GOV. Amaechi emerges Governors’ Forum chairman

SOURCE::: THE SUN



Rivers State Governor Chibuke Rotimi Amaechi yesterday emerged as the new Chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF). He would serve a-two year term. He was elected at a valedictory meeting of the NGF in honour of the outgone Chairman, Governor Bukola Saraki of Kwara State and other embers.

The new chairman was elected by consensus while a motion for his adoption was moved by Bayelsa State Governor Timipre Sylva and seconded by Governors Danjuma Goje and Isa Yuguda of Gombe and Bauchi states respectively. He was unanimously adopted while Governor of Lagos State, Raji Fashola (SAN), remains the vice-chairman of the forum..

The meeting was held behind closed doors at the Kwara State Government House, Ilorin.
Briefing newsmen on the outcome of the meeting, Saraki said: “The NGF received and adopted the Governor Babatunde Fashola’s committee’s report on revenue allocation formula with some amendments.”
He said the forum agreed to designate the new chairman and his deputy the approval to negotiate with the leadership of the National Assembly on the revenue allocation formula and “engage with the Revenue Mobilization and Fiscal Allocation Commission (RMAFC), the President as well as the mass media.”

He added that the Fashola committee and the NGF secretariat had been mandated to brief the media on the thorny issue of the revenue allocation formula.
Saraki noted that the forum deliberated extensively on the election of the new chairman, adding that “Governor Rotimi Amaechi was chosen as the new chairman of the forum. He would serve for a-two year term.”

He said the NGF commended its members for the successful induction for newly-elected and re-elected governors as well as the launch of the State’s Peer Review Mechanism, adding that Anambra and Edo states are to pioneer the peer review process.
Responding, Governor Amaechi said that “I will consolidate on the achievements of the last chairman,” describing his appointment as a challenge.
Re-echoing the stand of NGF on the allocation formula, he said the states were asking for more funds from the Federation Account to enable them reduce poverty and ensure a productive economy.
He added that efforts would be made by the forum to build a united Nigeria, saying that “when we have a united nation, crises arising from election results would be resolved through the judiciary.”

According to him, the NGF would look into how to resolve these crises to end election violence.
Some of the governors at the meeting included those of Kwara, Niger, Cross River, Bayelsa, Rivers and Bauchi states. Others are Sokoto, Gombe, Lagos and Osun. The deputy governors of Kaduna and Kastina states were also in attendance.

But Daily Sun learnt that the proceeding may not have gone as smoothly as it might seem.
For one, it was gathered before the meeting commenced the PDP Governors had already met and decided that the PDP must retain it.
When it was obvious the PDP governors were bent on enthroning their own amidst Fashola’s objection that the process as contained in their laws should be followed and Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola that the House did not form a quorum and were overruled by Saraki, Fashola left the meeting, though he said his flight was running late.
On his part, Gov. Peter Obi of Anambra State, who had already been unanimously nominated by the Governors of the South- East, withdrew his candidature, citing the need for stability in the Forum. It was however clear that he did not like the development, though they unanimously insisted he remained the Vice Chairman.
The Governor of Niger Babangida Aliyu wondered what they would tell their people about the South retaining the Chairmanship and the Vice Chairmanship and wondered if zoning had finally died.