THE script is still playing and Governor Jonah Jang, factional chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum is not joking at all. Last Friday, he commissioned a new office for the AGF, in company of 14 anti-Rotimi Amaechi governors. Thereafter, they paid a visit to the Presidency leaving the realm of rhetoric to practical politics.
Jang did not put himself forward for consideration as NGF chairman; but those who wanted to douse the high-wire tension shopped for him as a compromise candidate that could be acceptable to all, in place of either Governor Ibrahim Shema of Katsina State or Governor Isa Yuguda of Bauchi. They had to look inwards for a more politically neutral person.
Some people even said that he was able to garner 16 votes was quite commendable.
There is no love lost between President Goodluck Jonathan and Governor Rotimi Amaechi. Jang is not the outgoing type, preferring to manage his Plateau issues quietly. But now, he has joined the fray, where others had refused to be dragged in between a supposedly South-south affair.
Plateau people do not see anything wrong in Jang’s new office. That is why there has been an avalanche of congratulatory messages from the people. And because nobody wants to be seen as an enemy, even those who may have differed with the governor have opted to keep sealed lips. They do not want to comment on the issue except those who are ready to praise sing.
Shortly after he was pronounced winner, by the President’s men in Abuja, Jang stormed Yakubu Gowon Airport Jos, on Sunday, May 26, where he was received by his Deputy, Ambassador Ignatius Longjang, commissioners, special advisers, political aides, loyalists and other stakeholders. He told reporters that he did not indeed bargain for what came his way. But he was however quick to add that his emergence was “God’s work and will.” He attributed his emergence to the divine grace and intervention. He could only respond to three questions as his Director of Press Affairs, Mr. James Mannok barred journalists from further probing.
Jang said, “I did not bargain for what I have got. But that is God’s Will. Well, as far as I am concerned, I have been given an assignment and by the grace of God, I will do my best to unite the Forum to make sure that the Governors’ Forum has the right leadership for the people of Nigeria because we are governors that govern the states.
“We are bound to work together with one another. The NGF leadership election or selection or whatever you want to call it, should not divide the governors. We have one purpose. We were elected by the people and we have to work for the people. We have worked with Governor Rotimi Amaechi very successfully and Amaechi should just come down and work with me so that we can continue to give Nigerians the right leadership for electing us as their governors,” he added.
He said since he had worked with Amaechi as chairman of the NGF, he expects him to work with him so that they will collectively give the nation the right leadership.
Whether Jang has energy to withstand the heat when 2015 comes in full swing is what remains to be seen.
… A Precursor To 2015
By Kamal Tayo Oropo
NO one gave him any serious chance at challenging the federal might to snatch a successful re-election as the chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum. The odds were staked high against him. But Rivers State governor, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi has temporarily prove cynics wrong and dared anyone to under-rate him as the battle for 2015 begins to take shape.
President Goodluck Jonathan may be the Commander-in-Chief (C-In-C) of the Nigerian Armed Forces, but Amaechi may be emerging as political generalissimo in Nigeria’s slippery political terrain.
Despite efforts by President Jonathan to entice Northern governors and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Amaechi won by 19 votes to 16 for Jonah Jang, Plateau State governor, a late entrant to the race and protégé of Jonathan.
Amaechi’s sin may have stemmed from his purported interest to serve as vice presidential running mate in 2015. For appetizers, the federal aviation authorities grounded Amaechi’s executive jet under some bureaucratic excuses. Almost simultaneously, an Abuja High court delivered what many believed to be a politically toxic verdict, ceding control of the ruling PDP in Rivers State to an anti-Amaechi party executive.
Amaechi’s woes were only just beginning, as he was quickly served, for breakfast, a blatant and badly choreographed series of maneuverings –– the new PDP executive in the state quickly issued a series of directives to both factional party faithful and even the elected government of the state, with the aim of antagonising the governor and create an atmosphere of confusion.
Lunch quickly followed, the Nigeria Police Command in the state acted in a clearly partisan manner to protect the anti-Amaechi forces in the state. It occupied the premises of a duly constituted local government and overrun the premises of the State House of Assembly. Not done, the police reportedly withdrew police security from a sitting local government chairman for daring to openly express support for Amaechi.
Taken together, these events and actions indicate clearly that Amaechi’s troubles are coming directly from the presidency. The footprints are all too familiar: presidential political displeasure with a governor, followed by the unleashing of the instrument of state to intimidate and harass; EFCC, spurious allegations of wrongdoing, the use of the security apparatus to partisan ends, the recruitment of political jobbers and miscreants to create confusion, compromising the judiciary to justify a forcible takeover of the administration of the state are all gimmicks no longer strange in this clime.
These developments came in the immediate aftermath of a series of Abuja meetings between the President and some governors in a bid to convince them to avoid re-electing Amaechi for another term –– the ultimate diner prepared to finally humiliate the governor.
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