Nigeria Governors’ Forum crisis ends; Zamfara Governor,Abdulaziz Yari, emerges new chairman

Governor Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara state has emerged chairman
of the Nigeria  Governors’ Forum,
as exclusively projected by PREMIUM TIMES.

Mr.  Yari emerged at the end of the meeting of the Forum
held at the Lagos/Osun  Hall of the Transcorp  Hilton
Hotel,  Abuja, Nigeria’s capital.

The outgoing chairman of the body and Governor of Rivers
State,  Rotimi  Amaechi, read the communique  of
the meeting to journalists.

Mr. Amaechi said Mr.  Yari emerged chairman by consensus
and would serve for a period of one year.

Mr. Yari was former deputy chairman of the Forum.

A new deputy chairman was however not elected at the meeting to
replace him.

The Rivers Governor also said after over a year of bickering,
the governors had now “reconciled  and are United as a
single umbrella association  of the 36 state governors of
Nigeria”.

Mr.  Amaechi also said in the light of the fact that funds
in the Excess Crude Account were last disbursed in May 2013,
“there is the need for the Minister of Finance and coordinating
Minister for the economy Dr.  Ngozi  Okonjo -Iweala
to provide explanation for accruals to this account from June
2013 to April 2015 which is estimated at over N20billion”.

The Rivers Governor added that induction programme for new and
returning governors would be held in June 2015.

He said the induction is aimed at equipping new and returning
governors with knowledge of global best practices of
establishing and running their offices.

In addition,  Mr.  Amaechi said the Forum resolved at
the meeting to set up a Governors’ Forum Academy to be called
“The NGF Leadership Academy”  which will be responsible
for capacity building of governors and other officials holding
public office.

He said the academy would be overseen by the NGF secretariat.

About 20 governors, including some deputies, attended Monday’s
meeting.

Monday’s meeting is the first time the state chief executives
came together as a united body.

The Forum descended into crisis in May 2013 after the election
of officials split the body into two.

At the election, held at the Rivers State Governors Lodge in
Abuja, Mr. Amaechi defeated his Plateau state’s counterpart,
Jonah Jang, by 19 votes to 16.

However, indications at the time suggested that the Presidency
was pushing for the emergence of anyone but the Rivers governor
as NGF chair because of the political differences between Mr.
Amaechi and President Goodluck Jonathan and his wife, Patience.

After the election, Mr. Jang refused to accept defeat and
formed a parallel NGF with his colleagues who voted for him.

As indication emerged Sunday that the Forum was uniting and
electing a new leader, the Bayelsa state Governor, Seriake
Dickson, circulated a statement demanding the postponement of
the election.

His suggestion was however ignored, with the Niger state
Governor, Babangida Aliyu, saying earlier on Monday that all
governors had agreed to bury their differences, come together
as a united body and move on.