Embattled Governor of Rivers State, Chibuike Amaechi has refused possibilities of stepping down as Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) despite the political troubles his re-election has caused him as well as the emergence of a splinter faction chaired by Governor of Plateau State, Jonah Jang.
Speaking with newsmen in Abuja after inspecting the NGF secretariat belonging to his faction, he instead promised to abide by his mandate.
“No, No, No. That is a mandate that was freely given and I would stick to that mandate,” Amaechi said in response to the possibility of stepping down.
“The election has come and gone. It was a test for democracy, and democracy won at the end of the day. All we can do as democrats that were elected by the people is to uphold democracy and stand by democracy.”
He also criticised Governor of Ondo State, Olusegun Mimiko for claiming not to have participated in the election when he in fact voted.
“Mimiko and I are Christians and I think he’s a good Christian; and one of the sins against God is the sin of lying,” Amaechi said.
“I am not saying he is lying but I am saying Mimiko voted. I think they suspected that they would not win, and Mimiko was one of those who refused to vote. But when they whispered among one another and thought that they would win, they all cast their votes. Those governors who were pro-Amaechi voted first and those against him voted last. Tell Mimiko that I said he voted. Mimiko voted; everybody there voted.”
He equally implored Jang to respect the tenets of Christianity and speak the truth on the matter.
“I want to urge Jang because he said he is Christian, to know that God watches over everybody; and whatever you say, say it according to God,” he said. “Beyond NGF, you and I know that there is heaven and you can’t go to heaven if you don’t tell the truth and stand by the truth.”
He reminisced on the conduct of the NGF election and the recording of the proceedings by a certain governor, which he made futile attempts to stop.
“I did all I could to protect the interest of all the governors by calling the governor to order,” he said, urging governors to shun the election and concentrate on issues uniting governors and Nigerians, such as poverty and polio.
“I was protecting my colleagues who did not want it recorded and the governor who was recording said he would not stop. Thank God he did not stop. If he had listened to me and stopped, maybe it will be more controversial than it is now.”
