ACN slams GEJ for backing Jang

Following President Goodluck Jonathan’s
recognition of Governor Jonah Jang of
Plateau State as the Chairman of the
Nigeria Governor’s Forum (NGF), the
Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has
slammed the presidency, saying the act
was a travesty of democracy.

In a statement issued in Osogbo, the
Osun State capital, the party’s National
Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed, said
the President’s ill-advised decision has
shown that he has little or no respect
for democracy.
Official results of the NGF elections
held on May 24 indicated that Rotimi
Amaechi won the election by 19 to 16
votes to defeat his challenger, Jang.
However, the Chairman of the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) Governors Forum,
Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom, addressed
reporters, rejecting the result and
claiming that the election was rigged.
Jang, in a press conference, thanked his
colleagues for giving him the
opportunity to lead the NGF, and
directed that every matter concerning
the forum should henceforth be referred
to him as the Chairman.
Earlier, Jonathan denied backing any
candidate after a crisis erupted over
the declaration.
The president, however, formally
recognised Jang as the chairman of the
forum last Thursday when he addressed
the Plateau State governor as the “the
chairman of the NGF” at the PDP’s family
dinner in Abuja.
In its reaction, the ACN said the
recognition of the losing candidate for
the Chairmanship of the NGF has also
shown that the President’s spokesmen
either do not know the thoughts of their
principal or have chosen to engage in
outright lies in his defence.
“President Jonathan is frittering away
whatever is left of his credibility by
the day,” the ACN said.
“It is now clear that the presidency’s
statement is not worth the paper on
which it is written, that in the
Nigerian presidency, words do not carry
their exact meanings and that the
spokesmen for the president speak for no
one but themselves.”
ACN went on to say that in the context
of similar deceitful statements made by
the presidency in the past, especially
regarding the health of the first lady,
“one can see a growing pattern of a
lying presidency, a presidency that
likes to hide behind one finger. This is
sad because without credibility, a
President cannot govern successfully.”
ACN accused the President of promoting
partisan politics, arguing that Jonathan
had descended from being the President
of Nigeria to the President of the PDP,
and, now, the President of a faction of
the PDP.
“This president is daily cementing his
unenviable reputation as the most
divisive president in the history of
Nigeria. By raising partisan politics to
a pedestal higher than national
interest, he has divided the country
along religious, ethnic and political
lines more than any of his
predecessors,” the opposition party
said.