Since the brouhaha at the Nigeria Governors’ Forum broke open, many commentators have attempted to draw certain conclusions and make suggestions as to what could be motivating the actors and where the troubles may be headed. Some of them have applauded the current crisis and dismissed the NGF as a group made up of self-seeking individuals who congregate to only promote selfish interests. Others insist that it is just another unconstitutional association and a distraction that should be done away with. Correct as some these assertions may be, a few of us however feel that we must rise above the ensuing bitter partisanship and negative brinkmanship to ask very penitent questions. So, why has the choice of who becomes the chairman of such a group become the most important subject in our politics lately? Why has a faction of these governors continued to lay claim to victory amidst glaring evidence to the contrary? How did President Goodluck Jonathan turn around to recognise the Governor of Plateau State, Jonah Jang, and factional Chairman of the NGF? Is it true that the factional secretariat is threatening the authentic one to close its shop and hand over? How come that some members of Northern Governors’ Forum have become so enraged that they are calling for the resignation of their Chairman, Dr. Babangida Aliyu? The Lagos State Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola has gone to court to halt the perpetrators of the shenanigans. What is the verdict in the court of public opinion? Who amongst the 19 governors signed the pre-election endorsement but chickened out the last minute? Is this the beginning of the end of NGF? If so, who are the beneficiaries?
State governors are really very influential people in Nigeria. They wield enormous powers. Never mind that some of them have ridiculously abused them to stupendously enrich themselves at the expense of those they were elected to serve. One can say that these characters determine where the pendulum of our democracy will swing – at least for now. They practically influence who becomes anything. One will easily recall that former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar was an elected governor before he was chosen as the running mate to Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. Atiku afterwards rallied round his colleagues to support the victory of the duo at the polls. The same governors provided them the backbone for their re-lection in 2003. When the time came for succession in 2007, the governors were again on the front row. Both the late President Umaru Yar’Adua who emerged as the flag bearer and his running mate, Goodluck Jonathan, were serving governors. When unfortunately Yar’Adua died, the governors insisted on nominating one of their own to become the Vice-President. Every list of public positions from parliamentarians (both at national and state levels), ministers, party officials, members of boards etc. receive one input or another from the governors.
Bearing the above in mind, it is both over-simplistic and potentially misleading, to see the NGF crisis as merely a PDP affair, or at worst an Amaechi-Jonathan affair. Nigerians must be mindful that the spillover effect has gone (and will still go) far beyond all of these. It has even gone beyond the gladiators and it is now in the public domain. Granted, we may not like the faces of some of those involved. Indeed, what some of these governors do with public resources leaves much to be desired but how I wish this fight is about them alone. Many of us would not have bothered. No! It is now about right versus wrong; transparency versus opaqueness and courage versus cowardice. Its outcome will produce a practical guide to whether our democratic arena is enlarging or we have gradually started submitting to the will of power thirsty scavengers amongst us. It bears noting that the Peoples Democratic Party or any party for that matter reserves the right to discipline its members or resolve its intra-party issues as it deems fit. The party is supreme always and has the prerogative to admit and sack as they deem fit. However, for democracy to flourish, party supremacy and internal democracy should exist side by side. That is to say, it is entirely the fault of the party for not reconciling their members and presenting a common front before the actual NGF chairmanship election took place. Now that the election has held, any action the governors take now will be considered as a face-saving measure and an afterthought. The shameful conduct of these governors constitutes an empirical indictment of those of us who (probably) elected them. It is now an emerging consensus that ordinary Nigerians will no longer stand aloof and watch them make mockery of the democracy that we went into the trenches to fight for. After all, whatever power they have today flows from “we” the people. That is why we must all rise to stop this drama. Whosever emerged from that election has become strictly immaterial. What matters to us now is that the sanctity of the choice of the majority must be protected and not ridiculed by a dubious few. The current boldness with which these governors are carrying out their divisive actions means that they may continue unless they are stopped. They must be stopped now. All lovers of democracy must add their voices to implore these governors to save our nation from further disgrace.
Another area worth probing is the amount of public resources allegedly expended so far on this saga on both sides. Can someone put a figure to the money that might have been spent so far by the governors shuttling to Abuja and for the mudslinging and propaganda in the media? Who is paying for those holding sway at the factional secretariats and how long will all these continue? What has that got to do with public interest? Is it just a simple ego trip that bears no link to the day-to-day needs of the masses? Many of the people allegedly fronting on both sides of the divide come from the Niger Delta region. Is this the best way of spending resources belonging to the region? Our leaders(are they?) should be called upon to stop this intra-specific competition that does not bring anything to the average Niger Delta man like me. Even the factional Chairman Mr. Jonah Jang confessed that he had no plans to become the Chairman of the Forum. Can someone help me find out what this current position puts on the table of Plateau people?
It is saddening that President Jonathan allowed himself to publicly take sides on the matter after he attempted to deny it. The endorsement of the Jang faction has dug another big hole on the reputation of the President. He has demonstrated that he is a bad sportsman and has potentially tarnished his democratic credentials. It has unfairly brought the word pettiness into the political tactics of the most powerful Nigerian. The verdict in the court of public opinion is that he would have done himself a lot of good by keeping quiet and not to share in the disgrace of the governors. As a former governor himself, Jonathan knows the amount of influence that the governors command and the political consequences of taking sides in such a messy affair. That may be why he does not “give a damn” about a fragmented NGF. Rather than allow the NGF to die, the President himself should urge both factions to close ranks immediately. This situation should be seen as an opportunity to re-engineer the organisation and inject fresh energy to redirect the agenda positively towards the priorities of the people. Jang and his coalition of losers should heed the national call to put a reverse gear. Otherwise, this drumming will soon be consumed by the wrath of the ordinary people. The consequences will be better imagined.
By Uche Igwue
