFCC on the allegations of laundering up to N10 billion, the duo of Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano governor) and Babangida Aliyu (Niger governor) were outside Nigeria for some engagements in Europe. On the other hand, Ahmed Abdulfatah of Kwara State had to stay back and host two former heads of state, Ibrahim Babangida and Abdulsalam; Abubakar. However, when it dawned on the opponents of the NGF that their tar brush had failed to stain the group, the Presidency openly disowned the Amaechi leadership, saying it only recognised the Jang faction that scored 16 votes as against Amaechi’s 19 at the ay 24 NGF election. Political Adviser to the President and an avowed opponent of the Rivers governor, Gulak, described the Sokoto retreat as Amaechi’s Governors’ Forum and not the authentic NGF led by Jang, which is recognised by the Presidency. Gulak said, “What happened in Sokoto was not a retreat for the Nigeria Governors’ Forum. It was an event for Amaechi Governors Forum. “As far as the President is concerned, Governor Jonah Jang of Plateau State is the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum and not Amaechi. “The poor attendance at the Sokoto event confirmed that it was not organised by the genuine governors’ forum. President Jonathan would have attended if the event was organised by the genuine and proper governors’ forum.” Tantrums Amaechi, like members of the G7 and members loyal to him, however, remained unfazed by the tantrums of the Jang faction and the Presidency, pushing ahead with his agenda to bolster good governance and deepen democracy. With his state aircraft still seized by the federal authorities to cripple his movements and with his freedom partly curtailed by the police, Amaechi cuts the image of an unwanted child by an estranged mother. But it appears that the more he is chastised by the forces loyal to the centre, more Nigerians are becoming sympathetic to his cause. As a sign of the times, Amaechi had to squeeze himself into a commercial flight to and from Sokoto just to preside over the retreat, which had no fewer than 15 governors in attendance. More trouble and more sympathy for a man, who has chosen to challenge the forces that are neither necessary nor permanent in the Nigerian political arena. The poser is: Who wins?
Posted on: Mon, 25 Nov 2013 13:33:52 +0000
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