NGF election: Presidency, PDP in a dilemma

The Presidency and the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party are in a dilemma on how to produce a candidate that would win the May election of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum.

This is because a majority of the governors  are aware that the constitution of the NGF  allows for a second term  for  both  the offices of the chairman and vice-chairman.

Article 6 of the NGF constitution, under the headline, “The Governing Board,” stipulates how the members of the forum and its officers are to emerge.

 Article 6.9 of the constitution which came into effect in 2009, reads,“The Chairman and Vice-Chairman shall hold office for a term of two years but shall be available for re-election for another but final term of two years.”

The constitution had earlier in 6.8 of the same article noted that “in electing the chairman and vice-chairman, members shall give due regard to the principle of federal character and the need to reflect political party representation in the board, so as to ensure that the chairman and the vice-chairman are not persons elected as governors of their states on the platform of the same political party but on the platforms of the two political parties with the highest representation in the board.”

With this  provision, the Chairman of the NGF   Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi, can  run for a second term .

A copy of the constitution, which was obtained by our correspondents on Tuesday was stamped February 10, 2009 by the Corporate Affairs Commission.

The body also approved the constitution and Certified it as True Copy by an official of the commission, Mrs. T.E Ita.

Akwa Ibom State Governor Godswill Akpabio had said that the NGF constitution provided for only a single term for the chairman of the forum.

Speaking on a television programme, Akpabio, who is also the Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party Governors’ Forum, insisted that Amaechi’s desire to have a second term was the cause of the crisis rocking the forum.

 “When the constitution of  the NGF was drafted, all the members agreed that the chairman will only go for one term so that there won’t be acrimony amongst the rank and file of governors,” he had said.

The  Presidency and the PDP are  believed to  favour Katsina State Governor Ibrahim Shema  for the position.

A source said Shema  had  been unable to muster the requisite support of a majority of the governors even among his colleagues from the North.

The governors, it was gathered, are sceptical about the motive behind the decision of the Presidency to back a northerner for the Governors’ Forum just when the 2015 presidential election is by the corner.

It was gathered that his candidature is being used to frustrate  a northern presidential  aspirant  and also cause disaffection within the ranks of the governors.

Because of this, the Presidency and the PDP  are  said to be shopping for another candidate to contest against Amaechi in next month’s   election.

It was also  learnt that  the Action Congress of Nigeria may produce the deputy chairman of the forum.

But Shema, who spoke with journalists in Abuja on Tuesday,   was not specific on whether he  was   interested in becoming the next chairman of the NGF.

“The Nigerian Governors Forum is a platform for unifying this nation. Whether my name is being mentioned or not, I want that clear that NGF is a platform to serve this country,” he simply said.

He  however   said  that contrary to the news  making the rounds about his next political ambition, the 2015 general elections were  not his priority for now.

The governor had at various times been named in media reports as the likely replacement for Vice-President Namadi Sambo as the running mate of President Goodluck Jonathan in   2015 .

He said, “I don’t know about any advanced democracy that talks about election two years into the tenure of incumbents. Maybe underground, people can talk about it but not to the extent of publicising it and overheating the polity  and  dramatising issues.”