NGF: Jonathan arm twists governors, seeks to change election process

President Goodluck Jonathan is said to be seeking to change the election process of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum in his bid to oust the Chairman of the body and Governor of Rivers State, Hon. Rotimi Amaechi.

The election into the NGF is expected to hold anytime from now.
It was learnt that the plot in the Presidency is to obtain the signatures of a minimum of 20 governors who will express their opposition to Amaechi’s continued stay as their chairman.
Sources in the Presidency said the plot is that it is this list that will be presented at the meeting of the NGF where Amaechi will be seeking re-election.
Amaechi will then be told that since majority of the governors have decided not to continue under his leadership, a new person should emerge as governor.
To achieve this agenda, a source said that Jonathan has started the compilation of names and signatures of the governors.
The governors are being forced to sign the paper, a source told The Eagle Online.
Security reports alleging massive fraud, it was learnt, have been used to whip some of the governors into line while some have been promised roles in Jonathan’s government post-2015 after they must have ended their tenures.
It was learnt that Jonathan summoned the governors of Kebbi, Yobe, Kwara and Borno States – Alhaji Usman Dakingari, Ibrahim Geidam, Abdulfatah Ahmed and Kashim Shettima – to his office after a meeting of the National Economic Council in Abuja last week.
While three of the governors – Dakingari, Geidam and Ahmed – signed the paper expressing opposition to Amaechi’s continued leadership of the NGF, Shettima vehemently refused to join the plot, it was learnt.
It was equally learnt that the Presidency has changed its mind about who to field as replacement for Amaechi.
The initial plot was to use Governor Ibrahim Shema of Katsina State.
But Shema has been dropped for Governor Isa Yuguda of Bauchi State.
A source told The Eagle Online that the number of signatures required by the Presidency is still far from the expected target.
The constitution of the NGF however makes it mandatory that election into the office of the chairman must be by voting.
A source within the NGF expressed worry over the new plot by the Presidency in the bid to oust Amaechi.
The source said: “It is quite worrisome that the President can hatch this totally illegal plot.
“What it means is that we should expect a worse scenario if President Jonathan runs in 2015.
“It then means that all illegal means, including using the police and the military to intimidate Nigerians into accepting the continuation of Jonathan in office without election, would be employed.”
None of the presidential spokespersons was available for comments on Sunday.
Governor Amaechi could also not be reached for his comments.