Northern Govs’ Forum: Abdulsalami Demands Reconciliation In Region’s Interest By: Bayo Oladeji on June 20, 2013 - 1:46am inShare2 Former head of state Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar has canvassed a more cohesive Northern States Governors’ Forum (NSGF), saying that there is the need for the northern governors to bury the hatchet and reconcile their differences in the interest of the north. The development came just as Vice-president Namadi Sambo might intervene in the ongoing faceoff among the northern governors which has led to Bauchi State governor Isa Yuguda and his Benue State counterpart Gabriel Suswam withdrawing their membership of the Forum. The NSGF split following the failure of Plateau State governor Jonah Jang to clinch the chairmanship of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) despite his endorsement as the consensus candidate of the Forum. Jang had lost to Rivers State governor Rotimi Amaechi by 16 to 19 votes. The development prompted Yuguda and Suswam to pass a vote of no confidence in the chairmanship of Governor Babangida Aliyu on the grounds that the failure of Jang to clinch the NGF chair was due to betrayal by active members of the NSGF. Abdulsalami had reportedly appealed to the northern governors to sink their differences when he met with some of them recently in Bauchi at a wedding ceremony involving the son of former vice president Atiku Abubakar and the daughter of former Bauchi State governor Ahmed Mua’zu. LEADERSHIP reliably gathered that, during the ceremony, Gen. Abdulsalami reportedly called Yuguda and Babangida Aliyu aside and urged them to sink their differences in the interest of the north and let the Forum remain united. “General Abdulsalami asked the two of them to resolve their differences in the interest of the north and its people. He told them they should always bear in mind that they are in politics to serve the people and, no matter their differences, the interest of the people should be paramount on their minds,” a security source told our correspondent. LEADERSHIP checks show that while Senator Anyim Pius Anyim was mandated by President Jonathan to wade into the crisis of the national chairman of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, and some governors, Sambo voluntarily assigned himself the task of reconciling the northern governors in the interest of the region. A source close to the presidency also confided in LEADERSHIP: “You are aware of the efforts made by the chairman, Board of Trustees of the party, Chief Tony Anenih, in addressing the crisis between the chairman, (Tukur) and some of the governors but the crisis remains, and then that of the Northern Governors’ Forum came in. “Two governors have been suspended by the party for indiscipline and insubordination; while Sokoto State governor Aliyu Mamakko’s suspension was lifted, the party was silent on the fate of Rivers State governor Rotimi Amaechi . All these are not good for the party as we are approaching the election. This is why Anyim is being asked to intervene through dialogue with some of the governors with a view to reconciling them with Tukur.” Speaking further, the source said similar efforts were being made by the vice president and a few others in ensuring that peace returned to the NSGF in the interest of the north: “Although it was President Jonathan who mandated the secretary to the government of the federation, Anyim, to intervene in the crisis some PDP governors are having with the party, it was the vice president who volunteered to handle that of the northern governors for being the highest political officeholder from the north in the interest of the region and that of the people.”
Posted on: Fri, 21 Jun 2013 13:51:56 +0000
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