A member of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum and Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, has faulted the emergence of his Zamfara State counterpart, Abdulaziz Yari, as the NGF chairman.

This is just as the Jonah Jang-led faction, on Thursday, disowned the forum’s peace meeting that took place on Monday.

Fayose, in an interview with our correspondent in Abuja, said the process of producing the new leader for the forum was wrong as it excluded the governors-elect, who would constitute the majority members of the group after their inauguration on May 29.

The NGF, during a meeting in Abuja on Monday, elected Yari as its chairman.

It also resolved the crisis that had plagued the forum since 2013 after the election of officials split the body into two groups.

At the meeting on Monday, the forum recognised the Rivers State Governor, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, as the winner of the 2013 NGF election.

Amaechi had in 2013 defeated his Plateau State counterpart, Jang, by 19 to 16 votes.

But in the interview, Fayose likened the decision among the incumbent governors, led by Amaechi to choose Yari as the chairman, to a situation where outgoing senators would elect a Senate President for the incoming members.

“It is more sensible to allow the incoming governors to be inaugurated before such a decision can be taken. It is like the outgoing senators choosing the Senate President for the incoming senators,” the governor said.

He maintained that the decision did not follow due process and he urged the All Progressives Congress not to be afraid of losing the seat of the NGF chairman by taking the right step.

Fayose said, “The APC should not be afraid. They are the majority; so their candidate will still win.

“But for us to have a respectable Nigerian Governors’ Forum that will stand together in nation-building, that strategy cannot work. We, as governors, must lead by example.

“The election of the chairman of the new Nigerian Governors’ Forum did not follow due process.”

Responding to Fayose, Chief Tony Okocha, an aide to Amaechi, said the issue of who was the NGF chairman was not in doubt.

He added that only those who play politics without ideology would oppose the fact that the Rivers State governor remains the NGF chairman.

Okocha, who is the Chief of Staff, Government House, Port Harcourt, said it was wrong for anybody to oppose the recent acknowledgement that his boss was the NGF chairman.

He recalled that even the Akwa Ibom State Governor, Chief Godswill Akpabio, conceded that Amaechi was the head of the forum and maintained that there was no dissenting voice when the governors arrived at such a conclusion.

Describing the dissenting voice as an afterthought, Okocha said, “How can they be speaking from the two sides of the mouth. Akpabio was in that meeting. It was not a secret meeting and the person who presided over the meeting was Amaechi.

“If people are speaking against the acknowledgement of Governor Rotimi Amaechi as the NGF chairman, then it shows that some people still play politics without ideology. If you take away ideology from politics, then it is no more politics,” he added.

On Fayose’s criticism, Okocha said, “Nature abhors vacuum. The leadership of Amaechi expires May 29, 2015 and I did not see or hear any dissenting voice over the decisions taken at that meeting.

“It was reported in the dailies. It is an afterthought and ignorance is not an excuse in law. My emphasis is that Nigerians must embrace the fact that politics should be played with ideology and not a matter of interest.”

MUMINATED:
This man is always high on some cold fanta

egift:
If Fayose is hoping to be Chairman of NGF, not in his lifetime.

This is an interim leadership. After a year, the NGF will elect a new Chairman. Fayose can keep deluding himself with his thuggery, Nigerians do not give a dam.

Miner13:
Mr man keep that vibrating mouth short and find solution to that little crisis at your backyard before it will be uncontrollable. You and the ewi of ado should unravel what is behind the burning of oja oba going on presently or ?

onatisi:
with this absolute catastrophic low mentality of urs no wonder u are miner.

egift:
If Fayose is hoping to be Chairman of NGF, not in his lifetime.

This is an interim leadership. After a year, the NGF will elect a new Chairman. Fayose can keep deluding himself with his thuggery, Nigerians do not give a dam.

mployer:


Fayose is right....always talking sense.

mployer:


Fayose is right....always talking sense.

But in the interview, Fayose likened the decision among the incumbent governors, led by Amaechi to choose Yari as the chairman, to a situation where outgoing senators would elect a Senate President for the incoming members.