Governor Muritala Nyako of Adamawa State, one of the Peoples Democratic Party governors supporting Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State for the chairmanship of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum on Wednesday, insisted that Amaechi will not step down as the chairman of the Forum.
Nyako’s reaction followed rumours making the round that Amaechi and his Plateau State counterpart, who is laying claim to the chairmanship of the NGF despite losing the election for the seat, Jonah Jang, might be asked to step down to pave way for a neutral candidate.
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo on Tuesday night met with the PDP governors at the Banquet hall of the State House as part of ongoing efforts to reconcile the governors so as to have a formidable house ahead of the 2015 election.
The meeting, which ended around 4am on Wednesday, was attended by both Amaechi and Jang.
Fielding questions from State House correspondents after meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan, Nyako, who is one of the five northern governors dubbed ‘rebel governors’ in the ruling PDP, insisted the election that produced Amaechi must stay.
He said: “In democracy, when you have an issue you discuss.
“The election in the governors’ forum has become an issue.
“It shouldn’t be an issue.
“When you say 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, even someone who is in elementary school knows which is higher.
“If one group got 19 votes the other one got 16, in democracy, even in the eyes of the people in elementary school, they know that 19 is higher than 16.
“It should not be turned into a controversy.
“What could be related to that is that it could not be the figure.
“We could all agree that whoever got the highest figure won the election but may be beyond the figure we have already in the governors forum established certain criteria for leadership within us.
“He must be somebody we trust.
“I would like to have a leader of the forum who, when he is with the President in the small room talking about Adamawa State, can put in a good word for Adamawa State.
“It should not be someone who will aggravate issues in the eyes of Mr. President.
“That element of trust must be there.
“If I vote for somebody, it must be somebody I could trust.
“We also said it should be somebody who has some degree of chemistry with the President that the President will be comfortable with.
“Now, if we find that the President is not comfortable with him, can we do a little bit of psychological work to get the two of them having the same chemistry?
“The other one we feel is that he should add some value to Mr. President.
“If you have a forum leader who is seen to be part of the President that has become a yes man of Mr. President, then the governors will say he is not representing our interests.
“If he is not representing the interest of the governors, he is not representing the interests of the ordinary Nigerians.
“These are areas we have sorted out.
“Obviously, if the chemistry is not still right, we should discuss it and find a way of adjusting the tempo, the countenance, the language of the subordinate.”
Asked who you should step down between Amaechi and Jang, Nyako retorted: “You are saying Jang should step down.
“Step down for what?
“Did he win the election?”
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