NGF: Presidency Moves Against Aliyu, Wamakko. * ACN, CPC Berate Jonathan For Endorsing Jang. * I Can’t Save Amaechi, President Tells Senators. Following the controversial election of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum, NGF, that resulted in a split within the group, the Presidency is set to deal with some of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, governors that supported Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi. Already, moves have commenced to punish Governors Babangida Aliyu of Niger State and Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko of Sokoto State for backing Amaechi, considered a political enemy of the President, instead of Governor Jonah Jang of Plateau State. National Mirror learnt that the two governors faced expulsion from the party. Just last week, Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso of Kano State was said to have been rebuffed by President Jonathan when he made attempt to see the President in the Villa. It was learnt that some of the governors loyal to President Jonathan are also pushing for the removal of Governor Aliyu as the chairman of the Northern States Governors’ Forum, NSGF. Governors Gabriel Suswam (Benue), Isa Yuguda (Bauchi) and Ibrahim Shema (Katsina) are said to be the arrowheads of the plot. “In the bid to remove Aliyu as the chairman of the northern governors, a meeting has been scheduled to hold on Thursday June 6 to carry out the plot, if Aliyu refuses to recognise Governor Jonah Jang as the NGF chairman,” a source said. Apart from the plot to remove Aliyu as chairman of the northern governors, the Niger State House of Assembly is being lobbied to commence impeachment proceedings against the governor. A source close to Governor Aliyu said each of the 27 legislators has been promised N70m if they buy into the project and that the impeachment plot is being coordinated by some powerful people in the Presidency. The source said those plotting the impeachment will come up with trumped up charges against the governor. It was also learnt that the state chapter of the PDP will be factionalised as part of the plot to take away the control of the party structures from Governor Aliyu. A former minister is said to be leading the plot to factionalise the party. When contacted, the spokesman of Governor Aliyu, Danladi Ndayebo told National Mirror that he was not aware about such plans. “Aliyu remains a loyal member of the PDP,” he said. Also, the national leadership of the PDP has summoned Governor Wamakko for saying publicly that he won’t recognise Governor Godswill Akpabio as the chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum. Wammakko is set to appear before the party leadership any moment from now. A source in the party said the governor faces suspension for what is being described as anti- party activities. Wammakko is one of the PDP governors that supported Amaechi. In a related development, members of the reconciliation committee, which was set up by the PDP Senate caucus a fortnight ago to reconcile President Jonathan and the embattled Rivers State governor, met with the President in Abuja at the weekend, National Mirror has learnt. A member of the committee and a ranking senator from the North told National Mirror yesterday that even though the president received the lawmakers very well and commended them for their initiative, he (President) nonetheless insisted that he cannot save the governor now because the matter was beyond his control. The President, the senator said, insisted that as things stand now, it is only the party that is in a position to resolve the rift and not any individual. The reconciliation committee had earlier met separately with Amaechi and warring lawmakers from Rivers State over the dispute. Another member of the committee and Senate Leader, Senator Victor Ndoma- Egba also confirmed this development in a text message to National Mirror but declined further comments on the matter. He insisted that it was the leader of the committee and Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, that was better placed to provide more details on the issue, stressing that, “as you know, I am not the leader of the team, DSP is.” The PDP Senate caucus had on May 14 resolved to intervene in the rift between Jonathan and Amaechi as well as the one between the Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Chief Godswill Akpabio and Senator Alloysius Etok. The decision of the caucus was made public by Ndoma- Egba at the end of the group’s regular meetings at the National Assembly. Meanwhile, the two leading opposition parties – Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, and the Congress for Progressive Change, CPC – have berated President Jonathan for recognising the Jang faction of the NGF. In a statement issued in Osogbo yesterday by ACN National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said the President’s “ill-advised decision has shown that he has little or no respect for democracy, and will stop at nothing to jettison timetested ideals on the altar of political opportunism.” It said the recognition of the losing candidate for the chairmanship of the NGF has also shown that the President’s spokesmen either do not know the thinking of their principal or have chosen to engage in downright lies in his defence. “President Jonathan is frittering away whatever is left of his credibility by the day. His spokesman said in a statement the day after the NGF election that ‘the President has always shown a willingness to work harmoniously with any leadership freely and independently chosen by the Governors’ Forum for the collective progress and development of all sections of the country and will continue to do so.” “But it is now clear that the Presidency’s statement is not worth the paper on which it is written, that in the Nigerian Presidency, words do not carry their exact meanings and that the spokesmen for the President speak for no one but themselves. When viewed in the context of similar deceitful statements by the Presidency in the past, especially on the health of the First Lady, one can see a growing pattern of a lying presidency, a presidency that likes to hide behind one finger. This is sad, because without credibility, a President cannot govern successfully,” ACN said. The party said the President, who should be looked up to as the father of all has become the father of a few renegades, and descended from being the President of Nigeria to the President of the PDP and now the President of a faction of the PDP. “This President is daily cementing his unenviable reputation as the most divisive president in the history of Nigeria. By raising parest, he has divided the country along religious, ethnic and political lines more than any of his predecessors. “In the process, he has destroyed or is about to destroy national institutions and organisations. First, he succumbed to the pressure from his party to deal with the judiciary for daring to reverse the outcome of some of PDP’s rigged polls. But for a courageous Chief Justice of Nigeria, who cannot be teleguided now in the saddle, the judiciary would have been emasculated altogether “Then the President all but put an end to the fight against corruption, which is widely acknowledged as a cankerworm that is fast destroying the fabric of our society, and now he has destroyed the NGF. This is not an enviable legacy for any President,” it said. The CPC said the endorsement of a faction of the NGF led by Governor Jang by President Jonathan was not only shameful but also an early sign of what might transpire in the 2015 general election. The party therefore called on the international community to take greater interest in Nigeria’s democracy and also urged Nigerians to remain resolute in defending the cause of democracy. In a statement issued in Abuja yesterday, the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Mr. Rotimi Fashakin, said that CPC is appalled by the President’s abandonment of the ship of state to cause needless overheating of the polity. He said: “NGF, as it stands, remains a voluntary platform among Nigeria’s governors, with no constitutional function. How the election of the chairman of the NGF captured the animated interest of the President, despite the seeming myriad issues besetting the nation state is still puzzling. This, of course, is another attestation of the President’s besmirched reputation for wrong priorities. “Undoubtedly, the President’s conduct in the just concluded governors’ election is a pointer to the immense electoral incongruities being planned for the 2015 elections. “Unfortunately, all the President’s men and women have sworn to obsequious subservience, which explains why he is egged on to continue with the capricious politics that is only geared towards exacerbating the overheated Nigerian polity. “We hereby call on the international community to take greater interest in Nigeria’s democracy which, with the President’s brand of deleterious politics, is in danger of peril. We call on the Nigerian people to remain resolute in defending the cause of democracy because eternal vigilance is the price for liberty!” The CPC spokesperson said that President Jonathan’s endorsement of Governor Jang as the ‘elected’ Chairman of the NGF finally removed the wind off the sail of the rigmarole and denials as regards the source of the contrived crisis in the NGF. It would be recalled that on Friday, May 24, 35 out the nation’s 36 governors voted in an election to elect a new chairman for a two-year tenure after the expiration of Governor Amaechi of Rivers State’s tenure. Amaechi polled 19 votes against Jang’s 16 votes. Some governors loyal to the President faulted the process and declared Jang as NGF chairman. Also, three members of PDP have described the suspension of Amaechi as an abuse of the party’s constitution by the National Working Committee, NWC, and threatened to head to court if the decision is not reversed within two weeks. The aggrieved party members lamented that the NWC of the party arbitrarily assumed the powers of the NEC and suspended Amaechi without preliminary hearings, or according him an opportunity of knowing the allegations made against him. They stated that the action is in breach of the constitution of the party and the right of the members to fair hearing as enshrined in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999. The warning by the party members was contained in a letter by their lawyer, dated May 31, 2013 and addressed to the National Secretary of the PDP. The three members of the party who all hail from Bauchi State are: John Akevi of Dan Iya Ward with PDP membership registration number 6590595; Alhaji Aliyu Shehu of Hardo Dan Iya Ward with PDP registration number of 16595260; and Aliyu Ladan of Dan Kada Ward with membership number of 14496238. According to the letter sent by their legal representative, A. A. Malami SAN and Co, the aggrieved party members also queried the failure of the NWC to convene a National Executive Committee, NEC, for over a year. “Failure of the party to convene National Executive Committee meeting for over a period of one year in consequence of which far-reaching decisions of the party that could have only been taken by the organ of the party were as a result left unattended,” the letter stated. They said: “Arising from the above, infractions the affairs of the party were being conducted in breach of the constitution of the party and the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 and the National Working Committee of the party, which arbitrarily assumed the powers of the National Executive Committee, had in consequence embarked on arbitrary suspension of the high profile party members without preliminary hearings and or according the members involved an opportunity of knowing the allegations made against them in apparent breach of the Constitution of the party and the right of the members to fair hearing as enshrined in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999.” National Mirror.
Posted on: Mon, 03 Jun 2013 16:32:50 +0000
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