Fayose, Jang fault election of Yari as NGF chair

Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, has said that the election of Zamfara State governor, Abdulaziz Yari, as the new chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), was faulty, as it did not follow due process.

Fayose said in Abuja that the process was wrong as it excluded the governors-elect, who would constitute the majority members of the group after their inauguration on May 29.

Fayose likened the decision among the incumbent governors, led by Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi to choose Yari as the chairman, to a situation where outgoing senators would elect a Senate President for the incoming members.

This is even as the faction of the NGF under the leadership of Governor Jonah Jang of Plateau State denied any reconciliation with the Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi- led Forum.

In a statement released in Abuja and signed by the Secretary and Administrator of the Forum, Osaro Onaiwu, the governors stated that any such reconciliation attempt was futile as a majority of the governors will be out of office in a matter of days and therefore should leave issues of reconciliation, reorganisation and a new Chairman to the incoming governors.

Mr. Onaiwu’s statement said the purported reconciliation was a selfish attempt by a “group of governors to force new leadership of the forum on the in-coming governors”.

Fayose said, “The APC should not be afraid. They are the majority; so their candidate will still win.

Responding to Fayose, Chief Tony Okocha, an aide to Amaechi and Chief of Staff, Government House, Port Harcourt, said the issue of who was the NGF chairman was not in doubt.

Okocha said, “Nature abhors vacuum. The leadership of Amaechi expires May 29, 2015 and I did not see or hear any dissenting voice over the decisions taken at that meeting.

“It was reported in the dailies. It is an afterthought and ignorance is not an excuse in law. My emphasis is that Nigerians must embrace the fact that politics should be played with ideology and not a matter of interest.”

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