According to Punch the All
Progressives Congress has said its governors supported Governor Rotimi Amaechi
of Rivers State as Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum to disgrace
President Goodluck Jonathan and the Peoples Democratic Party.
The spokesmen for the APC told SUNDAY PUNCH that the merger of major opposition
parties was to oppose the interests of the PDP and the President in the NGF
election, the way opposition did during the election of the Speaker of the
House of Representatives.
The National Publicity Secretary of
the Congress for Progressive Change, Mr. Rotimi Fashakin, said the opposition
parties were out to oppose any attempt by Jonathan to act as an authoritarian.
He said, “If you look at the actions
of the progressives, you will notice that we have been consistent for quite
some time. If you will recall that at the election of the current Speaker of
the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, the PDP had already zoned the
position to the South-West, because they had nominated Mulikat Akande-Adeola,
who is now the Majority Leader. But because of the cooperation of the lawmakers
from the progressive parties, Tambuwal got the position.
“It is exactly the same thing we are
witnessing now. With the cooperation of the progressive governors, Amaechi
disgraced Jonathan, by winning the NGF election despite the federal might that was
against him. Let it be clear to Nigerians that what happened at the NGF
election is a dress rehearsal for 2015.”
Fasakin added, “The progressive
parties will always do anything that will stop Jonathan from assuming an
imperial status. We will continue to oppose Jonathan’s authoritarian
tendencies. We supported Amaechi because Jonathan’s intervention in the
governors’ forum election was self-serving. As a progressive opposition party,
our duty is to oppose that. So, we have no apologises for that.”
When asked if APC was wooing Amaechi
and the PDP governors in his faction of the NGF, Fashakin said some of the
governors were afraid of openly opposing Jonathan.
“We saw that when the chips were
down, some of the governors who were purportedly against Amaechi voted him in
the secret ballot. Just wait, there are many more surprises awaiting
Jonathan and the PDP,” he said.
Also, the National Publicity
Secretary of the Action Congress of Nigeria, Mr. Lai Mohammed, said the
decision to support Amaechi was taken at the APC governors’ forum, not at the
party level.
He said, “All ACN governors are in
support of Amaechi but the decision was taken at the APC governors’ forum. It
was not discussed at the party. You know the APC has its forum and they discuss
their affairs as it concerns the merger. Remember they were all in the
Maiduguri and Yobe and they hold meetings regularly. So, they decided to vote
for Amaechi at the NGF election. Is there anything wrong with that?”
CREDIT: PUNCH
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