The two governors who pulled out of the
Northern States Governors Forum over
alleged betrayal by their colleagues are
making the biggest political mistake of their
lives and they may not be able to win any
election again in the North, Kano State
Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso has said.
He was referring to his Bauchi and Benue state
counterparts, Isa Yuguda and Gabriel Suswam,
who had said they would no longer attend
meetings of the forum because they were
betrayed in the disputed election of the Nigerian
Governors Forum chairman.
They had said the northern governors agreed
unanimously to support Plateau State Governor
Jonah Jang but some of their colleagues voted
for Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi, who
won the May 24 election.
In an interview with journalists in Abuja
yesterday, Kwankwaso said the two governors
"are making the biggest political mistakes of
their lives."
"The implication of what they are saying is that
they're not with us (northern governors). What
we are saying is (the Nigeria Governors Forum)
has nothing to do with the politics of Northern
Governors Forum, where we have many assets
and liabilities.
Whether military or civilian, governors always
attend the meetings because you have to go
and present the issues concerning your people
there.
"Now, if you opt out of Northern Governors
Forum, when governors of Western states are
meeting, certainly you cannot be part of them.
And I begin to wonder where else they will be. I
want to tell you that if they continue with that I
don't see how either they or their candidates
would win elections in the North. I think they
better start fielding their candidates in elections
outside the northern region.
"They don't know they are making the biggest
mistakes. What did the North do to them? Who
told them that the North is not supporting
Amaechi? If you're taking a decision, don't take
it when you're angry. Don't say because you
want to impress someone, so that you could be
considered a good governor, you're getting out
of your home, you're abandoning your people,
you're insulting them...That is a big mistake. I
cannot make the mistake of taking Kano out of
the North. Those who are making those
statements are making mistake. The earlier they
reverse themselves, the better for them," he
said.
Emphasising the relevance of the Northern
Governors Forum, Kwankwaso said at the
Nigerian Governors Forum, all that the
governors do is peer review but at northern
governors forum issues are tackled at a deeper
level.
"People have so much sentiment attached to the
Northern Governors Forum, and by the time you
remove yourself, people may decide to keep
quiet and pay you back at the appropriate
time," he said.
On the issue of betrayal raised by the two
governors, Kwankwaso explained that even
before the elections he had warned both
Katsina State Governor Ibrahim Shema and
Yuguda that he would not support them.
"I told Shema, 'you are my neighbour, you're
my brother, you're my friend, but you can't
come and tell me you're contesting an election
and you're parading yourself as a candidate and
behaving like somebody who was sent to us.'
"I made it clear that I would neither vote for
him nor ask anybody to vote for him. And that I
would make sure he lost the election. I told him
this to his face. While I was telling him this, Sule
Lamido was there, supporting me, Adamawa
and Niger State governors were also there. This
made some persons to say Shema did not have
the support of the North.
"Isa Yuguda came to me, and I told him, I'm
still a villager, and I behave in many ways as a
villager. In my village, in Kwankwaso in Kano, if
a councillorship candidate goes to the elders
and says he wanted to contest for councillorship
in the morning and they accepted, if someone
else comes in the afternoon and asked for the
same support, the villagers would tell him he's
late. We don't want Shema because we wanted
to choose our own chairman. Now, you're
coming through the same route. When he
insisted, because it was my house, I didn't want
to be as hard on him as I was to Shema."
Explaining how Jang became the consensus
candidate of the North, Kwankwaso admitted
that he nominated Jang for that position, though
he supported Amaechi's candidature, because
the "G-16" camp were desperate to field a
candidate against Amaechi.
"I gave them Jang and I asked the governor of
Benue State to support me. I realised they were
very desperate, and that even after the election
they would not accept the victory of Amaechi.
We gave them who we feel should lead the
minority group. When we left the place, they
had their meeting and accepted him. At the end
of the day they brought him to the general
meeting of the Governors Forum. At that
meeting we told them we wanted Amaechi to
continue to be chairman of the forum. We went
into voting because there was no consensus," he
said.
On the issue of the zoning of the forum's
chairmanship to the North, Kwankwaso said,
"Let me say this: we're northerners and I think
we need to be consulted on what we need in
the North. Some people have decided that we
should take chairman, Nigerian Governors'
Forum. But that is not our choice. We have our
choice to our chest. We know what we need in
the politics of this country. Even if (the
chairman of Governors Forum) is what we want,
we're not expecting anybody to choose for us.
We should choose for ourselves."
Kwankwaso warned that the leaders of the
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) were making a
mistake by suspending governors from the party
because it is to the detriment of the ruling
party.
"Those who are leading the party should be
careful about what they do, especially when
they are using dirty words like suspension,
expulsion, dismissal, and impeachment. These
are words that people should be cautious
about," he said.
"We want peace, stability, development in this
country. People should be cautious...With all
these things that are happening, people should
not worry too much. In developed countries, the
US, Britain, Germany, there are two parties. In
Nigeria we have one party now and other small
parties. Who knows, we're in a transition in this
country, a transition to two parties. Before we
have two parties, some people need to make
mistakes."
Asked if he was in talks with the yet to be
registered All Progressives Congress (APC),
Kwankwaso said he had been in politics for over
20 years now and that had friends across
parties, and therefore free to interact with
them.
According to him the situation in the PDP had
made it difficult for aggrieved members to voice
out their grievances because there is no channel
to do so. He referred to the fact that the
National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of
the party has not held for nearly a year now.
"This party belongs to all of us. It doesn't
belong to chairman or to anybody. It belongs to
all of us. We have invested so much in this
party. But if you're suspended or dismissed or
expelled, it's unfortunate," he said.
"All of us who voted for Amaechi consider this
suspension as the suspension of all of us in his
camp. After Amaechi, they went to the
Governor of Sokoto. We're even surprised that it
started from there. Some of us are disappointed
that it started from there."

http://m.naij.com/news/37497.html

second to comment

So all this man can think about as benefit is winning elections. God save Nigeria from such empty heads who call themsleves Govs. All they think every now and then is next election. How come the self acclaimed progressives have nothing better in their heads?

Aderostock:




Explaining how Jang became the consensus
candidate of the North, Kwankwaso admitted
that he nominated Jang for that position, though
he supported Amaechi's candidature, because
the "G-16" camp were desperate to field a
candidate against Amaechi.
"I gave them Jang and I asked the governor of
Benue State to support me. I realised they were
very desperate, and that even after the election
they would not accept the victory of Amaechi.
W
http://m.naij.com/news/37497.html

So Suswam was right after all. You idiots betrayed him and Yuguda. After agreeing on a consensus candidate, you went around them to support Amaechi just to spite Jonathan. fool

Some of these northern governors are ready for showdown with GEJ come 2015, this man is BOLD.

Wow!!

Quite revealing.

Na 2015 we go know who be who for dis country. By the time GEJ finishes with them, most of them wont know what hit them.
I will quote this comment on 30 Apr 2015.

abu12: Some of these northern governors are ready for showdown with GEJ come 2015, this man is BOLD.

@Bold Text:
Yes he is. I like men who have guts. And to imagine PDP cannot anything gives me joy. He also added that if they try suspension #Tinz, they will "Janglize" (divide) PDP in the North and help create a bigger opposition party (I now believe Lia Mohammed knew what he was saying).