On Saturday, the incumbent chairman of the Forum, who is the Governor of Rivers State, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi and his challenger, Plateau State governor, Mr. Jonah Jang, both claimed to have won the poll. The Director-General of the NGF, Mr. Asishana Okauru, had on Friday announced Amaechi as winner of Friday’s election after polling 19 votes to Jang’s 16. Minutes after the announcement, the Akwa Ibom State Governor and Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party Governors’ Forum, Godswill Akpapio, addressed the press announcing Jang’s victory. A new twist was added to the drama on Saturday, when Jang and members of the NGF who pledged allegiance to his leadership held their inaugural meeting in Abuja. After the meeting, Ondo State Governor, Olusegun Mimiko, who was introduced as vice-chairman, read a communiqué to the media. Mimiko while reading the document said the meeting wasattended by 18 governors. He also noted that Jang as the new chairman of the body had “vowed to unite members of the forum, work for the interestof the forum and the country.” The Ondo State governor, who spoke on behalf of the group, said the forum re-stated its commitment to continue being a platform for peer review and collaborative engagement with all levels of governments. He said the forum also “resolvedto secure a befitting permanent secretariat outside any governors’ lodge.” All the governors, who spoke at the end of the briefing, insisted that they endorsed Jang for the election. Those who spoke were: Gabriel Suswam(Benue), Liyel Imoke (Cross River), Akpabio, Yisa Yuguda, Shema and Peter Obi (Anambra State). While speaking on the issue, Akpabio said, “Yesterday, even before the formal meeting of the governors’ forum, it was agreed the chairmanship of the forum be zoned to the PDP which is the party with the largest number of governors in the forum. “There was a meeting of the PDP Governors’ Forum. The decision of the Northern Governors’ Forum was announced and you need to know that as Nigerians, that chairmanship of the forum should be two years in the South and two years in the North. “That has been the resolution ofthe governors. And so it was incumbent upon the northern governors’ forum to meet to bring out the leadership before presenting it to the governors’ forum. “Yesterday, Governor Aliyu Babangida who is the chairmantogether with Governor Suswam of Benue came up withJang as the new chairman and presented him to the PDP governors’ forum and accordingly, the PDP governors’ forum formally adopted Jang. “The PDP Governors’ Forum would work with Jang as chairman and Mimiko as vice-chairman of the NGF.” Liyel Imoke, who is the Chairman of the South-South Governors’ Forum also said, “The South-South governors participated in the process that led to the emergence of Jang. “Of course the South-South had always stood behind this administration, we will continueto do that and we will continue to support the new chairman and his vice to succeed. “We team up with the governor to make sure that there is no bad signal in the governors’ forum and forge ahead to ensure that we have a united country moving forward.” Suswam, who is the vice-chairman of the Northern Governors’ Forum added, “Yesterday (Friday), the meetingof the northern governors unanimously adopted the new leadership led by Jang and the northern governors are stronglybehind the new leadership of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum led by Jang and supported by Mimiko, the Iroko.” Similarly, Katsina State Governor,Ibrahim Shema, who attended the meeting said, “Until yesterday (Friday) morning, myself and Governor Yuguda of Bauchi and Amaechi of Rivers scheduled to vie for the election. “But in the interest of peace and prosperity, we honoured the governors’ forum as myself and Yuguda decided to step down to allow the Northern Governors’ Forum to produce a candidate acceptable to all of us. READ FULL FROM SOURCE: PUNCH PLEASE CLICK ON THE (F) SHARE BUTTON ABOVE. AND DROP YOUR COMMENTS BELOW... TO GET MORE OF THIS; KEEP VISITING(www.naijaboards.blogspot.com) DAILY!
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