₦airaland Forum

[size=18pt]NEC Meeting: Seating Arrangement Averts Amaechi, Jang Clash[/size]


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A drama played out at the Council Chambers of the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Thursday as the two governors laying claim to the chairmanship of the factionalised Nigeria Governors’ Forum, Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State and Jonah Jang of Plateau State, sat side by side at the National Economic Council meeting, presided over by Vice President Namadi Sambo.

The VP, all state governors, ministers of Finance, National Planning and Justice are members of the council.

Both governors had been said to be determined to occupy a hitherto reserved sit for the NGF chairman at the NEC meeting.

The adjustment in the seating arrangement however averted what could have been a confrontation between the  two feuding governors.

The drama started early when Amaechi arrived ahead of the 11am starting time of the meeting and was heading towards his usual seat.

He usually sits on the first seat to the right of the Vice President. The seats are designed in such a way that he would be sitting directly opposite Sambo.

As Amaechi was making his way to the seat, a protocol official and Governor Babangida Aliyu of Niger State called his attention to the change in the seating arrangement.

He was told that governors would sit in alphabetical order. He smiled and searched for his seat only to discover that he would be sitting besides Jang, since their states (Plateau and Rivers) followed each other in alphabetical order.

Amaechi quickly returned to Aliyu, who is one of the members of his faction of the NGF, to tell him that he would be sitting beside Jang.

Amidst laughter, Aliyu said, “That (the seating arrangement) is good. I think somebody is trying to be diplomatic here.”

Amaechi, also laughing, said, “Yes o! The authentic chairman (beating his chest) will sit beside the pretender!” They all laughed over it while Amaechi returned to his seat.

However, the real drama played out when Jang arrived. He was also heading towards his usual seat when they called his attention to the fact that the seating arrangement had changed.

He greeted Babangida,  Mimiko and Osun State Deputy Governor on his way to his new seat.

As he approached his seat, Amaechi rose to give him a handshake as the battery of photojournalists surged forward again to take pictures.

Amaechi smiled while Jang avoided eye contact with his colleague. Jang also had a handshake with the Director-General of NGF Oshashima Okauru.

They both sat down quietly pretending to be busy by perusing some of the documents that were placed on their tables by the NEC secretariat staff.

[size=18pt]33 Killed In Fresh Plateau Clashes[/size]


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No fewer than 33 persons have been killed in the renewed violence between the Fulani and indigenous Taroh communities of Langtang South Local Government Area of Plateau State.

Among the dead were said to be students sitting for the 2013 National Examination Council.

A local pastor of the Church of Christ in Nations,   Rev. Nandip Miri, told our correspondent on the telephone he lost his father and brother in the attack.

Fighting was said to have been raging in the restive Plateau south for the past 48 hours as the indigenes of Bolgang, Magama and Karkashi districts of Langtang South  battle some invaders suspected to be Fulani herdsmen.

Our correspondent gathered that  24 people were killed in Magama, while nine others were killed in Bolgang.

Eyewitness said many of the areas had been deserted as the attackers followed fleeing residents on motorcycles as they fled their villages.

Miri, who is the Chairman of Provisional Church Council of Nigeria said the death toll might be higher as corpses of those killed, while fleeing, still littered the road and the bush.

He said, “We cannot know the actual number of people who lost their lives as we are still picking dead bodies from the bush.

“The attackers followed the victims on motorcycles and were killing them mercilessly as they tried to escape. So many dead bodies were found in the bush and more may still be found later.”

Senator representing Plateau South, Mr. Victor Lar, called for restraint and advised the people to remain calm.

Police Commissioner, Mr. Chris Olakpe, told our correspondent that he had yet to get the details of the incident.

Confirming the incident to our correspondent  in Jos on the telephone on Thursday, the Management Committee Chairman of Langtang South Local Government Council Mr. Narman Darko, said 33 persons were killed in the three villages that were invaded by suspected herdsmen.

Darko gave the breakdown as follows, Magama 24; Bolgan, seven and two people were killed in Magama and Karkashi, adding that over 100 houses were burnt by the suspected Fulani attackers.

He said, he had informed the Special Task Force of the attack, adding that they had moved their men to prevent further destruction of lives and property in the area.

[size=18pt]Lagos Belongs To The Tinubus[/size]


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"This new development portends great danger for our democracy and indeed Lagos integrity. We are thus calling on the Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola, not to sit on the fence at this auspicious time. Fashola must rise up and be counted now. He must exhibit control in governance especially when Tinubu’s interest conflicts with the public interest. He must see to it that the process leading to the emergence of a market leader and any other leadership in the state is transparent, liberal and credible.”


—Lagos State Chapter of the PDP



Life has some pleasantly ironic moments. Before the Lagos State Chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party woke up to the news that the former governor of the state, Bola Tinubu, was about to install his daughter as the Iyaloja of Lagos, who could have thought the party would ever understand –or even acknowledge- that anything portends “great danger” to Nigerian democracy? Or, that the party would even canvass a process that is “transparent, liberal and credible?” These are surely interesting times we live in.

Since the PDP put out its press release, part of which was quoted above, there has been some robust discourse on the social media about whether another Tinubu should step into the shoes of the late Abibatu Mogaji, “pioneer Iyaloja/President-General of Nigerian Market Men and Women” who held the prestigious position for many years even when she was old and frail; and at 96, was clearly incapable of functioning in that role with as much vitality as she would have exuded in her younger years.

The PDP, on getting to know about the announcement purportedly made at Mogaji’s burial, panicked and quickly issued the press release I excerpted above. It does not quite seem it has awoken to the reality that Lagos is Tinubu’s property; from there his influence extends to other states in South-West Nigeria. He is the go-to godfather of the region such that men like Lamidi Adedibu who once trod that path look like upstarts when contrasted with him.

My advice to the PDP is to cease its caterwauling and focus its energies on winning the 23 states President Goodluck Jonathan recently stipulated as their 2015 target. For now, not much will change as regards the ownership of Lagos political structure. The Tinubus own a lot and like the proverbial greedy man who insists on acquiring every parcel of land that touches his land, they keep expanding.

It is not for nothing that Tinubu was assigned an anti-democratic title of “Governor Emeritus.” There are similar examples of such labels created by fawning Nigerians to massage the egos of their leaders who are obviously plagued by the Mugabe Complex. This attitude, taken in its entirety, illustrates the intractable problems of leadership in Africa. The Mugabe Complex is a fear of ordinariness; a symptom exhibited by people in power who just do not want to be out of the picture. In their minds, they are the awaited messiahs so they impose themselves on people by every means possible. Such people jump from Governor to Senator; from First Lady, they become Permanent Secretaries or Mother-of-the-nation; or transform into tribal leaders and godfathers. They practically configure the state finances to lead to their pockets. They clog the state machinery so that those who succeed them in office would have to contact them for solutions.

Leaders from this part of the world who are plagued by the Mugabe Complex lack virtue. They do not walk away when they complete their tenure; rather, they create enough problems so that we can always look back wistfully at their tenure. They cannot even stand successors who outshine them in performance. They will do anything, as long as it gives them continued relevance and help them exhibit a sense of patriarchal proprietary over their constituencies.

During the 2011 elections, not a few people were astounded at how the former governor reportedly put forward members of his family in the Lagos State elections when it was quite certain they would win since their party controlled the state. If it had been a PDP leader who was taking advantage in that manner, it would be an opportunity for the Publicity Secretary of the Action Congress of Nigeria, Lai Mohammed, to gallop on his high horse over and over again. He would have issued his famous press releases to “yab” the party and then self-righteously proclaim a fatwa on them. That is one of the reasons the PDP is an easier party to understand than the ACN; it has no progressive agenda that enables it to pretend. The classic opposition-to-the-rescue image the ACN has created for itself over the years has enabled it and its Big Daddies to evade a lot of scrutiny.

The ACN has tried to play down the Iyaloja story by pretending that it has bigger fishes to hunt than the leadership of mere markets. That kind of attitude –pretended or otherwise — is wrong. Whoever eventually emerges as the Iyaloja is important, actually. The post is a culturally created one but considering how traditional market systems are a vital component of our existence, it’s not a trivial one.

A scholar, Manthia Diawara, pointed out that the traditional market system poses the greatest obstacle to modernity in Africa and should be coopted into efforts made at building modern societies. The traditional market system forms a significant part of cultural life that we cannot divorce from our corporate-contemporary existence. They are important gateways to trade and globalisation. Markets, anthropologically considered, represent interwoven strands of primitiveness and modernity in our societies. How far our country will go can be determined from the dynamics of these markets. In Nigeria where manufacturing efforts are low, what constitutes our economy owes a lot to the markets. I hope the ACN treats the market system with more deference than the political advantages accruable from the office of the Iyaloja.

As things go, I am not hopeful the PDP can achieve much by seeking Fashola’s intervention. In 2011, people grumbled out quite loudly about a leadership that was inbreeding to the point of incest, but then what? The Tinubu family members still won with a landslide. The grumblings ceased and life continued. If the post of Iyaloja gets ceded to another Tinubu, people will murmur and live with it. If anything will change, it should –and will — come from Lagosians themselves. Lagosians are sophisticated people and when they have had enough, they will do the needful.

StarBoard: Thanks.
I'm hardly around.Just enough time to say a few and buzz off.
Plus I can't stomach some behaviour anymore. It's a new year.Someone's gotta channel his energies into something more profitable than a d1ck-measuring contest with some juveniles/charlatans in a largely-anonymous forum.

how have you been? Trying to reach you on e-mail.

https://www.nairaland.com/871307/official-manchester-united-fan-thread/167#14623289

StarBoard: [b][/b]
Been saying same all season long, but I got labelled all sorts of names.
If we had at least one, the outcome would have been different.
Please don't mention Anderson. Please.At least not to my reading.
The closest we got to that type of player was Fletcher.

https://www.nairaland.com/871307/official-manchester-united-fan-thread/168#14638748

StarBoard: Sorry to seem that way.
Just that certain peeps tend not to respect other counter opinions without name-calling.
Wonder why.

https://www.nairaland.com/871307/official-manchester-united-fan-thread/168#14639400

StarBoard: Seen it.
Thanks mate.
will hit you soon.
As per opinions, like Cristalz said, it's a faceless forum. I appreciate that everyone is not going to think like me, but denigrating peeps at the slightest opportunity defeats the purpose of getting diverse opinions.
That's why I try to stay away even when I manage to get free time.
If people aren't mature enough to discuss without insulting then I'm sure the place isn't better than a sanitorium, really.

https://www.nairaland.com/871307/official-manchester-united-fan-thread/169#14655255

StarBoard: @coogar,
Stop these insults please.
It doesn't do anything for you or anyone at that matter.
You've made your points.
If they are as superior as you think they are, there shouldn't be any need to resort to insults.

https://www.nairaland.com/871307/official-manchester-united-fan-thread/181#14806247

StarBoard: There's a reason why I implored you to stop the insults.
You're more knowledgeable than some people,but you want to reduce yourselve to their level by trading barbs.
Now you'll slap my face.
I think you need to grow up, really.

by the way, the Abacha reference is stale.

https://www.nairaland.com/871307/official-manchester-united-fan-thread/181#14812170

StarBoard: As usual this childish goon will never argue without branding insults.

https://www.nairaland.com/871307/official-manchester-united-fan-thread/184#15060324

extraflyfineboy: https://i.imgur.com/d1oAG5w.jpg

https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/11/09/article-0-15EEF6FF000005DC-754_634x412.jpg

[size=18pt]2015 Elections May End Up Like NGF Poll – Amaechi[/size]


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Rivers State Governor  Rotimi Amaechi on Wednesday lamented the  crisis rocking the Nigeria Governors’ Forum and then threw a bombshell: 2015 elections  may end up like that of the NGF.

“Let me put it on record that the way things are going,  2015 elections will end in this manner where people will win democratic elections and those in power will not accept the results,” he said at a stakeholders’ symposium on the  review of the 1999 Constitution   in Abuja.

Amaechi, who won the May 24 NGF election in Abuja, wondered why some people  would be backing Governor Jonah Jang of Plateau State, who contested  against him and lost.

Amaechi described Jang and  his supporters as non-democrats and accused the Nigeria Bar Association of losing its  voice by failing to condemn the actions taken by Jang and his supporters after the NGF poll.

President Goodluck Jonathan is the major supporter of the Jang faction of the NGF  and Amaechi’s outburst appeared to  the audience to  be mostly  directed at him (the President).

Amaechi, who said he  had  been trying to avoid the microphone because  of too many problems in the country, told the gathering that since he had been made to mount the rostrum, he  was ready to make “headlines.”

 First,  he blasted the NBA,  then Jang and the “government that supports him”.  Amaechi  described himself as the authentic NGF  chairman, saying that what  Jang was leading was  a faction of the Peoples Democratic Party Governors’ Forum.

 The  governor said, “The NBA cannot afford to lose its voice, but you have lost your voice. For the NBA to see a free and fair election, where 35 governors who govern 35 states in the nation, who make decisions for hundreds of millions of Nigerians, for NBA to say that ‘if they can’t organise themselves dissolve,’ you have lost your voice.

 “I say it and I want to be put on record that anybody who supports the Jang group is undemocratic.

“Before that  the NGF election, we chose who will be the returning officer , we appointed our director-general to be the returning officer   and we voted.

“Everybody voted. Everybody, including Jang. Jang was even among the first persons to vote.

“When I won my brother from Akwa Ibom State(Godswill Akpabio) stood up and said, ‘there’s a document I have where 19 governors have signed for us.’

 “And Jang says the Northern  States Governors’ Forum  supported him. Which Northern governors? They should have voted for him. He also  said the PDP governors supported him before the election, then the PDP governors should have voted for him.

“What you have that Jang is leading is another faction of the PDP Governors’ Forum, not the NGF.

“Anybody, whether NBA or government that supports Jang’s faction is undemocratic.”

He urged Nigerians and the judiciary  to rise up and defend their rights.

Amaechi  said, “My Lords,  you must defend  our democracy  and  Nigeria. We don’t have any other country anywhere else, the only country we have is this.

“We must be prepared as a people to defend our rights; we must be prepared as a people to hold government accountable. We must be prepared as a people to demand accountability.”

Amaechi urged Nigerians to resist a situation “where non-government officers that have no public function can order the Inspector-General of Police  to change commissioners of police.”

The governor, who  stated  that it was not proper for the President to appoint commissioners of police, said there was the  need for state police to be included  in the ongoing constitution review.

Apparently referring to his problems with the Commissioner of Police in Rivers State, Amaechi said, “You were talking about state prisons and state police. We don’t have state prisons; we don’t have state police.

“A situation where governors are left helpless and hopeless because somebody here in Abuja determines who becomes my commissioner of police, and tells him what to do, and he makes the city uncomfortable and ungovernable, is not the kind of constitution that I will want to support.”

Although Amaechi’s  insistence on being the authentic NGF chairman was corroborated by Niger State Governor and Chairman of the N S G F ,  Babangida Aliyu,on Wednesday,  Jang dismissed the Rivers State  governor’s claim that he (Jang) was  leading a faction of the PDP Governors’ Forum.

Jang, who spoke through the Sole Administrator of his NGF faction secretariat, Mr. Osaro Onaiwu, wondered  if Amaechi was leading the opposition governors forum.

Onaiwu  said, “The governors of Ondo and Anambra States, Dr. Olusegun Mimimo and Mr. Peter Obi respectively, are they members of the PDP?

“These governors are members of the  Labour Party and  the All Progressives Grand Alliance, yet Amaechi is saying we are leading a faction of the PDP Governors’ Forum.

“Is he not a member of the PDP himself? The Governor of Kano State, Dr. Rabiu Kwakwanso  nominated Jang for the position. Is he not a member of the PDP as well?

“The Governor of Akwa Ibom State is the chairman of the PDPGF.  If Jang is leading a faction of the PDPGF, which faction is Amaechi leading? The opposition governors’ forum?”

But Aliyu said at   the turbaning  of his Deputy,  Ahmed Ibeto, as the  Wali Raya Kasar Nupe and the PDP Chairman in the state,  Abduraman Enagi, as Sardauna Ayuka Nupe by the Estu Nupe Alhaji Yahaya Abubakar, that Amaechi won the NGF election.

Aliyu, who also gave insight into what happened during   the  NSGF meeting  ahead of  the NGF poll,  maintained  that no Northern governor betrayed anybody.

He said, “Many people have been asking why governors could not unite   to elect a leader. But my answer is that we were united and  we elected a chairman. If anybody recognises another person as a chairman, the onus is on us to  solve our problem. We must recognise Governor Amaechi as NGF chairman”.

“Governor  Jang  emerged as a candidate from the north after the NSGF discovered that there was an issue between Bauchi State Governor Isa Yuguda and the Kastina State Governor Ibrahim Shema.”

He said the NSGF intervened and agreed that Jang should contest.I  told them that we must go and insist on consensus but in a situation where election took  place,  the conscience  of the people prevailed”.

Aliyu added, “Thirty-five governors voted. Nineteen voted  for one candidate   and 16 for a particular candidate.  Those who go around destroying reputation should just bury  their hatchets.”

[size=18pt]Amaechi, Jang, Others Attend Jonathan’s Dinner[/size]


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For the first time since the election that  caused a division in  the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, almost all the 36 state governors converged on the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Wednesday for a   mid-term dinner organised by President Goodluck Jonathan.

The two main antagonists in the NGF crisis Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State, who won the  May 24 election of the forum and Governor Jonah Jang of Plateau State, who leads a faction of the group- attended the event.

Although Jang and members of his faction were already seated before the arrival of the President which signalled the commencement of the dinner, Amaechi and his loyalists arrived at the same time shortly after the event had started.

A mild drama however played out when Amaechi, who cancelled a meeting of the NGF earlier scheduled for 8pm on Wednesday,  joined the table where Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State and others were already seated.

In the process of exchanging pleasantries, Amaechi was heard pointing to Akpabio and saying, “No, you can never be a democrat.”

Some governors in the Amaechi faction were initially  seated among journalists at the back of the hall before they were  ushered in   to the front where seats were reserved for them.

The other  governors  in attendance were  those of Niger, Lagos, Nasarawa, Imo, Edo, Adamawa, Zamfara, Ogun, Kano, Ekiti and Jigawa.

Others were the governors of  Sokoto, Cross River, Bauchi, Abia, Plateau, Kogi, Ebonyi , Ondo, Delta, Anambra and Kaduna states.

The  acting governor of Taraba State and the deputy governors of Bayelsa, Kwara, Katsina, Benue and Gombe States were also in attendance.

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Aminu Tambuwwal, was however  absent at the dinner attended by the President of the Senate, David Mark; and his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu.

The dinner was still ongoing at the time of filing this report.

Before the cancellation  of the NGF meeting, some of the Pro-Amaechi governors had converged on the Rivers State Governor’s Lodge, Asokoro, where they took the final decision to  attend the dinner.

In a brief chat with journalists before they moved to the Villa, Amaechi said “We have shifted the meeting to honour the invitation sent to us for dinner by the President. We would have loved to meet, but we have to honour the President’s invitation.

coogar: you finished 6th 2 seasons ago, you finished 3rd last season. things are not looking great.

manchester rules!

coogar: win fire?
you won't do better than 3rd or 4th.