NGF crisis: Amaechi explodes

“But again, tell my brother, Mimiko that he voted. If he insists that he didn’t vote, I am willing to go with him to his church, The Redeemed Church, we lean on the altar he should say it before God"---Amaechi

Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi, who was on May 24 this year re-elected as Chairman of the Nigeria  Governors’  Forum (NGF), said yesterday that there was no factional chairman nor a parallel secretariat of the Forum of 36 governors.

He  made the declaration yesterday during his visit to the secretariat of the forum under his leadership located at Asokoro, Abuja.

Amaechi, who came in company with his Ekiti State counterpart, Dr. Kayode Fayemi,  was reacting to the inauguration of another NGF secretariat last week by the faction of the forum led by Plateau State Governor Jonah Jang and his deputy, the Ondo State governor, Dr  Olusegun Mimiko.

He assured the staff at the secretariat not to be worried about the development in the NGF in the past two weeks and “leave the politics of the NGF to the governors.’’

Addressing journalists, Amaechi vowed to stick to his mandate, which he noted was earned after a keenly contested election. He also dismissed reports attributed to Mimiko  that there was no casting of ballots by the governors, penultimate Friday.

“No, I will not step down; that’s a mandate that is freely given and I will stick to that mandate.  There is no special benefit that the Chairman of Governors’ Forum gets… I am only proving a point that Nigerians are allowed  to run for any post, they want to run and when they do and they are elected, they should stick to their mandate.  That’s the only point.’’

Excerpts:

Mimiko lied

Governor Mimiko and I are Christians and I think he is a good Christian. One of the sins against God is the sin of lying. I am not saying he is lying, but I am saying that Mimiko voted.  Even everybody was scared, you must have watched the video. I was scared because  at a  point, seven governors refused to vote. I think they suspected that they would win and Mimiko was one of those who refused to vote, but when they whispered among themselves and they thought they would win, they all cast their votes. When they were counting, if you had watched, you would see that those governors who were pro-Amaechi voted first, and those governors that were against Amaechi voted last. So, you saw during the counting, “Governor Jang  and those governors who initially refused to vote and  voted, their votes were counted last  had the Governor Jang, Governor Jang’’, eight times—- I was scared.  If you watch the video, you would hear me say, “No, no, count the ballot first’. That was my response to that confidence  that made them to go and vote. My response was, what was the confidence that made these people to go and vote?  I  was saying to myself, I hope that they haven’t rigged the election. Again, I was saying to myself, we are 35, I want to sit with 35 ballots.

So,  the first counting was, there were 35 ballots and I said, ok, I am no 35, then you can then count who had what number of ballots. So, if you hear Mimiko protest, tell him I said, he  voted. Mimiko voted, everybody there voted!

I didn’t plant video- camera

Even the issue of video, if you watch the video, you will hear me shouting, ‘stop, it, don’t record it, stop it!’ Because some governors rushed to me and said, Chairman, protect us, so and so governors were recording and the governors said, why won’t I record?  It was so open, it wasn’t as if somebody planted cameras and was hiding, it was open.

“If  you listen, you will hear another governor saying, I am also recording and I said, as a responsible citizen, you cannot do that here. But then, I was making a mistake, because that video has turned out to be historical.

“So, it wasn’t me. I was  rather trying to protect my colleagues, who didn’t want it recorded and the governor who was recording said, I will not stop and thank God, he didn’t stop! If he  had listened to me as Chairman and stopped, maybe it would have been more controversial than it is now.

“But again, tell my brother, Mimiko that he voted. If he insists that he didn’t vote, I am willing to go with him to his church, The Redeemed Church, we lean on the altar he should say it before God.

Mischief behind Lamido/Amaechi posters

I wished I knew where it is coming from. But for Gods sake, why can’t people at the federal office tell us where the posters are coming from?  I don’t know where it is coming from and I don’t want to respond to those posters.

Cold war with Presidency

I have no comment on that. I just don’t know if there is any, or there is none. Honestly, I don’t know.

Suspension from PDP

I believe in the judiciary of Nigeria. Anytime people cannot solve their differences in court, then it becomes difficult. So, they have suspended me, I have gone to court and I will stick to that.  So, I will not discuss that.  My colleague, the Governor of  Lagos State has also gone to court to stop my friend and brother, Governor Jang from parading himself.

Jang should search his conscience

I want to urge him  that as a Christian, and he is a good Christian, that he should know that God watched over everybody and that whatever you say, say it according to God, because beyond the NGF, I believe that there is heaven  and you cannot go to heaven, if you cannot tell the truth and stand by the truth.

I am not saying that he isn’t  telling the truth; I am not saying he isn’t standing by the truth, but I am just saying that nobody can go to heaven, if he doesn’t stand by the truth.  If I want to go to church to thank God, I should be the person thanking God, because I got 19 votes. I should  go to church and say, God, take the glory and that was what happened, because after the election I was a bit confused, because the enormous resistance was so much that I thought, any way, it goes. Look, if they had won, there wouldn’t be any break-up, we were ready to go along with them.  The point I wanted to prove was Nigerians have the right to contest anything you want to contest in Nigeria. That’s the point I wanted to prove.

I stand by my mandate

No, I will not step down; that’s a mandate that is freely given and I will stick to that mandate.  There is no special benefit that the Chairman of Governors’ Forum gets. So, I don’t see why there is this disagreement.  When I heard  them  said I was jittery, jittery for what? I am only proving a point that  Nigerians are allowed  to run for any post, they want to run and when they do and they are elected, they should stick to their mandate. That’s the only point.

Advice for Jang

I think my brothers who are complaining, not about the election should come back, let us work together, for the interest of the poor masses in the country. We shouldn’t allow our personal interest to override that of the nation. It is important we consider that of the nation. I must also say to my brother on the other side that Nigeria Governors’ Forum isn’t about platform, it isn’t a PDP Governors’ Forum ,or Action Congress of Nigeria Governors’ Forum —- it is called the Nigeria Governors’ Forum—- that’s why I have never visited any party chairman, or any party leader, to go and complain or to go and seek support. I needed four supports: God first, Nigerians second, President and the governors.

We have a working constitution

There was no fight over the constitution; it was when we finished voting. You see, it is ridiculous, everybody who voted agreed with that article. Let me tell you, the election was postponed three times and the reason for postponing the election were all constitutional. The constitution says, you should give three days notice. They said, I didn’t give three days notice. I said, fine I gave the  three days notice for the next meeting. When we were ready for the second time, I gave the three days notice, they said,  you have   given the 3 days notice but the constitution says you must be in office till May 29; why are you asking us to vote; that you must be in office and let the person who defeats you take over. And I said, ok, fine, let us wait till May.  That means the constitution was working and it was what they were quoting.  But now that we have emerged, that constitution isn’t correct! But they were quoting the same constitution to subvert  the election, the strategy on our side wasn’t to be confrontational. When we say we are His Excellency,   it means that we must be excellent in behavior.

source: Daily sun