Four days after a peace meeting between
President Goodluck Jonathan and some governors who have been up in arms against
him, indications have emerged that he (Jonathan) may accept the outcome of the
May 24 election of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), LEADERSHIP has learnt.
However, the governors have also reportedly
made a commitment to the president that the Rivers State governor, Rotimi
Amaechi, who won the NGF election would be compelled to apologise to the
president.
The apology commitment, LEADERSHIP gathered,
was as a result of the strong exceptions President Jonathan took to some
disparaging remarks Governor Amaechi personally made against his (Jonathan)
person in the course of the debacle.
The president was said to have expressed his
displeasure over Amaechi’s utterances to the visiting governors.
The governors who met with the president at
the Presidential Villa on Saturday are those of Niger State, Muazu Babangida
Aliyu; Kano State, Alhaji Rabiu Kwankwaso; Adamawa State, Murtala Nyako; Sokoto
State, Aliyu Wammako; and Jigawa State, Sule Lamido.
The Aso Rock parley which marked a significant
leap in the lingering crisis ended with speculations that the governors had
demanded from the president the sack of the party’s national chairman, Bamanga
Tukur, as well as the recognition of Governor Amaechi as chairman of the NGF.
Although it could not be confirmed if
President Jonathan had acquiesced to the demand of the governors to sack Tukur,
a top presidency source told LEADERSHIP on condition of anonymity that “one of
the demands the president has been worried about is that of the NGF election”.
According to the source, President Jonathan
has been put on pressure from “some respectable quarters” on the NGF crisis. He
said: “Even before the visit of the governors to the president, there had been
some pressure from some respectable quarters in the land concerning the NGF
issue.
“It is not as if Mr President was involved in
the whole thing called NGF even from the time of its election to the time the
governors started having it rough with one another; the players were only
dragging in the name of the president for nothing.
“But I think the visit was a good one because,
as party members, there is no way we can fight for too long because we all need
ourselves; the only thing that baffles me is their demand for the removal of
the national chairman; it is a matter of law; the man can’t be removed just
like that.
“Of all the demands, the one the president has
been worried about is that of the NGF election because it marks a point of
departure for our democracy.
“As a democrat who believes in the rule of
law, Governor Amaechi’s excesses from all indications may be overlooked so that
we all forge ahead because politics is about give and take; after all, it is
not the NGF which is a voluntary body that will decide who gets what.”
LEADERSHIP gathered that as part of the
concessions being mooted, President Jonathan is to meet his key loyalists after
which he would meet with all PDP governors next week.
Apart from debriefing his loyalists, Jonathan,
it was gathered, will use the opportunity of today’s meeting to canvass the
replacement of Akwa-Ibom State governor, Godswill Akpabio, as chairman of the
PDP Governors’ Forum.
Akpabio, LEADERSHIP learnt, may be replaced by
his Katsina State counterpart, Ibrahim Shehu Shema.
Shema was in the race for the NGF chairmanship
before the entry of Bauchi State governor, Isa Yuguda, that eventually led to
the adoption of Governor Jang as the consensus candidate of the pro-Jonathan governors.
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