 |
| Governor Rabiu Kwakwanso |
• I am not an impostor, Jang replies Amaechi
• President, govs meet on FAAC allocation
by Chuks Okocha, Omololu Ogunmade and Muhammad Bello
Kano State Governor, Alhaji Rabiu Kwankwaso, Monday opened
up on the intrigues which resulted in the emergence of two governors as
chairmen of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), stating that it was a battle
for supremacy and a game in which supporters of the Rivers State Governor, Mr.
Chibuike Amaechi, outsmarted supporters of his Plateau State counterpart, Jonah
Jang.
Kwankwaso who made this disclosure yesterday while
addressing journalists at Kano House in Abuja, said the election was a forum
through which the group of 19 governors who voted for Amaechi, proved to their
opponents that they were still at the elementary level of politics.
Kwankwaso’s admission was made just as the Jang-led faction
of the NGF held its inaugural meeting in Abuja yesterday to arrive at a
position on the outstanding funds due to the states and local governments from
the Federation Account.
According to the Kano State governor, those among them who
supported Amaechi detested the idea of someone attempting to choose their
leader, revealing further that he nominated Jang and asked the Benue State
Governor, Gabriel Suswam, to support him only with the intention of satisfying
the search for a compromise candidate by the group of 16 governors.
He said they decided to re-elect Amaechi because he had
shown that he had the capacity to lead the forum and possessed the ability to
galvanise their interests, a task which he said they didn’t believe Jang could
do.
He also boasted that if another election were to be
conducted today, Amaechi would still win comfortably.
He further admitted that he bluntly told the governor of
Katsina State, Alhaji Shehu Shema, that he would never vote for him at the
election because he never told him (Kwankwaso) that he was running for the
chairmanship of the forum.
“I told Shema that I was terribly disappointed in him. I
told him, ‘you are my brother and friend and you never told me that you are
contesting.’ I told him that I would
never vote for him and that I was sure that he would lose the election,” he
revealed.
Kwankwaso added: “It was a game and we were trying to prove
to them that nobody could shave our heads in our absence. That was why we
proved to them that they were still at the elementary level of politics.
“We were not expecting anybody to choose for us. What we did
in the Nigeria Governors’ Forum was that when we realised that we would not get
Shema or Isa (Yuguda) elected, we decided to give them their chairman.
“I nominated Jang and asked Suswam to support him. We gave
them who should lead the minority group.
“If another election is held today or tomorrow, Amaechi will
get more than 19 votes because all of us who voted for him are much more
determined to support him now. Amaechi is a good man and he has our support.”
Kwankwaso, who said the leadership of Amaechi of the forum
was beneficial to all of them, said he was ashamed of the governor of Akwa Ibom
State, Godswill Akpabio, whom he said needed to learn how to talk.
According to him, given his position as the Chairman of the
Peoples Democratic Party Governors’ Forum (PDP-GF), Akpabio’s comments was not
befitting of his office, adding, “I think he should better keep quiet.”
He warned his counterparts in the Northern Governors’ Forum
who have pulled out of the forum to have a rethink, ominously forewarning that
if they failed to retrace their steps, neither the governors nor their
candidates can secure future elections in the north.
“I don’t see how any of them or their candidates can win any
election in the north again if they are not in Northern Governors’ Forum,” he
said.
Kwankwaso also warned against the gale of suspensions in the
PDP, saying if the trend is not checked, many options are available to people
being suspended, a situation which he said would be counter-productive for the
party.
He added that he had warned his colleagues against lack of
transparency during the NGF election, stating: “I began to say that if we don’t
have democracy in the governors’ forum, I wonder where we will have it.”
Also on a Facebook posting by his Director of Press, Halilu
Baba Dantiye, Kwankwaso indicated his unwavering support for Amaechi.
He was quoted as saying Amaechi won the NGF election with
the support of people like him.
Kwankwaso boasted: “Many of us joined politics before PDP. I
was deputy speaker under SDP. We were in politics before many of them joined
and the fact must be recognised and appreciated. We are field marshals.
“We are Kwankwasiyya (a movement named after Kwankwaso). We
tell the truth and stand by it. We stand by the truth, justice and our
country.”
Meanwhile, the meeting summoned by the factional chairman of
the NGF, Jonah Jang, to discuss the walkout last week by the state
Commissioners for Finance over the non-payment of outstanding funds from the
Federation Account was attended by 16 out of 36 governors.
All 16 governors had voted for Jang on May 24 when the NGF
election took place.
The meeting, which started at about 6.30 pm, was attended by
the governors of Plateau, Ondo, Taraba, Abia, Ebonyi and Kogi States, as well
as the deputy governors of Benue, Delta, Katsina, Bauchi, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa,
Enugu, Anambra, Gombe and Cross River States.
Of the governors at the meeting, 14 of them were from the
ruling PDP, while Governors Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State and Peter Obi of
Anambra State were from the Labour Party and All Progressives Grand Alliance
(APGA) respectively.
It was gathered that before the meeting, the PDP governors
held another meeting at the Akwa Ibom State governor's lodge in Asokoro
District, Abuja, before moving to No 2 Nana Close, off Nile Street for the
Jang-led faction of the NGF meeting.
Addressing the press at the end of the meeting, Jang
yesterday responded to Amaechi’s jab at him on Sunday, stating that he was not
an impostor, as he cannot impersonate Amaechi as Rivers State governor.
He also said that he needed only 12 governors to attend the
NGF meeting, adding that the constitution of the governors’ forum, which he
leads, was clear on what constitutes a quorum.
“We need just 12 governors to form a quorum and we have 16
governors in attendance,” he said.
On whether he was impersonating Amaechi as the NGF chairman,
he said: “I am not an impostor, did I say I am the governor of Rivers State?”
However, he failed to make any comment on the resolution of
the governors with respect to the funds owed the states and local governments.
In a related development, President Goodluck Jonathan met
last night with the governors of the 36 states of the federation over the
Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) controversy.
At the meeting, it was decided that a four-man committee, to
be headed by Yuguda, will meet today at 9 am with the Coordinating Minister for
the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and her Minister
of State, Dr. Yerima Ngama, to resolve all issues pertaining to the outstanding
funds owed the states and local governments.
No comments:
Post a Comment