The crisis bedevilling the Nigerian Governors’ Forum, NGF, will take centre stage tomorrow as a factional Chairman, Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State, convenes a meeting of the forum in defiance of President Goodluck Jonathan’s wishes.
It is expected that about 19 governors opposed to Jonathan’s interference in the NGF affairs will attend the meeting. The meeting is expected to hold by 8p.m. at the Rivers State Governors Lodge, Abuja. This is the first meeting Amaechi will call after the May 24 NGF election.
His rival, Governor Jonah Jang, has held two meetings with his factional governors. Some of the governors expected at tomorrow’s meeting include Babatunde Fashola (Lagos), Ibikunle Amosun (Ogun), Rauf Aregbesola (Osun), Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti), Abiola Ajimobi (Oyo), Adams Oshiomhole (Edo), Rochas Okorocha (Imo), Kashim Shettima (Borno), Ibrahim Geidam (Yobe), Abdulaziz Yari (Zamfara) and Tanko Al-Makura (Nasarawa).
Other governors expected at the meeting are Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano), Sule Lamido (Jigawa), Aliyu Babangida (Niger), Saidu Dakingari (Kebbi), Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto), Abdulfatah Ahmed (Kwara) and Murtala Nyako (Adamawa). The NGF Director-General, Ashashina Okauru, told National Mirror that all the 36 state governors were invited “as issues bordering on their welfare will be discussed.”
Meanwhile, the secretariat of the rival faction of the NGF also yesterday highlighted the activities of the forum since the emergence of Plateau State Governor Jonah Jang as the Chairman.
A statement by the Head of the Secretariat, Osaro Onaiwu, said that before the current leadership, one of the most contentious issues between the governors and the Federal Government was the sharing quotient of revenues from the Federation Account and excess crude fund.
“The issue created a big gap between these tiers of government. This was no doubt a worrisome situation that needed to be handled with tact and diplomacy in order to achieve an amicable resolution of the issues.
“Consequently, the forum resolved and set up a committee of its members to engage the Federal Government on the FAAC issues with a mandate to represent the NGF and to critically examine every point of contestation between the governors and the Presidency without acrimony and recommend a way to approach the President and tackle the problem amicably.
“During the meeting with the President along with all the other governors, the NGF chairman made a very profound and non-combative presentation on behalf of the governors present.
“It is with delight that I announce on behalf of the chairman of the forum that the Federal Government after reviewing the presentation of Gov. Jang, set up a presidential committee chaired by Governor Isa Yuguda.
“The committee resolved some of the issues, which led to the immediate release of all outstanding revenues accrued to the states from the federation and excess crude accounts. And the monies have since been released to all the states including arrears.” He said that Jang employed tact, good communication and seminal experience to present the position of his colleagues to the President.
“It was his matured manner of approach that convinced Mr. President to set up the presidential committee, which led to the amiable settlement of the issues and the immediate release of the funds, and an end to the matter that has long caused friction between the two tiers of government,” he said.
Meanwhile, Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole, has faulted the President of the Nigeria Bar Association, NBA, Mr. Okey Wali (SAN), for calling for the proscription of the NGF. The governor said that the call negated the provision of the constitution on freedom of association.
Oshiomhole said this while declaring open the 2013 Law Week of the NBA, Benin Branch on Monday. He said: “Recently, I watched the President of the NBA saying in Yenogoa, Beyelsa State, that the governors’ forum should be discarded. I think the factor of location influenced his conclusion.
He betrayed his oath to defend Nigerians on the right to associate. “One of the fundamental rights of every person, including governors, presidents, is the right of association.
If presidents have the right to African Union, to United Nations, to all the other formal and informal gatherings, how can the president of a learned community suggest that the NGF be proscribed on account of difficulties whether 16 is more than 19 (or not); although he is unable to provide the answer.
“If we, unlearned people don’t know, the learned people should know. Then, if learned people don’t know that 19 is more than 16, then I suggest that all of you should be proscribed.” Oshiomhole noted that when a nation was being led by those who would not stand by the truth, then that nation was doomed.
“I want to submit that the environment and the overall circumstances, known and unknown, that led the NBA president to call for the freezing of the right of governors to associate borders on corrupt practice.
“I thought that given the role of the Bar in our history, if privileged people like the governors went for an election and they have voted and the loser is being declared as the winner and the winner is being declared as the loser and NBA says scrap it, then there is a problem,” the governor added.
Espousing the virtues of an egalitarian society, Oshiomhole stated that “anybody who keeps quiet in the face of compelling facts is not doing the nation any good.
“In any case, I do not need the governors’ forum to do what I have to do. All I need is the Edo Forum. In Edo State, all men and women are equal before the law and we must demonstrate it by action. “The law must be operated as if there are no rich men, big men or poor men.
Everybody, whether corporate or individual, must be seen to be equal before the law and the state must be seen to have the capacity and the will to deal with anybody who operates in an environment.
“We can only have an egalitarian society when those who are privileged to be entrusted with the powers of the state use those powers judiciously. “I think in Edo, we have tried to do that and before my turn is up, I intend to do more; such that by 2016 when I will be out of here, it would be said that when I was here, no one was too big to be dealt with when he infringed the law.”
Oshiomhole also reiterated his opposition to the present revenue formula, insisting that the Federal Government deserved less. He urged Nigerians to stop lamenting that Nigeria’s democracy was not delivering to the people even after 14 years of trial.
The governor said that the beauty of democracy was that Nigerians had the power to hire and fire their leaders since Nigerians knew the party that had been at the helms of affairs since 1999 and it was in their hands to decide if they still wanted them in power.
Delivering an address on the theme: “Democracy and socio-economic imbalance in Nigeria: Role of the law,” Mr. Joe-Kyari Gadzama (SAN), reiterated that democracy had been rated as the best system of government because it allows citizens to participate directly in governance. “There is a major link between law and democracy. In the first place, law establishes democracy and democracy guarantees the availability of law.
“The courts have a duty to ensure that there is no anarchy in the land,” he said. Gadzama lamented that the impact of governance and the economy on Nigerians was negative, adding: “For democracy to thrive we need to have a socioeconomic balance. The average Nigerian does not see himself as a Nigerian but rather as Hausa, Yoruba or Ibo man.”
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