Adamawa state governor, Murtala Nyako, has maintained that his Rivers counterpart and head of the Nigeria Governors Forum, Rotimi Amaechi, will not relinquish his chairmanship position.
He was reacting to reports that Amaechi and his rival, Plateau state governor, Jonah Jang, might be asked to step down as part of a political solution seeking to end the crisis rocking the body.
Speaking with State House correspondents after meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan, Nyako, one of the five northern governors on a ‘peace mission’ aimed at resolving the discord within the ruling People’s Democratic Party, said anything short of recognising Amaechi as the duly elected head of NGF was unacceptable.
His words: “In democracy, when you have an issue you discuss. The election in the governors’ forum has become an issue. It shouldn’t be an issue.
“When you say 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, even someone who is in elementary school knows which is higher.
“If one group got 19 votes the other one got 16, in democracy, even in the eyes of the people in elementary school, they know that 19 is higher than 16. It should not be turned into a controversy.
“We could all agree that whoever got the highest figure won the election, but may be beyond the figure, we have already in the forum established certain criteria for leadership within us.
He explained that the right man for the job “must be somebody we trust.”
Continuing “I would like to have a leader of the forum who, when he is with the President in the small room talking about Adamawa State, can put in a good word for Adamawa State.
“It should not be someone who will aggravate issues in the eyes of Mr. President. That element of trust must be there.
“If I vote for somebody, it must be somebody I could trust. We also said it should be somebody who has some degree of chemistry with the President. and that the President will be comfortable with.
“Now, if we find that the President is not comfortable with him, can we do a little bit of psychological work to get the two of them having the same chemistry?
“The other one we feel is that he should add some value to Mr. President. If you have a forum leader who is seen to be part of the President that has become a yes man of Mr. President, then the governors will say he is not representing our interests.
“If he is not representing the interest of the governors, he is not representing the interests of the ordinary Nigerians. These are areas we have sorted out.
“Obviously, if the chemistry is not still right, we should discuss it and find a way of adjusting the tempo, the countenance, the language of the subordinate.”
When asked who he expects to step down between Amaechi and Jang, Nyako replied that: “You are saying Jang should step down, step down for what? Did he win the election?” he quipped.
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