The Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) chairmanship election is expected to hold this month. A major contender is the incumbent chairman, Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi, who is having a running battle with the Presidency, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NACA) and a section of the polarised Rivers State House of Assembly. Will Amaechi weather the storm or  will he be defeated by the forces opposed to him? EMMANUEL OLADESU and AUGUSTINE AVWODE examine the protracted crisis rocking the NGF and implications for its future.

This month is critical to the future of the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF). The 36 governors are warming up for the forum’s chairmanship election. But, unlike the previous poll, the contest is not beiong aproached as a friendly.

The NGF is polarised into the pro-Amaechi and anti-Amaechi factions. Majority of the governors are said to be backing the Rivers State governor. But the Presidency, which is believed to be uncomfortable with his leadership of the forum, is trying to raise another aspirant to slug it out with him. The battle became more fierce last month, with the pro and anti-Amaechi elements returning to the drawing board to perfect their antagonistic scheming strategies to have a upper hand. Following the forum’s rancorous meeting in Abuja, the election was postponed.

Amaechi is battling to retain the seat. When the election was postponed, it was evident that those opposed to him have not mustered the majority support required to frustrate his second term bid as the NGF chairman. The 10 northern governors who are opposed to President Goodluck Jonathan’s choice were backing Amaechi. But it cannot be ascertained now whether his critics have recruited more antagonists for the leadership of the forum.

The gathering storm

Amaechi is in the eye of the storm. The first move against him after the last NGF’s meeting was strategic. Posters announcing the presidential ambition of Jigawa State Governor Sule Lamido, with Amaechi as his running mate, flooded the Northern States to stir up emotions and sentiments against the duo within the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and create disaffection among party followers. The posters, which were sighted in Kano, Kaduna, Jigawa, Plateau, Niger, Nasarawa, Bauchi, and Benue states, may have been released to blackmail Amaechi and weaken his popularity in the NGF and the newly inaugurated PDP Governors’ Forum led by his Akwa Ibom State counterpart, Chief Godswill Akpabio.

Amaechi’s relationship with President Jonathan turned sour, when he openly criticised the federal government’s transformation agenda. Under his leadership, the NGF had confronted the President over critical issues germane to true federalism. NGF objected to the formula for revenue allocation and the controversial Sovereign Wealth Fund.

The government has also turned the heat on the NGF chairman. Recently, at the Akure Airport, his plane was grounded for allegedly violating aviation rules. Many believed that the problem was aggravated by the existing cold relationship between the governor and the President. Now, the Rivers State House of Assembly has affirmed the plot to remove Amaechi from office. Already, the ruling party is in turmoil in Rivers State. There are two parallel executive committees fighting for the soul of the party. So far, the party executive allegedly backed by the Presidency is having the upper hand. The game plan is to frustrate the governor’s senatorial bid and ensure that he does not hand over to a candidate of his choice in 2015.

But the Rivers State governor has not been deserted by many governors. Sources close to him disclosed that since his plane was grounded and the impeachment plot thickened, many of them have called to solidarise with him. “The governors are with the NGF chairman and some of them have advised him not to reply his Abuja critics on the pages of newspapers,” said the source.

NGF’s growing influence

The NGF is not recognised by the 1999

Constitution. But governors have used

the forum as a platform for the ventilation of grievances against the defective federal structure. Under the umbrella, the governors, who have been described as provincial oppressors, have challenged the Presidency to a duel by going to the court for judicial interpretation of presidential actions and moves.

The membership of the association is voluntary. Its resolutions and decisions are advisory and not binding. But the NGF cannot be ignored by any politician. Observers believe that it is a potent force in the polity. In the past, the body derived its strength from its unity and cohesion.

Critics of NGF

The NGF lacks a legal backing, although it thrives on the exercise of the freedom of association by its members. Bayelsa State Governor Seriake Dickson, who antiaged what he said as the excesses of the NGF chairman, pointed out that the body has been used to feather personal nests. In his view, the forum may have exceeded its bounds as a mechanism for peer review.

Critics of the NGF have observed that the governors had grown wings. A Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain, Senator Smart Adeyemi (Kogi Central District), berated the governors for frustrating the constitution amendment process. He pointed out that despite the clamour for the local government autonomy, the governors are averse to it.

A PDP elder and former Education Minister, Prof. Jibril Aminu, alleged that the governors were exercising sweeping powers. He described the NGF as an oppressive body, whose wing should be clipped.

Another PDP backer, Chief Edwin Clark, a prominent Ijaw leader and former Information Minister, flayed the governors for oppressing the President. He said their virulent attacks were unwarranted. He pointed out that the governors have tacitly supported corruption by not speaking against the corrupt activities of their colleagues.

Governors/federal legislators feud

From 1999 to date, there has been tension between many governors and federal legislators from their states. The governors, who are locked in the battle for the control of the party machinery in their states, have labeled the lawmakers as “Abuja politicians”, who are not conversant with the situation at home. The senators and House of Representatives members also frown at the growing powers of the governors. The governors are the party leaders in the states and they decide who gets what, how and when. Party faithful worship them as thin gods. The party’s executive committees at the ward, council and state levels are created in the governors’ image.

During elections, National Assembly members who are not in the good book of some governors may miss being nominated by the party. Many legislators have also complained that their influence has been cut by the governors in their constituencies. Any legislator who criticises the government’s activities may be labelled as the enemy of the governor, with severe consequences for his political career.

Governors and godfatherism

Since the aborted Third Repub-

lic, governors have assumed the

status of godfathers. They dictated to the Houses of Assembly and ensured that the Speakers were under their armpits. President Jonathan was sensitive to the governors’ awesome powers when he requested them to nominate candidates for ministerial slots. That special privilege, which enraged the ruling party, further increased the powers and influence of the state party leaders, to the detriment of those outside their camps.

The privilege was abused by some governors. They ended up nominating cronies who ultimately serve as liaison officers in the federal cabinet. The ministers who have performed creditably became threats to the governors in their states. The constant rivalry between the governors and ministers over their antagonistic political ambitions has generated more tension and confusion in the ruling PDP. In many PDP states, the party has often been polarised into the camps of governors and federal lawmakers. When the two factions struggle for the soul of the party in the state, the party has always ended up as the main casualty. Ahead of the primaries that heralded the general elections, PDP states boiled over the contest for supremacy between governors and National Assembly members on one hand and governors and ministers on the other.

Power loaded governors

As the party leaders, governors are at a vantage position to manipulate the primaries to favour themselves or their anointed candidates.

In many states, the Houses of Assembly work as an appendage of the executive. The governor decides who emerges as the Speaker. Except in Lagos State, most governors loathe the idea of a fully independent legislature, supported by the House of Assembly Service Commission. Governors also determine, in many instances, who becomes members of the Houses of Assembly, Representatives and Senate.

A political scientist, Boniface Ayodele, said the hands of the governors are also heavy on the local governments. “They are afraid to conduct council elections. They prefer to set up caretaker committees composed by their lackeys and cronies”, said the Ekiti State University don. In fact, some governors interfere in local chieftaincy tussles and insist on the candidature of their friends and associates for traditional thrones. “Governors are too powerful. The problem is that there is no one to tame them in their states, not even the parliament”, Ayodele added.

Governors as state

party leaders

In the Second Republic, governors were regarded as primus inter pares by the members of the executive councils they presided upon as chief executives. In that previous era, governors could not isolate themselves from the pack of democrats who constituted their teams. The new breed, who came on the stage in the Third Republic, were not rooted in the democratic culture of earlier period, which thrived on internal democracy, constructive dialogue and wide consultation. In that era, which was generally regarded as an era of strong political culture, party supremacy was upheld and governors, ministers, commissioners, special advisers and state and federal parliamentarians were bound by party constitutions, directives, guidelines, rules and regulations. The late Kwara State kingpin, Dr. Olusola Saraki, who , alluded to the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) caucuses, submitted that these elected functionaries knew their limits because the party was supreme.

The beat changed in 1999. Immediately the governors stabilised in their offices, the buck, henceforth, stopped on their tables. During the second term of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, governors were instrumental to the nomination of scores of politicians for ministerial positions. The formula employed for their selection was devoid of equity. Those who had scores to settle with the governors were denied the opportunity, despite their qualifications, competence and service to the party.

Also, in 2007, governors were completely in charge. Only the candidates endorsed by them made the ministerial list. The governors also instructed the senators from their states to ensure that they scale through the screening hurdles in the Upper Chamber. A few of them who were lucky to be appointed by the President without consultation and involvement of the governors soon fell out of favour with the governors and the party at the state level. Lagos politician Isiaka Adekunle-Ibrahim, said governors grew wings because of the weakness of the country’s political culture. “The Governors Forum, as we have seen, is a powerful and influential political bloc. They are so powerful in the PDP and many of them used to have their ways, no matter the odds”, he said.

NGF’s origin

For a body that is not only elitist

but also has less than 40 in num

ber, nobody expects that the the NGF would be this polarised. The Forum’s website says it all. The mission of the Forum is to: “ provide a common platform for collaboration amongst the Executive Governors on matters of public policy; to promote good governance, sharing of good practice and enhance cooperation at the state level and with other arms of government and society”.

The NGF is a “coalition of the elected governors of the country’s 36 states. It is a non-partisan association which seeks to promote unity, good governance, better understanding and co-operation among the states and ensure a healthy and beneficial relationship between the States and other tiers of government”.

The body was registered in 1999 under Part C of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, (CAMA), 1990.

From that time, the NGF has been led by five governors. It started with the former governor of Nasarawa State, Alhaji Abdullahi Adamu. He piloted the affairs of the body from inception in 1999 to 2004. He was succeeded by former Akwa Ibom State Governor Obong Victor Attah who led it from 2004 to 2006. Next to chair the Forum was former Edo State Governor Chief Lucky Igbinedion. He led it from 2006 to 2007. Thereafter, former Kwara State Governor Senator Bukola Saraki took over the mantle of leadership. He was there for the whole four years. The incumbent Chairman, Amaechi, took over in 2011. Whether he would serve a second tenure would be decided this month when his first tenure ends on May 26.

Drama as of old

This present drama about leadership succession in the forum is not the first of its kind. In 2011, a similar drama rocked the Forum as it sought to pick a new chairman. That drama

was laced with political intrigues tied to the 2011 presidential election.

Former Ogun State Governor Gbenga Daniel, who had been named as the new chairman of the Forum was removed in a dramatic fashion. His ‘overthrow’ was said have been engineered by some Northern presidential aspirants who thought they could not trust him.

The presidential aspiration of former Governor Saraki had led to the announcement of Daniel as the NGF chairman. But a section of the Forum would not have any of those measures described as “undemocratic”. It was alleged that the PDP hijacked the process of naming a successor and mandated Benue State Governor Gabriel Suswam to announce Daniel’s appointment. The battle for things to be done right was champinoned by Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola.

Fashola had maintained that the process adopted in selecting Daniel was an affront to the country’s quest for a viable democracy.

“Some members of the Governors Forum have acted in an undemocratic way. The question of who leads the forum must be a democratic process.

“It bothers me as the single national agenda in the country today is free and fair elections, but members of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, have chosen to usurp and subvert the will and decision of 36 governors, only 10 of them sat down to elect a new leader.”

He had an ally in Ekiti State Governor Dr Kayode Fayemi, who argued that it was improper for any governor to be imposed on the Forum which covers the whole country by a single party – the PDP.

Those who opposed Daniel’s emergence hinged their position on the fact that he could use his position to the advantage of President Goodluck Jonathan. Daniel was coordinating Jonathan’s Presidential campaign in the Southwest then.

No to external influence

The desire for a forum that is

not attached to the whims and

caprices of a ruling party could be said to be the major reason Daniel faced such a stiff opposition and was eventually pushed aside. From all indications, the forum wants to be free from the apron string of any political party. This is exactly what will make the election very interesting.

Already, a new body, the PDP Governors Forum, has emerged since February 25 with Akpabio as chairman. Since 1999 when the Nigeria governors forum was formed, whoever led the forum had always served as coordinator of an informal association of PDP governors. This has since changed, with the emergence of Akpabio who now has a clear cut brief to lead PDP governors.

PDP Chairman, Bamanga Tukur, described the formation of the PDP Governors Forum as borne out of “necessity”. The PDP Governor Forum will no doubt go into the election with its own agenda. Interestingly, not all the governors on the platform of the PDP are in agreement with the formation of the party’s separate forum. It has been generally interpreted that the move was to weaken the larger body and force PDP’s agenda down the throat of others.

In the same vein, governors on the platform of major opposition parties have sent a strong signal that they are ready to work together for a better country. Though still in its budding stage, the governors of the proposed All Progressives Congress (APC) demonstrated their togetherness recently when they visited the hot bed of the Boko Haram insurgency. Observers say there are apparently about three or more factions that will be going into the election whenever they are ready to conduct it and that each ‘group’ will fight to protect its own interest. Though Akpabio has assured that the PDP Governors Forum would not do any harm to the main body, not many people believe it. But the major question is: can the NGF elect its chairman without any external interference?

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Posted in Nigerian Newspapers. A DisNaija.Com network.

Source: The Nation Newspaper

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