Culled from vanguard
PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan is today
moving to check cracks in the ruling
Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, arising
from the suspension of Governor Rotimi
Amaechi of Rivers State from the party
at a dinner for senior officials and
members of the party.
The move by the president is coming as
Governor Babatunde Fashola, yesterday,
described as disgraceful the conduct of
some of his colleagues following the
election of Amaechi as chairman of the
Nigerian Governors Forum, NGF. He
tendered an apology to Nigerians on the
issue. The development came as some
activists on the occasion of Democracy
Day called for the abrogation of the NGF
saying that it had become a waste to
citizens governed by the governors. News
of today’s dinner to be hosted by the
president was given in a notice issued
by the national publicity secretary of
the PDP, Chief Olisa Metuh.
Admission into the dinner couched as a
“family dinner” is, however, strictly by
invitation to party members who are
expected to call two telephone numbers
08072579776, 08033145661 contained in
the notice.
The president it was learnt is expected
to use the dinner rouse party faithful
to be steadfast and loyal to the party
leadership in the face of increasing
attacks from the opposition. It could
not be confirmed if the president would
mention the latest crisis arising from
the suspension of Governor Amaechi from
the party, but the issue is, however,
expected to cast a large spectre at the
meeting given increasing questions on
the procedure used in the suspension of
the governor without a hearing.
Senior party figures apparently not
willing to be caught in the crossfire
were, yesterday, escaping discussion on
the matter. Nevertheless, Governor
Fashola has expressed disappointment
over the turn out of the issue and
apologised to Nigerians.
Reacting to a question from the audience
during an interactive broadcast on Lagos
Television to mark his sixth anniversary
in office, Fashola said: “I am not proud
of what is happening with the Nigeria
Governors’ Forum, NGF. I feel bad about
it and as a governor, I should apologise
to Nigerians over the way the election
issue has been handled. We are sorry.”
Meanwhile Lagos Lawyer, Mr. Bamidele
Aturu and President, Oodua Peoples
Congress, OPC, Dr. Frederick Fasehun
have called for the abrogation of the
Nigeria Governors’ Forum, NGF, saying it
was an avenue for the governors to waste
their respective state’s revenue.
In a statement issued by the Dr Fasehun
to mark democracy day, he expressed
surprise at the rancour that
characterised the election that produced
two chairmen of the Forum. In same
vein, Aturu expressed shock and disgust
at the rejection of the result by the
losers in the NGF election as he called
for the demise of the forum and other
bodies alike.
He said: “In all democratic settings it
is sacrilegious to question the
procedure of an election in which one
took part after the result of the
election, particularly when the
procedure is not known to have violated
the Constitution of the association or
of any known democratic norm. It is,
therefore, extremely childish, and
irrationally so, that some people who
claim to be governors can openly
identify with the irrational rejection
of the result of the NGF Election.I
believe no word can be too harsh to
deprecate the un-becoming conduct of
those governors who have rejected the
result of the election.”
Meantime, factional Vice Chairman of the
Nigerian Governors Forum, Governor
Olusegun Mimiko, yesterday, challenged
the Governor Rotimi Amaechi’s faction to
release to the public the video
recording of the three-hour exercise.
Speaking at this year’s Democracy day
lecture in Akure, Mimiko said the
Amaechi faction only released a 10
minutes part of the video that favours
them.
The governor said: “Nigerians should ask
the pro-Amaechi’s group why he presided
over an election which he is also
contesting. I specifically raised that
issue and insisted that he must resign
but his supporters maintained that he
should supervise the poll as a sitting
chairman. They asked me whether I
resigned my position while seeking a re-
election for a second term in office and
I replied them that it was not the same
thing because the NGF is like an
association not a democratic institution
which had its existence entrenched in
the constitution of the Federal Republic
of Nigeria.
“When it was obvious that we could not
guarantee the source of the ballot boxes
and papers brought by Amaechi, I
protested again that we should conduct
the election openly by raising up our
hands in support of our preferred
candidate. Again, they rejected it. The
ballot papers they produced were without
serial numbers and we discovered this
was a fraud, hence there were protests.
They never captured all these facts in
their video but merely recorded the
fraction of the process which was in
line with their pre-determined agenda.”
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