The once chummy relationship between President Goodluck Jonathan and the governors elected on the platform of his party, the Peoples Democratic Party, has soured. THE PUNCH learnt on Wednesday that the PDP governors were not happy that the President rejected their pleas on behalf of the embattled governor of Bayelsa State, Mr. Timipre Sylva. The governors had appealed to the President to back Sylva whom the party denied its ticket for the February 2012 governorship election.
Jonathan is believed to have backed a member of the House of Representatives, Mr. Seriake Dickson, who eventually emerged as the PDP candidate. Dickson is widely believed to enjoy the support of the President.
THE PUNCHlearnt that it was because of the refusal of the President and the leadership of the party to listen to the governors’ plea that made the governors to boycott the party’s governorship campaign in Kogi State last week.
Jonathan had led the members of the PDP’s National Working Committee, including his deputy, Namadi Sambo, to Lokoja on November 28 for the Kogi governorship poll rally. Also in Lokoja were the Senate President, Sen. David Mark, and the Speaker of House of Representatives, Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal.
However, unlike the tradition, the PDP governors elected to stay away from the rally, leaving the President, his deputy and the acting National Chairman of the party, Alhaji Kawu Baraje, to handle the event.
The party had sent invitation letters to the Chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum, who is also the Governor of Rivers State, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, and all the governors from the North-Central zone.
Although the governors failed to show up, the party’s candidate in the election, Capt. Idris Wada, emerged the winner, defeating other candidates, including his main rival, Abubakar Audu of the Action Congress of Nigeria, by a wide margin.
A member of the PDP’s National Working Committee, who spoke to our correspondent on the condition of anonymity, expressed disappointment at the governors’ absence. The source said, “It is unfortunate that the governors decided to stay away from the rally. It is also unfortunate that they acted as if they were not part of the party.
“Maybe they think that they do not need to fraternise with the party anymore, now that they have won their second terms. Even if they have a disagreement with the President, they should not have allowed that to affect their relationship with the party that produced them.”
Efforts made to speak with the Director –General of the Nigeria Governors, Forum, Mr. Asishana Okauru, were unsuccessful as calls made to his mobile telephone numbers indicated that they were switched off.
He also did not respond to the text message sent to him.
A presidency source however told our correspondent that there was indeed a “strained relationship” between the governors and the President. The source said, “Yes, there is a strained relationship between the President and the governors, but I think they are making up.
“Actually, they were not happy because the President refused to bow to their demand on Sylva, but they are making up.
“The refusal of the President could be the reason why they stayed away from the Lokoja rally. However, don’t forget that one of the governors, I think that of Niger, sent a representative to the rally.”
THE PUNCHlearnt that the belief in the Presidency is that Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State organised the boycott, hence, Jonathan’s refusal to swear in the Chairman of the Board of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related Offences Commission, Mr. Francis Elechi. Elechi, who is from Rivers State, is a known associate of Governor Amaechi.
Jonathan had said that he refused to swear in Elechi because he had received “disturbing calls” about him. The swearing in took place a day after the Lokoja rally. A source in the Presidency told our correspondent that Jonathan’s action was predicated on the advice of some people close to him, who told him not to hand over a “sensitive anti-corruption agency to an associate of an enemy like Amaechi.”
However, a source close to one of the governors told our correspondent that they would not shift ground. The source, who pleaded anonymity, said the state chief executives were planning to frustrate any candidate put forward by the President for the chairmanship of the party in February. The governors, our correspondent learnt, had resolved not to back any candidate that had the support of the President for the plum job.
Meanwhile, the President was to meet with governors from the northern states at the Villa on Thursday night.
The meeting was called to discuss the security situation in the North and the governorship primaries in Sokoto State.
A governor of a northern state disclosed this to our correspondent in Abuja on Wednesday. He said governors from the region were worried by the rumoured plan to exclude Governor Magatakarda Wamakko from the party primaries scheduled for December 17. There have been reports that the President is against Wamakko’s ambition. The governor said the meeting would be used to inform the President that denying Wammako the right to participate in the primaries could trigger security problems in the North-West.
He said while the nation’s security agencies were still battling with the insecurity in the North-East, it would be wrong to create a problem in the North-West. “We are still having a security challenge in the North-East. It will therefore be foolhardy to think that our security operatives who are unhappy handling the Boko Haram insurgency in the North-East will be able to handle a crisis in the North-West.”
Efforts made to speak with the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Prof. Rufai Alkali, were unsuccessful as he neither picked his call nor responded to the text message sent to him by our correspondent.