Sincere 9gerian: The question is who started the fight? Is it the president that started fighting Amaechi or Amaechi started fighting the president? From all indications, Amaechi started fighting the president because of his vice-presidential ambition. Amaechi used his position as the NGF chairman to fight the president. He became almost like another president in Nigeria.

August 24, 2010
First Lady, Patience Jonathan, publicly scolded Mr. Amaechi in Anyugubiri, Okirika, Rivers State, her home town, for not entering into dialogue with the people of the community over his plan to pull down some structures around a Model School project being constructed by the state government to create a decent space for learning.

August 25, 2010
The Chairman of Okirika Local Government, Tamunokro Oba, believed to be the first cousin of Mrs. Jonathan resigned his position. It was alleged that after Mr. Amaechi’s altercation with the First Lady, the governor forced the former council boss to throw in the towel, but the state government denied the claim.
Almost three years later…

February 25, 2013
The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, announced the creation of its own Governors Forum. The PDP National Chairman, Bamanga Tukur, presented the Akwa Ibom State Governor, Godswill Akpabio, as the forum’s chairman. The establishment of the forum was alleged to be part of the plot to whittle down the influence of Mr. Amaechi whose handling of the Nigeria Governors Forum, NGF, the ruling party and the Presidency were not comfortable with. They also allegedly wanted to frustrate the re-emergence of the Mr. Amaechi as NGF chairman.

February 25
Mr. Amaechi survived plot to remove him as NGF Chair just as the election of a new chairman of the forum was pushed to May when the governor was expected to end his first term.

April 6
From Ikogosi in Ekiti State, Mr. Amaechi said some people were plotting to remove him as NGF chair because of his stance on fraud in the oil sector as well as Sovereign Wealth Fund, SWF. A major opposition governor, Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti, also stated that Mr. Amaechi would win the NGF chairmanship election, showing clearly that Mr. Amaechi had the backing of major opposition parties.

April 16
The national leadership of PDP inaugurated a new executive committee for the Rivers State Chapter of the party to replace the Godspower Ake-led executive, which was sacked earlier in the day by an Abuja High Court. The new executive, led by Felix Obuah, is reportedly loyal to the Minister of State for Education, Nyesom Wike, a political rival of the state governor.

April 18
The office of the National Security Adviser, NSA, invited the Rivers State Commissioner for Information, Ibim Semenitari, to Abuja to provide details on the security helicopters purchased by the state government.

Sincere 9gerian:
** How Akpabio became PDP Governors’ Forum chair

Posted by: Yusuf Alli, Abuja in News February 26, 2013


President Goodluck Jonathan declared a “war” against Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) Chair Rotimi Amaechi at a session with the governors of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Sunday night, it was learnt yesterday.

He told the governors that he could not work with Rivers State Governor as the chairman of the NGF because the governor had not been fair to him as the nation’s number one leader.

According to sources who know what transpired in House 7 at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, the President was visibly angry that he had been allegedly maligned by Amaechi over the oil wells dispute between Rivers State and Bayelsa State.

It was gathered that the President said in view of the attitude of the governor, it would be difficult to work with Amaechi.

It was also learnt that a video clip of an event in Calabar was shown to the governors to strengthen the President’s case against Amaechi.

A source said: “The President made his point that no one can hide under the NGF to rubbish him in any manner. He told the PDP governors that he had had enough.

“At a stage, the President said he was prepared for the worst, rather than allow Amaechi to tarnish his integrity. He asked the PDP governors to call Amaechi to order.

“Those at the session saw a video clip of an event in Calabar in which Amaechi purportedly indicted Jonathan on the rift over oil wells between Bayelsa and Rivers states.”

It was also learnt that the President got angry and said: “I cannot work with Amaechi as the chairman of the NGF.”

Another source quoted the President as saying: “If there is any issue, let us sort it out physically, man-to-man, instead of someone hiding under the Governors Forum to score cheap points.

“At that point, a pin-drop silence enveloped the venue because it was an open declaration of ‘war’ by the President.

Asked how the governor responded to the President’s speech, the source said they were all speechless at the session which had the National Chairman of PDP, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur and acting National Secretary, Barrister Onwe Onwe in attendance.

With the comments of the President, the governors were boxed into a corner when the idea of a PDP Governors Forum was broached.

“I think the plot was already hatched before the President called for the meeting. That was how Governor Godswill Akpabio emerged as the chairman of the PDP Governors Forum,” the source said.

Asked why no governor could make any input, the source, who pleaded not to be named, added: “The fear of backlash accounted for it. With the vituperations against Amaechi, no governor needed to be told to keep quiet.

“The mood at the meeting suggested that the Presidency could clampdown on any of the governors. So, it was better to beat a tactical retreat.”

But barely few hours after the forceful emergence of Akpabio, Northern governors in PDP regrouped to reject the “imposition”.

They said the North ought to have produced the chairman of the PDP Governors Forum, going by the fact that 15 out of 23 members of the newly formed Forum are from the North.

Another source added: “The governors are insisting that the election of the chairman of the PDP Governors Forum ought to be thrown open.

“They want the choice of Akpabio revisited because it was not democratically done. That is another challenge facing the NGF.”

http://thenationonlineng.net/new/how-akpabio-became-pdp-governors-forum-chair/

“I think the plot was already hatched before the President called for the meeting. That was how Governor Godswill Akpabio emerged as the chairman of the PDP Governors Forum,” the source said.

Asked why no governor could make any input, the source, who pleaded not to be named, added: “The fear of backlash accounted for it. With the vituperations against Amaechi, no governor needed to be told to keep quiet.

“The mood at the meeting suggested that the Presidency could clampdown on any of the governors. So, it was better to beat a tactical retreat.”

eGuerrilla: ^^^
It is only where sycophants like you are concerned that Amaechi's defense of Rivers state's commonwealth is seen as crime.
Obsessed with the cult of personality which you promote incessantly on these boards, it is no surprise that you find nothing wrong with the level of obsequiousness demanded by Nigeria's most educated President to date.




Btw @Bliss4Lyfe, your opening post is completely out of character
What has come over you during the festive season?

Sincere 9gerian:
March 1, 2013 by Olalekan Adetayo and Chukwudi Akasike



The Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters, Ahmed Gulak, on Thursday said the Peoples Democratic Party Governors’ Forum was established because the leadership of the party became disenchanted with the way the Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, ran the Nigerian Governors’ Forum.

Gulak said Amaechi ran the NGF as its chairman as a trade union and without having recourse to the laid down party mechanism of resolving issues.

He said this was completely contrary to what the PDP leaders expected from a governor elected on the platform of the party.

The Presidential aide spoke in an interview programme on independent Channels Television.

He said the PDP decided to establish a forum for its governors since the party no longer had influence on the NGF since other parties had governor-members in it.

He said, “The PDP, whether it likes Governor Amaechi to lead the Nigeria Governors’ Forum or not, it does not have influence on the forum because other governors are there.

“But what we believe is that the leadership of Amaechi in that forum has completely gone contrary to what PDP expects a PDP governor to do.

“The Nigeria Governors’ Forum has really constituted itself as a trade union, some elder statesmen have really come out to explain things in that perspective.

“For instance, about three weeks ago, .Prof. Jubril Aminu came out publicly to say the NGF is not supposed to be a trade union. It is supposed to be an association of governors coming together to discuss common challenges in the country, not to hold the country to ransom.”

In a reaction, however, the Director-General of the NGF, Dr. Asishana Okauru, on Thursday said the NGF was never run like a trade union, contrary to Gulak’s assertion.

“The NGF operates as a policy hub and it is responsible for servicing all the 36 governors across party lines. It (NGF) is not a political association and it is not run like a trade union,” he told one of our correspondents in Port Harcourt.

Also, the Rivers State PDP Publicity Secretary, Mr. George Ukwuoma-Nwogba, said it was wrong for anybody to accuse Amaechi of running the forum as a trade union.

Ukwuoma-Nwogba, who described Amaechi as the leader of the governors, stated that only those who lacked the knowledge of administration would conclude that the forum was being run like a trade union.

But Gulak said it had become the practice for the NGF to threaten court actions over little things.

He said, “Small thing, they will threaten to go to court contrary to the mechanism within PDP to solve issues. I hope the leadership of the NGF has not done well in that regard as far as we PDP are concerned.

“Our expectation from any governor from the PDP is to first and foremost explore all avenues within the party mechanism to see how issues and problems are solved.”
Gulak said with the way Amaechi was leading the NGF, nobody within the PDP could pretend to be happy with the Rivers governor, whom he said had refused to subject himself to party supremacy.

He said, “I believe and everybody within the PDP, nobody should pretend that we are happy with the leadership of the NGF. We are not happy because of their attitude, because of their refusal to really explore the mechanism within the party.

“We believe that as chairman of the NGF and as a PDP governor and as a member of the PDP, Amaechi should subject himself to the supremacy of the party and the leadership of the party.

“We have our elder statesmen at the Board of Trustees, some issues must be referred to them for discussion and to proffer solutions.

“We believe that the BOT for example is the conscience of the party and the party is supreme and the party can” question anybody.

Gulak wondered why Nigerians should lose sleep because of the emergence of the PDP Governors’ Forum led by Governor Godswill Akpabio when governors on the platform of other parties like the Action Congress of Nigeria had been meeting.

He said the establishment of the new forum was one of the ways the PDP was using to strategise to meet up with the challenges that the merging opposition political parties could pose to the ruling party.
He said, “The PDP as a party has decided to have its own Governors’ Forum. Why do we have the ACN Governors’ Forum for example? The ACN governors, though very few in number, meet from time to time to discuss their party, to discuss their common challenges and aspiration.

http://www.punchng.com/news/amaechis-govs-forum-is-a-trade-union-presidency/

Sincere 9gerian:

** Jibril Aminu flays Governors’ Forum

Our Reporter January 2, 2013

Senator Jibril Aminu, yesterday described the Nigerian Governors’ Forum as strange and an instrument of oppressing the Federal Government and the people. Aminu made the remark at a media briefing, organised by the Adamawa Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) stakeholders in Yola.

“It is very strange. I worked in many countries and have not seen anything like such a forum. The Governors’ Forum is what is used to oppress everybody, including the president,” Aminu said. He said the forum always ensured that state governors had their way in everything, including nominating who became an ambassador or member of the National Assembly.

“I don’t know how the forum came about in this country. And if it is not checked, it will put the country in serious troubl,” Aminu said. He called for the application of internal democracy in the running of the political parties. He cautioned against the politics of sentiments and stressed that the introduction of sentiments in the nomination of candidates would bring about tyrants in public office.

Aminu protested against the intervention of Governor Sule Lamido committee in the crisis in Adamawa PDP and said he had no confidence in the choice of Lamido, because of his relationship with Governor Murtala Nyako of Adamawa

http://sunnewsonline.com/new/cover/jibril-aminu-flays-governors-forum/

Sincere 9gerian:
** Stop governors before they ruin Nigeria – Jubril

April 28, 2013 at 1:00 am in Headlines, Top Stories

…says they want to swallow Jonathan ahead of 2015


By Soni Daniel, Regional Editor, North
Former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Senator Jubril Aminu, yesterday, pleaded with the Presidency and patriotic Nigerians to restrain governors from ruining the country.

Aminu, who spoke in an exclusive interview with Sunday Vanguard, accused the governors of arrogating to themselves roles that were not in the Constitution thereby conferring illegal advantage on themselves to the detriment of majority of Nigerians.

The former minister pointed out that, apart from acting as a clog in the wheel of progress, governors had also constituted themselves into an army against the Nigerian people by destroying the local government system and their Houses of Assembly, which used to act as a check on the executive.

According to him, the governors now want to determine everything at the local, state and federal levels, thereby stripping the president of his statutory powers.

Describing the action of the governors as inimical to the progress of the nation, the professor of medicine asked well-meaning Nigerians to rise against “the malevolent attitude of the governors before they plunge the nation into avoidable chaos that could consume the country”.

Aminu said: “The governors are against all of us and the president. They have organised to stop the government from doing what is right for this country. You can see that they have organised to stop anything functioning in Nigeria without them. This is what is happening.

“Governors are the ones imposing things on the rest of us. The problem with the governors is that they meet regularly and have their way by threatening the president that they would not support him for second term. You can’t do that because it is wrong. They must realise and be told that as governors their first responsibility is to their states.

“Many of the states are in a very parlous state and their governors are moving about in Abuja trying to fight Jonathan in a needless war. Number one, they have stopped the local government from functioning.

“They decide what amount to give to the local governments under their control. They decide what the LGA chairmen should spend up to the last kobo. It is a complete negation of the provisions of the Nigerian Constitution and they must be told so in clear terms to desist forthwith from such unholy practice in the interest of the country and its people. But they keep on doing it with impunity.

“Unfortunately, there is nobody to call the governors to order because they have already swallowed the House of Assembly that would have served as a check on them. Today nobody gets any job or appointment at the state level without the approval of the governors. Even election into the National Assembly is controlled by governors. So they have super powers and nothing gets to anybody except the governor approves same.

“Not satisfied with the powers they have already usurped, the governors now want to extend their power to the president. They want to dictate to him what he should and should not do when it is not their right to do so. This is not right and that is not what the Constitution envisaged. This is not the federal system we hope to get”

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/04/stop-governors-before-they-ruin-nigeria-jubril-aminu/

Sincere 9gerian: The question is who started the fight? Is it the president that started fighting Amaechi or Amaechi started fighting the president? From all indications, Amaechi started fighting the president because of his vice-presidential ambition. Amaechi used his position as the NGF chairman to fight the president. He became almost like another president in Nigeria.

SLIDE waxie: u are very senseless.

Is the question abt who started the fight or wot shld a responsible govt do abt making sure peace is everywhere?

SLIDE waxie: u are very senseless.

Is the question abt who started the fight or wot shld a responsible govt do abt making sure peace is everywhere?

Sincere 9gerian:
Its seems you'r being tormented by foolishness and imbecility. And what should the president do after coming under unprovoked attacks from a governor? Go and worship the governor? Nonsense!

jmaine:

I can sincerely say you are becoming more brutal and direct in your posts.

Welcome to the times bruv . . . .

eGuerrilla: ^^^
It is only where sycophants like you are concerned that Amaechi's defense of Rivers state's commonwealth is seen as crime.
Obsessed with the cult of personality which you promote incessantly on these boards, it is no surprise that you find nothing wrong with the level of obsequiousness demanded by Nigeria's most educated President to date.




Btw @Bliss4Lyfe, your opening post is completely out of character
What has come over you during the festive season?

VICTORCIZA: you are more senseless than the person you quoted.

Sincere 9gerian:
The silly attitude of those pests leaves one with very little option.