NGF Election: How It All Unfolded

Scheming, back-stabbing, somersaults and double speak paved the route of Northern state governors to the Nigeria Governors Forum [NGF] elections of last Friday which ended up splitting the forum right down the middle, top sources familiar with events have said.
According to the sources, the Constitution of the NGF which was produced in 2008-09 by a committee chaired by then Kaduna State Governor Namadi Sambo provided that the chairman will serve for two years and also that the post will rotate between North and South. Other members of the committee that drafted the constitution included Babatunde Fashola and Gabriel Suswam. Sometime last year however, the sources said, forum chairman Governor Rotimi Amaechi circulated copies of a new constitution for the forum which expunged the rotation principle. This new document, the sources said, was never debated let alone adopted as the forum's constitution.
In February this year, Northern governors had a meeting where they noted that Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi's term will end in April and that it will be their turn to produce a successor. Governor Ibrahim Shema of Katsina State then indicated his interest to vie for the position.
A month later, a meeting was held at the residence of Benue State Governor Gabriel Suswam in Abuja to review the Northern Governors' preparations for the upcoming election. At that meeting, Jigawa State Governor Sule Lamido and his Kano State counterpart Rabi'u Kwankwaso said even though Shema had indicated his interest to contest, he should not be fielded because he is arrogant. Adamawa State governor Murtala Nyako added that Shema also does not honour invitations to attend other people's occasions and so should not be fielded.
Shortly afterwards, some of the governors led by Suswam and Akwa Ibom's Godswill Akpabio persuaded Bauchi State governor Isa Yuguda to seek the post, saying he has better relations with all the governors. By then, matters had been beclouded by Governor Rotimi Amaechi's declaration that he would seek re-election. Entreaties to him by the Northern governors to respect the rotation principle were rebuffed. In the week preceding the meeting, intense efforts were made to persuade Shema and Yuguda to "reconcile" and allow one of them to emerge by consensus, which was how the forum usually produced its leaders.
Up to that point, the Northern governors still believed that Amaechi would ultimately step down and make way for a Northern chairman. They pointed out that at no time in the past did the forum ever hold elections to choose its leaders. Its first chairman Abdullahi Adamu of Nasarawa was chosen by consensus, as was his successor, Obong Victor Attah of Akwa Ibom. Attah too was succeeded by Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki of Kwara who was chosen by consensus. Amaechi too, the sources said, was chosen by consensus at a meeting in Ilorin at which only 12 governors were present.
Last Friday morning, hours before the NGF election, most of the Northern Governors met at the Niger State Governor's Lodge. It was reported there that Shema took the hard stand that "if Yuguda contests, I will contest and if Yuguda withdraws, I will withdraw." Northern Governors' chairman Dr. Babangida Aliyu then asked both men to excuse the meeting. When they left, a North East governor said, "Baba Jang, we should support you for this position. You are the right person." No one opposed the suggestion, and that was how Plateau State Governor Jonah Jang was chosen as the Northern consensus candidate for the NGF chair.
Shortly after Friday prayers, Akpabio summoned a meeting of the PDP Governors Forum at the Akwa Ibom State Lodge. There, Jang was presented as the consensus candidate. Akpabio then calculated that Jang was guaranteed 19 Northern votes, 3 Igbo governors' votes, another 4 Niger Delta governors' votes plus one Yoruba vote, apparently that of Ondo State Governor Olusegun Mimiko. This adds up to a total of 27 votes for pro-Jonathan candidate Jang, or so Akpabio thought.
By 4'oclock, all the PDP governors were at the Rivers State Lodge venue for the election but a meeting of the 10 APC governors was taking place at the Lagos State Lodge. The first sign of trouble for Akpabio's calculation was that APC governors from the North attended the opposition governors' meeting, which went on until 5pm and delayed the NGF meeting's start by an hour. Word also filtered through that the Northern consensus had collapsed because the APC block had decided to back Amaechi.
When the APC governors finally arrived together at the Rivers Lodge, the atmosphere became rowdy. They demanded that there should be an election right away. Amaechi strongly supported their position and used his position as chairman to ram it through. Akpabio and his supporters opposed a vote, saying there should be consensus. In the end, there was a vote but the pro-Jonathan governors later said the atmosphere was rowdy and they did not trust the declared results.
How did Rotimi Amaechi get 19 votes? He apparently got the votes of the 9 APC governors [Gaidam was absent and did not send his deputy] plus his own. Others that the pro-Jonathan camp believes voted for Amaechi include his friend, Enugu State Governor Sullivan Chime, Kwankwaso, Lamido, Babangida Aliyu, Murtala Nyako, Sokoto State Governor Aliyu Wamakko, Kwara State Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed and Kebbi State Governor Sa'idu Dakingari. That still leaves two votes unaccounted for.
Last Saturday, when Governor Jang held an "inaugural" meeting of the forum in his capacity as the "chairman" proclaimed by the pro-Jonathan camp, 18 governors attended, two more than the 16 votes he got. Who were the two men who ran with the hare and hunted with the hound? Our sources provided some clues, but we cannot mention them here due to lack of space.



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