The Presidency on Thursday finally admitted that it has more than a passing interest in the affairs of Nigerian Governors’ Forum and that the establishment of the Peoples Democratic Party Governors’ Forum was a counter measure to check the soaring profile of Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi who also doubles as its Chairman.Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters, Ahmed Gulak, stated this in an interview programme on independent Channels Television.
Gulak said Amaechi ran the NGF as a trade union and without recourse to the laid down party (PDP) mechanism of resolving issues.
He said this was completely contrary to what the PDP leaders expected from a governor elected on the platform of the party.
He said the PDP decided to establish a forum for its governors since the party no longer had influence on the NGF as it had non-PDP governor-members.
He said, “The PDP, whether it likes Governor Amaechi to lead the Nigeria Governors’ Forum or not, it does not have influence on the forum because other governors are there.
“But what we believe is that the leadership of Amaechi in that forum has completely gone contrary to what PDP expects a PDP governor to do.
“The Nigeria Governors’ Forum has really constituted itself as a trade union, some elder statesmen have really come out to explain things in that perspective.
“For instance, about three weeks ago, Prof. Jubril Aminu came out publicly to say the NGF is not supposed to be a trade union. It is supposed to be an association of governors coming together to discuss common challenges in the country, not to hold the country to ransom.”
Gulak also accused the NGF of becoming petty by threatening court actions all the time.
He said, “Small thing, they will threaten to go to court contrary to the mechanism within PDP to solve issues. I hope the leadership of the NGF has not done well in that regard as far as we PDP are concerned.
“Our expectation from any governor from the PDP is to first and foremost explore all avenues within the party mechanism to see how issues and problems are solved.”
Gulak said with the way Amaechi was leading the NGF, nobody within the PDP could pretend to be happy with the Rivers governor, whom he said had seen himself as superior to the dictates of the party.
He said, “I believe and everybody within the PDP, nobody should pretend that we are happy with the leadership of the NGF. We are not happy because of their attitude, because of their refusal to really explore the mechanism within the party.
“We believe that as chairman of the NGF and as a PDP governor and as a member of the PDP, Amaechi should subject himself to the supremacy of the party and the leadership of the party.
“We have our elder statesmen at the Board of Trustees, some issues must be referred to them for discussion and to proffer solutions.
“We believe that the BOT for example is the conscience of the party and the party is supreme and the party can” question anybody.
all of una na d same thing na