NGF Chair: Amaechi, Jang Take Tussle To NEC Meeting By: George Agba, Bayo Oladeji on June 28, 2013 - 2:14am .  Tweet  . The leadership crisis rocking the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) yesterday degenerated into what appeared to be a theatre of the absurd, as the National Economic Council (NEC) refused to recognise either Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State or his Plateau State counterpart, Governor Jonah Jang, as chairman of the forum. A dramatic change of protocol in the sitting arrangement compelled the two factional chairmen to sit close to each other like Siamese twins at the Council Chambers of the presidential villa, venue of the NEC meeting, even as their colleagues threw banters before the commencement of the meeting. The conventional method of sitting at NEC had always provided that the chairman of the NGF sit directly opposite Vice President Namadi Sambo, who is the chairman of the highest economic policymaking body in the country. But in an apparent deliberate change of protocol yesterday, the protocol officers attached to the Council Chambers at Aso Rock presidential villa arranged the seats in alphabetical order. By this arrangement, Plateau State and Rivers State, for the first time, sat together, as there is no state in the country with the initial Q. First to enter the chambers was Amaechi who attempted to sit on his usual seat close to Sambo. He was, however, told by the protocol gentlemen that he would be sitting on the seat that has the letter R as the inscription since he was the governor of Rivers State. His countenance changed immediately when he looked round and immediately got the inkling that Jang was going to be his close pal for the day. Chairman of the Northern Nigeria Governors’ Forum, Governor Babangida Aliyu of Niger State, who had been enjoying the NGF comedy, jokingly asked Amaechi, “So you are going to sit with Jang? This is very nice oh. Somebody is trying to be diplomatic here.” In response, Amaechi said, “We are still together. So, I am going to sit with him. The real chairman and the... (An outburst of general laughter followed.) All of a sudden, the other factional chairman of the NGF, Jonah Jang, walked in briskly and exchanged pleasantries with all his colleagues present, including Amaechi, before making towards his seat. He had no objection when he was told that he was to sit close to Amaechi. No sooner had he sat down than Amaechi who accepted his greetings wholeheartedly said to him: “You are welcome, I am the authentic chairman.” In his trademark sluggish indifference, Jang didn’t say a word; he was looking far without bothering to sustain the tempo of discussion with his colleague for several minutes. Thencame Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State who had all the while been burning with unquenchable desire to add more absurdity in the unfolding comedy. Just when most of their colleagues were gathered around, Oshiomhole held Jang in the hand and pointed to Amaechi. “That is my chairman,” Oshiomole told Jang who he said was only the leader of PDP extended faction. Everybody at the chambers laughed, except Jang who mighthave felt like Chinua Achebe’s proverbial old woman who is always uneasy when dry bones are mentioned in proverbs. While the comic relief continued, the NEC refused to recognise anyone as NGF chairman as there was no seat indicating that position. Vice President Sambo arrived at 11:15am, 20 minutes before AkwaIbom State governor Godswill Akpabio walked in. Probe barring of Rivers governor from seeing you, ACN tells Jonathan The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has called on President Goodluck Jonathan to immediately order a probe into the published report that Rivers State governor ChibuikeAmaechi was barred from paying his respects to the president at a dinner in the presidential villa in Abuja on Wednesday. In a statement issued in Lagos on Thursday by its national publicity secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said the president should ensure that whoever is behind such a condescending treatment of a state governor is properly sanctioned to serve as a deterrent. “We are making this call because we do not believe that, in spite of the reported frosty relations between the two, President Jonathan – as the father of the nation - will lend the weight of his high office to such a demeaning action as exhibited by the presidential security personnel. ‘’To believe that anyone occupying the esteemed office of the president of one of Africa’s most important nations will be a party to a situation in which any security aide will wilfully fence a state chief executive from paying his respects to the president at such an open gathering will be to think the worst of the occupier of that office. That is why we have chosen not to believe that this indeed occurred, and why we are calling on Mr. President to tell Nigerians that ‘it ain’t so’. ‘’We shudder to think of what efforts are being made - including the use of national institutions - to undermine Gov. Amaechi if the treatment reportedly meted out to him at the dinner has the approval of the powers that be. We are even more worried at what will happen to a governor from the opposition who falls out of favour with the president, if a governor from the same party as the president can be so publicly humiliated,’’ it said ACN said it is particularly incumbent on the president to clarify the report because Gov. Amaechi, the authentic chair of the Nigeria Governors’Forum (NGF), extended an olive branch to President Jonathan by attending the dinner along with the other governors who voted him into the NGF chairmanship, despite the fact that the president is publicly supporting the losing faction of the NGF, in what is being seen as a democratic faux pas. The party said the president must learn to separate politics from governance by rising above petty partisanship as he steers the affairs of state. ‘’At this point, we have no choice than to call attention to the recent speech by the speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal, to welcome back the honourable members from their short break. ACN quoted the speaker thus: “I am strongly persuaded to state once again that from the little that we know, there is dichotomy between politics and governance. Thus, there is a difference between a candidate in electoral contest on the platform of a political party and an elected official who has assumed a non-partisan responsibility and taken oath to protect and preserve the constitution, to serve the people and the nation. “Needless to say that, generally, whenever partisan interests conflict with national interest, it is partisan interests that must be sacrificed in the preservation of the national interest. The oath we took is that of constitutionalism and national service and not of suffocating partisanship.” The party urged all political officeholders, irrespective of their party affiliation, to eschew the kind of pervasive and petty partisanship that led to the reported disrespect shown to an elected state governor by a security agent being paid with taxpayers’ money.” At another instance, Governor Jang told Amaechi to accord him some respect, saying “I am old enough to be your father.”
Posted on: Fri, 28 Jun 2013 07:50:17 +0000
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