Today’s National Executive Council meeting was one meeting in which the description “drama-filled” does not even begin to describe what took place. Before the commencement of the meeting, the controversy was over who between Gov. Amaechi and Gov. Jang would sit next to Vice president Namadi Sambo on the seat reserved for the chairman of the NGF. A beautiful diplomatic solution was found It was the question of the day – Who will seat as chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum during Thursday’s National Economic Council (NEC) meeting in Abuja? amaechi jangUsually, the chairman of the NGF sits beside the chairman of NEC, Vice President Namadi Sambo, so as to highlight theNGF’s position on issues, but with the conflict over who won the election as chairman of the forum still raging, a diplomatic solutionwas found. And it was a solution with an ironic twist. To avoid any conflict, the organisers decided to adopt a seating arrangement where the governors sit in alphabetical order. That arrangement placed the Plateau governor, Jonah Jang and the Rivers governor, Rotimi Amaechi, side by side, as Plateau (the only state which begins with letter P) comes just before Rivers (the only state which begins with letter R) in alphabetical arrangement of states in the federation sincethere is no state beginning with the letter Q. Yesterday, the duo both attended the dinner at Aso Rock, but Thursday’s meetingis the first time they actually sat on same table since the election in May. Amaechi arrived at the meeting before Jang and on getting to his seat said: “So we are sitting together, authentic and the fake chairman.” When Jang arrived, the two governors then greeted and shook hands with each other. On entering the venue separately, the Edo and Nigergovernors, Adams Oshiomhole and Babaginda Aliyu, also had something to say. Oshiomhole said jokinglyin front of television cameraswhile pointing to Amaechi: “This is my chairman,” and said to Jang: “This is PDP faction chairman.” On his arrival and noticing the sitting arrangement for Rivers and Plateau governors, the Niger State Governor, Babangida Aliyu said: “This is nice o. Somebody is trying to be diplomatic here.” The joke began when Gov. Adams Oshiomhole came, he provided some comic relief, when he said while facing the camera and pointing at Rivers governor, Rotimi Amaechi, “This is my chairman.” Then he turned to Jang and said, “This is PDP faction chairman.”
Posted on: Fri, 28 Jun 2013 17:32:30 +0000
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