NGF chairmanship: Amaechi insists on re-election bid





Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, on Thursday said he would not yield to pressure to drop his bid for re-election as chairman of the Nigerian Governors' Forum.

Pro-Jonathan governors as well as some Peoples Democratic Party leaders had made spirited efforts to dissuade Amaechi from proceeding with his bid to no avail.

It was gathered that at the PDP governors' meeting in Abuja on Thursday, some pro-Jonathan governors tried to persuade Amaechi, whose first term would end this month, not to seek a fresh mandate.

But it was learnt that Amaechi cited the constitution of the forum, which permits him to seek a second term in office as reason why he would not withdraw from the race.

Article 6.9 of the NGF constitution, which came into effect in 2009, states, "The chairman and the vice-chairman shall hold office for a term of two years, but shall be available for re-election for another but final term of two years."

Besides the NGF constitution, it was also gathered that Amaechi mentioned the dissolution of the Rivers State PDP executive as an example of the harassment of his administration by Jonathan.

Investigations showed that the governor said he was being hounded out of the party through deliberate harassment by the presidency.

It was learnt that the party leadership allayed the fears of Amaechi, saying the sacking of the PDP executive was a purely judicial matter.

The party leadership said that it would allow the matter to go through the full judicial process.

The Rivers State governor in his response reportedly said the party leadership should also allow the constitution to take its course on the NGF chairmanship.

A PDP governor, who confided in one of our correspondents, said, "What we, the PDP governors, wanted to do was to speak with one voice on the NGF chairmanship.

"We felt that since the chairman of the PDP governors is from the South, the chairmanship of the NGF should go to the North. But efforts to make Amaechi withdraw did not succeed.

"He felt aggrieved by the dissolution of the Rivers State PDP executive and insisted on re-contesting the NGF chairmanship."

When asked whether her boss had withdrawn from the NGF chairmanship race, the Rivers State Commissioner for Information and Communications, Mrs. Ibim Semenitari, told our correspondent on the telephone that he had directed her to confirm that he would not drop his bid.

"I just spoke with the governor and he told me that he would run. I have told you that the governor will run," she said.

Several calls to the mobile telephone of the National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Olisa Metuh, were not answered.

He also did not respond to a text message sent to him.




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