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| Rotimi Amaechi |
The Presidency compounded the woes of governor Rotimi Amaechi of
Rivers State on Sunday by insisted that it did not recognise the embattled
governor as the chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), hence the
absence of President Goodluck Jonathan at the retreat organised by the
Amaechi-led faction of the Forum in Sokoto.
Jonathan was billed to deliver the keynote address at the
retreat where the resource persons included the Speaker of the House of
Representatives, Aminu Tambuwwal; Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka; and
Catholic Bishop of Sokoto, Matthew Kukah.
Special Adviser to Jonathan on Political Matters, Ahmed Gulak, stated that
the NGF recognised by the President was the faction led by Plateau State
Governor, Jonah Jang.
Gulak said the retreat at Sokoto on Saturday was not an event of
the authentic NGF but a show of the “Amaechi Governors Forum.”
The governors’ forum had been split into factions since its
controversial election few months ago. While a group of governors, among them
the G-7 members otherwise referred to as the ‘rebel’ governors, said Amaechi
was their elected chairman, others, made up of mainly Jonathan loyalists,
claimed that Jang was the chairman.
Both factions have since run parallel groups of the NGF with the
Presidency identifying with the Jang faction while Amaechi has been suspended
by his Peoples Democratic Party.
“President Jonathan would
have attended if the event was organised by the genuine and proper governors’
forum,” parts of the press statement read.
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