Battle Of Wits As Amaechi Convenes NGF Meeting Tomorrow

The battle for the control of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) resumed yesterday, with elected Chairman Rotimi Amaechi summoning a meeting of members for tomorrow in Abuja.

In what was seen by observers as an apparent bid to frustrate the meeting, President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday invited all governors for what a source termed as a “curious” dinner.

The timing of the presidential dinner coincides with the NGF meeting’s time. The agenda remained unclear, as at press time last night. But there was the suspicion that it was meant to break the rank of the 19 governors who re-elected Amaechi.

But the Amaechi group has vowed to go ahead with the NGF meeting instead of the “emergency” presidential dinner.

This is the first meeting Amaechi is calling after last month’s disputed NGF election.

Amaechi won 19 votes to beat Plateau State Governor Jonah Jang, who got 16 votes. Yobe State Goveror Ibrahim Gaidam abstained from voting.

But Jang has continued to lay claim to the chairmanship, claiming that he won because Northern governors chose him as their consensus candidate. He has the backing of the Presidency and the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Jang, who has rented an office in Abuja for his faction of the NGF, last Monday called a meeting. Only 16 governors attended.

A Press Officer of the NGF Secretariat, Chidimma Onyenalim, in a notice of the meeting yesterday, said: “There will be a meeting of Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) on Wednesday 26th June, 2013. Time: 8.00pm prompt. Venue: Rivers State Governor’s Lodge, No. 5 Justice Mohammed Bello Street, Asokoro, Abuja.”

The agenda of the meeting: Chairman’s brief on NGF in the news, fresh and subsisting litigations; visit to the NGF secretariat, update on Federal Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC), Excess Crude Account (ECA) and Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF), update on State Peer Review Mechanism (SPRM) and other issues.

The meeting will also deliberate on polio eradication initiative: Structuring a programme to address emerging challenges, Post election disagreements, NGF and its partners, NGF strategy plan 2013-2015 and AOB.

A governor told our correspondent last night that the Governor’s Forum meetings are held once a month on the eve of the National Economic Council (NEC) meeting.

He said there was no need to meet “until it is time, which is now”. Those calling meetings every week are those looking for legitimacy,” he said.

The NGF meeting will precede the NEC meeting on Thursday.

Following a likely boycott by some governors branding Jang as their leader, some pro-Amaechi governors, who went on official trip abroad, have been recalled.

Another governor, who spoke in confidence, said: “This is our major meeting after the election of the NGF chairman, Governor Rotimi Amaechi and we will make sure that all of us are there to prove that we are standing by Amaechi.

“As a matter of fact, some G-19 members scheduled to travel abroad have suspended it. And those currently overseas for investment drive have been recalled. For instance, Jigawa State Governor Sule Lamido is expected to fly into the country tomorrow to be part of the meeting.

“The sacrifice we are making underscores our agitation for untainted democracy, not only at the NGF level, but in all facets of our national life.”

Another governor said: “When they heard that the authentic NGF meeting would hold, all the 36 governors have been invited to the Presidential Villa for a curious dinner. The dinner is fixed for the same time we are expected to start the NGF session. No governor can really say the motive of the dinner.

“Well, we prefer the NGF meeting to a dinner. The Presidency is trying to use the dinner to divide the Forum. We know the other 16 governors following Jang may opt for the dinner but we will prefer to go hungry to protect the nation’s democracy than go for food.”

To the governor, the Presidency is being jittery that the Amaechi group will have the majority of the NGF members at our meeting. The design is to deplete our ranks with dinner but it will not work,” he said.

“Well, we see the NGF meeting convened by Amaechi as our normal session on a monthly basis before the meeting of the NEC. Until the Presidency meddled in the affairs of the NGF, we used to meet normally once in a month,” he said.

Asked whether the NGF meeting could disrupted by forces opposed to Amaechi, the governor replied: “We do not envisage that; they won’t go to such a ridiculous level. But if they do so, Nigerians will now know their intention.

“You know they have been sponsoring some suits against the authentic NGF but they cannot go far. All the 19 governors backing Amaechi will be in Abuja on Wednesday.”