Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State is set to battle his Kwara State counterpart, Abdulrahman Abdulrasaq, for the chairmanship position of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF).
Naija News reports that since the formation of the Forum during the administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2003, the governors have had the option of electing their chairman through a consensus.
However, the tradition was broken in the twilight of President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration when the election of the NGF chairman polarised and politicized the 36 state governors.
But later, with the coming of the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015, all chairmen of the NGF were elected through consensus and not balloting.
According to ThisDay, the NGF had a meeting last week Wednesday which would have resulted in the election of a governor to take over from the outgoing interim chairman and Governor of Sokoto state, Aminu Tambawul.
Election Plans
It was gathered that some governors had concluded plans for Governor Sule to step in as the new chairman, given his private sector experience and capacity shown so far as governor, in addition to being a jolly good fellow among his friends.
But that plot was thwarted at the last minute when Abdulrasaq also indicated interest to contest for the office of NGF Chair, a development said to have startled other governors.
It was gathered that some governors said the Kwara governor was not a regular face at their meetings, such aspiration was divisive and uncalled for.
Also, some of the governors were said to have expressed concerns that Abdulrasaq, largely considered an introvert, could not oversee the NGF, more so when this is not an affair of the APC but the governors across all parties.
However, the election was said to have been stopped to allow room for further consultations to avoid repetition of what happened during the Jonathan administration.
It was learned that the valedictory session was eventually shifted to another date and other national issues were rather discussed at the meeting.
The governors of Borno, Gombe, Nasarawa, and Kwara States are the ranking governors from the APC, but Gombe and Borno states governors were ruled out because the Vice President-elect is from the North East, hence, the next chairman of the forum will emerge from the North-Central.
The NGF as a body had agreed to forgo election in the choice of its chairman and unanimously agree on one person, based on competence and relationship with individual colleagues.
Governors Speak
One governor told THISDAY: “We don’t want to divide ourselves with balloting on who becomes the chairman of the forum. Some of us have been asked to speak with the two governors to enable us to arrive at a consensus on the choice of a chairman of Nigeria’s Governors Forum.
“We are not seeking input from any of the political parties, it is our affairs to smoothen governance. Though we are elected from different political parties, we don’t want to be divided on this or tagged politically biased”.
“We want a governor that will command the respect of all of us. At the end of the day, we will achieve a consensus on this.”
Another governor also told THISDAY that since the meeting was for governors it would be fair to allow the 13 governors-elect to be part of the decision of who will become their chairman.
In the NGF as presently constituted, 17 of the governors who have completed their constitutional eight years in office would be exiting the forum by May 29 this year.
Likewise in the PDP, the oldest governor in the party is Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State, who is spending his seventh year as governor and will lead the PDP governors after May 29.
Apart from leading the PDP Governors Forum, Obaseki with his private sector background may as well become the vice chairman of the NGF.