“After emerging as the PDP governorship candidate for Rivers State, the new chairman of the Governors Forum was denied the party’s flag. Speaking at the presentation of the party flags to its gubernatorial candidates, former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo had declared that Amaechi’s candidacy had “k-leg”
From Goddy Osuji, Abakaliki
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
•Saraki
Photo: Sun News Publishing

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Governor Chibuike Amaechi of Rivers State last Monday emerged the new Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum(NGF). NDUBUISI ORJI writes on the Rivers governor, his rise in politics, and the Forum he would be leading in the next two years

The story of Governor Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi of River State is akin to that of the stone the builders rejected that has become the chief corner stone. From being deprived of a platform to contest the 2007 governorship election in Rivers State, Amaechi was last Monday named as the new chairman of the almighty Nigeria Governors’ Forum.
Given the enormous power the Forum wields in Nigeria’s politics, chairmanship of the forum makes the occupant a very influential power broker in the country.

In the run up to the 2007 general election, the Rivers state governor was denied the governorship ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). According to former President, Olusegun Obasanjo, his candidacy had a “k-leg”.

Amaechi and his politics
The River State governor joined politics in the early 1990s when he registered as a member of the defunct National Republican Convention (NRC) in his Ikwerre community. He also served as secretary of the party in his area before he was appointed Special Assistant to the former governor of the state, Dr Peter Odili, when the latter emerged deputy governor of Rivers State. When the military Junta of late General Sani Abacha sacked the third republic and announced a new transition programme to civil rule, the Rivers State governor pitched his tent with the All Nigeria Congress (ANC). However, the ANC was not among the five political parties registered in the late Abacha’s era, prompting Amaechi to move into the then newly registered Democratic Party of Nigeria (DPN).

But following the death of Abacha and the proscription of all the parties registered by the Abacha regime, the Rivers State governor found himself in the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). It was in the PDP, that he contested and won election as a member of the Rivers State House of Assembly representing Ikwerre constituency. He was later to emerge as Speaker of the House, a position he held for two terms between 1999 to 2007.
All along, he had his eyes fixed on the coveted governorship seatof the state. For him, getting to the position was a forgone conclusion. To Amaechi then, with Odili as the outgoing governor, the seat was his just for the asking. Odili doubles as Amaechi’s mentor and political godfather. But fate had other plans. The governor was soon to realize that occupying offices was not after all a lollypop.

After emerging as the PDP governorship candidate for Rivers State, the new chairman of the Governors Forum was denied the party’s flag. Speaking at the presentation of the party flags to its gubernatorial candidates, former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo had declared that Amaechi’s candidacy had “k-leg”. After, that event, the Rivers governor was arrested by the dreaded Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and thrown into the gulag for alleged corruption.
The governor was in the EFCC dungeon until the end of the election. Those in the know said that following his travails in the EFCC, the governor resolved to let go of the governorship seat until those close to him prodded him on to pursue his case in the courts of law.

It was after the election, he took his case to the courts. After many months of a frustrating legal tussle with his kinsman, Celestine Omehia over who is the validly nominated candidate of the PDP, the Supreme Court ruled that Amaechi was the ruling party governorship candidate in the 2007 general election and by implication the winner of the April 14 governorship election. Thus, he became the first person to occupy the office of governor in the country without technically standing for election.

The Nigeria Governors Forum
The NGF is unarguably the most influential group in Nigeria today. The power of the group is such that whatever the governors want done in the polity is done, and whatever the forum stands for is as good as foreclosed. In the real sense, not even the National Assembly wields the kind of power the governors have through the forum in the country. In the PDP where most of the governors belong, they determine who gets what politically.
In recent times, the Forum has always taken serious stand at very critical points in the life of the nation. Atimes, this stance, which is most often controversial, has pitched the governors against other segments of the society.

For instance, during the crisis engendered by the ill health of the late President Musa Yar’Adua, the NGF was at the head of those that insisted that the late President should not resign. Amidst calls for the resignation of the late president, the Forum declared the resignation of the former president, a no go area When the matter got to a head, it was the same Forum that went to the National Assembly. Their visit to the National Assembly gave rise to the contrived doctrine of necessity, under which President Goodluck Jonathan was made acting president.

This was however to the consternation of critical segments of the society. Former Anambra State Governor, Chukwuemeka Ezeife and his Edo counterpart, John Odigie Oyegun, at the height of the crisis expressed displeasure with the 36 state Governors, for assuming larger than life position in national affairs.
Oyegun, traced the current trend to former President Olusegun Obasanjo. He said it was one of the unfortunate and dangerous legacies he left in the country due to his selfish desires for power.

“It was during the time of Obasanjo that the Governors acquired these undue powers. You remember that it was during the time that he asked the Governors to go and select one of their own to be President. That was the beginning of the dangerous trend. From that time, they hijacked major decisions in the country believing that they have the powers to do so. But we should start seeing the danger in the tail wagging the dog. If actually they use this power in taking decisions that are consistent with the thinking of the people, the outcome would not be as worrisome. But look through all their decisions and you will see the trend that they have been unpopular.
Ezeife agrees. He said, “This is going beyond the ordinary. It is no longer easy to understand. One Nigeria is in the best long-term interest of every group in Nigeria.
“The governors’ position apparently dominated by myopic tribalism neglects this fact. It is inconsistent with the Constitution and does violence to common sense,” he said.
In apparent response to the many criticism, the immediate past chairman of the NGF, Governor Bukola Saraki said all the interventions of the Governors have been in the interest of the country.