The battle for the chairmanship of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF), a body whose enormous power has been described in many quarters as antithetical to the tenets of democracy, is intensifying to the extent that certain governors are threatening to break away from it.
The situation further degenerated at the last NGF meeting last Thursday when some governors demanded an appraisal of the outgoing tenure, in addition to demanding that the current chairman should not be replaced by affirmation but by open election for interested candidates.
The aggrieved members of the group are also claiming that invitation of governors to the last meeting was selective while those who got the invite were shocked that election, which was not initially listed on the agenda, was eventually discussed.
While at least 13 governors are reported to be supporting this breakaway position, other governors are standing by the NGF Chairman, Rotimi Amaechi, the governor of Rivers State.
“In NGF, we are all equal. Nobody is the boss. We were selectively invited to meeting,” one of the governors said.
“At the meeting, the Secretariat claimed they sent out all invitations accordingly. However, when some of us got wind of the meeting, we dashed in to attend. Even those that got invitations were surprised that election was not on the agenda but suddenly it found its way into the agenda.”
There are also claims that some of the governors want a reform in the NGF, which should be modelled after the recommendations of a committee headed by Governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Fashola. These recommendations, which include tenure limit in office and terms of office, are still awaiting the approval of the hierarchy of the body.
The NGF has faced critical situations in the past, aggrieved governors always threatening to break away from the group but it was resolved each time.
