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| Oshiomhole , Jang and others |
BY BEN AGANDE
ABUJA—The Council Chamber of the Presidential Villa, venue
of the monthly National Economic Council meeting was momentarily turned into a
theatre hall, yesterday, as both Governors Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State and
Jonah Jang of Plateau State who are both laying claims to chairmanship of the
Nigeria Governors’ Forum, NGF, met for the first time after the disputed NGF
election.
Governor Rotimi Amaechi who polled 19 votes at the election
of the governors forum to Jonah Jang’s 16 came into the council chamber to
realize that his seat was beside Jang’s.
Before now, the seat of the chairman of the governors forum
was next to that of the President and would be boldly identified as such.
But in a move that is seen as an attempt by the Presidency
to delicately navigate the crisis in the NGF, the seating arrangement at the
monthly meeting was slightly altered to play up a seeming neutrality of the
Presidency in the crisis.
In order to balance the importance of the two dramatis
personae in the crisis, the two governors were seated beside each other at the
council chamber where the meeting of the 36 governors with the vice-president
and ministers of Finance and National Planning held.
As soon as the two governors entered the council chamber,
a mild drama played out shortly before
the commencement of the meeting when supporters of Governor Amaechi tried to drag
Governor Jonah Jang to where Amaechi was standing to pay ‘homage’ to the Rivers
State governor.
Chairman of the Northern Governors’ Forum and Governor of
Niger State, Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu, a staunch supporter of Amaechi drew
Amaechi’s attention to the sitting arrangement when he asked the Rivers State
governor, “so you are going to sit with Jang. This is very nice oh. Somebody is
trying to be diplomatic here.”
Governor Amaechi who had earlier noticed the sitting
arrangement replied: “We are still together.
So, I am going to sit with him. The real chairman and the… “he said to loud
laughter from those governors present.
Jang walked in, shook hands and exchanged pleasantries with
his colleagues, including Amaechi. After being told he was to sit beside
Amaechi, he did and Amaechi accepted his greetings, saying: “You are welcome, I
am the authentic chairman.”
Jang didn’t respond and both governors sat without saying
anything to each other for a while before other people came into the picture.
Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole who noticed the
arrangement, held Jang’s hand and pointed to Amaechi, saying “that is my
chairman” adding that Jang was the leader of the other PDP extended faction.
This drew laughter from those present.
Though Oshiomhole’s comment drew loud guffaws from the
governors, Governor Jang wore a bland face as he neither commented nor
displayed any emotions.
It is the first time that the governors would meet in the
same hall after the controversial election of the NGF that produced two
chairmen.
Thursday meeting of the National Economic Council was to
discuss the disagreement between the governors and the Federal Government over
the allocation of funds from the Federation Account, which led to the state
commissioners of finance walking out on the Minister of Finance at the last
meeting of the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee.
The governors were accompanied to the meeting by their
respective commissioners of finance and education.
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