The Presidency insisted on Sunday that it did not recognise
Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi as the chairman of the Nigeria Governors’
Forum, hence the absence of President Goodluck Jonathan at the retreat
organised by the Amaechi-led faction of the Forum in Sokoto.
The governors’ forum had been split into factions since its
controversial election few months ago. While a group of governors, among them
the G-7 members otherwise referred to as the ‘rebel’ governors, said Amaechi
was their elected chairman, others, made up of mainly Jonathan loyalists, claimed
that Jang was the chairman.
Both factions have since run parallel groups of the NGF with
the Presidency identifying with the Jang faction while Amaechi has been
suspended by his Peoples Democratic Party.
The states represented at the retreat were Lagos, Oyo,
Ekiti, Osun, Zamfara, Sokoto, Kano, Adamawa, Borno, Jigawa, Niger, Kwara and
Nasarawa.
The event which was also attended by the former Chairman of the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, a former Chief Justice of
Nigeria, Muhammed Uwais; and the National Chairman of the new faction of the
PDP, Alhaji Kawu Baraje also in
attendance was the Professor Wole Soyinka
The retreat was largely successful if not for the low turnout
of Governors owing to the Anambra Governorship Election
No comments:
Post a Comment