The conflict between the majority faction of the Nigeria Governors' Forum, led by Governor Chibuike Amaechi of Rivers State, and the PDP-sponsored minority faction, led by Governor Jonah Jang of Plateau State, is long overdue for resolution for at least four reasons.
First, the conflict has fractionalised the Peoples Democratic Party by pitting the PDP Governors, who supported Amaechi, against those who supported Jang. Witch-hunting of Amaechi since he won the NGF election has further emboldened him and his supporters to fight on, while the Jang faction seems prepared to slug it out.
Second, President Goodluck Jonathan’s recognition of the minority Jang faction has called into question his claim to electoral reform. It also has deepened the opposition against him within and beyond his party. He has incurred sharp criticisms by the press, the public, and the opposition, especially the All Progressives Congress, whose Governors supported Amaechi.
Third, as observers at home and abroad wonder why Jonathan chose to waste his political capital in this manner, his stature has diminished worldwide. Even some foreign embassies have taken a jab at the President’s handling of the NGF election. Whatever image is left for the misruling PDP has equally diminished.
Fourth, the institution over which the battle is being fought has now become one of the spoils of war. Neither of the warring factions could muster a full meeting of all members of the NGF nor could the President himself get both factions together on matters related to the Forum. The result is that the NGF can no longer meet its stated goals, namely, to influence national policies in favour of the states and to share ideas, policies, and projects among the Governors of the Federation.
It is against these backgrounds that the PDP leadership, led by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, commenced reconciliation moves last week, following the separate initiatives of some governors from both NGF factions. True, the move was made not so much for the sake of the NGF but for self-preservation–the divisions within the PDP needed to be mended, especially in the light of the consolidation of major opposition parties under the newly registered APC. Nevertheless, such reconciliation will still benefit the NGF and the Nigerian state.
Obasanjo’s reconciliation package consists of two significant components. First, it was proposed that the Chairmen of both NGF factions should step down for a new one to emerge. In moving the NGF forward (The Punch, July 2, 2013), I had insisted that Amaechi should be allowed to retain his chairmanship, in order not to trump the central democratic principle of majority rule, while the Jang faction produces the deputy. I have now reconsidered that position. Amaechi should, indeed, step down for his own sake, his party, and the NGF, which he has had the opportunity to chair for two years. I can understand his recourse to his supporters for their opinion. However, one of the marks of leadership is to be able to tell supporters that it is time to let go. This is one of the many lessons learned from Nelson Mandela, who declined to run for re-election in 1999 as South African President, despite his ANC supporters’ urge to do so. He left when the ovation was loudest.
However, I am not as enthusiastic about the second component of the reconciliation package, namely, that the PDP must always produce the NGF Chairman. This short-sighted position is based on the winner-takes-all approach to the presidency and the legislative chambers. It so happens that the PDP has maintained majority in both chambers since 1999.
But take a look at the United States Congress upon which our National Assembly is modelled. The current Senate Leader is a Democrat, because the Democratic Party has the majority in the Senate. By the same token, Republicans produced the Speaker because they are in the majority in the House. There have been times when both chambers were led by a party other than the President’s, as happened during the last six years of President Clinton’s two-term tenure. It is high time the PDP began to envisage a scenario that would force it to share power or even lose it altogether. That scenario is unfolding with the consolidation of major opposition parties under the newly registered APC.
Americans envisaged such a scenario over a century ago, when they refrained from extending the notion of majority control to the National Governors Association, upon which the NGF is modelled. The NGA, established in 1908, alternates its chairmanship and executive members annually between the two political parties, regardless of which party is in power and regardless of how many states are controlled by either party. Moreover, in order to ensure that the NGA Chair does not appropriate the Association’s functions for personal, state or party agenda, the Vice-Chair must be another Governor and from the other party. Accordingly, the new pair that came on board this summer consists of Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin (Republican), as Chair and Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper (Democrat), as Vice-Chair.
That’s not all. Each new Chair is required to propose an initiative that other Governors would work on in their respective states and collectively pressurise the federal government to recognise and fund such appropriately. Accordingly, Governor Fallin’s chair’s initiative for her year-long tenure is America Works: Education and Training for Tomorrow’s Jobs. It focuses on improving education and workforce training, and aligning them with the needs of individual state economies. Listen to her: "Improving our workforce and ensuring it remains internationally competitive is an issue that calls for national attention and demands gubernatorial leadership … Our future economic security will require significant improvements to our education system and workforce training programmes. It also will require closer relationships among our high schools, colleges, workforce training providers and employers."
This initiative cannot but remind us of the bankruptcy of our educational system and the lacklustre attitude of the Federal Government to the ongoing strike of the Academic Staff Union of Universities. The unsympathetic dismissal of ASUU’s demand for more funding by the Finance Minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, cannot but smell foul, especially in the light of American Governors’ education initiative in a country already taken for granted as educationally advanced.
It is clear from the above that the NGA was designed from its foundation to act independently of the executive branch in order for it to function effectively as a pressure group on national policies. On the contrary, our President and the PDP have been busy fighting over the chairmanship of the NGF to the neglect of more worthy causes. This is the more reason the NGF should be completely separated from the presidency and removed from the perpetual control of the party in power.
Accordingly, like its American model, the NGF should alternate its chairmanship between the two major parties, the PDP and the APC, which currently boasts a dozen Governors. Any other minority party that may produce a Governor will have to caucuses with either of the two major parties. When one major party produces the Chairman, the other produces the Deputy. This arrangement is the more necessary as we gravitate toward a two-party system with the recent emergence of the APC as the largest opposition party since 1999.
This arrangement also eliminates the collusion between Governors across party lines in order to trump a particular party’s candidate, as happened in the Amaechi case. Like the American NGA, this arrangement will not require the participation of Party A when it is Party B’s turn to produce a Chairman.
If the PDP fails to adopt the proposed approach now, then the next NGF Chairman should be elected, rather than selected, as that’s the only way to guarantee the participation of a dozen APC Governors and other minority party Governors. Whatever happens, the NGF should not be subject to the same winner-takes-all approach in the executive and legislative branches. It is a voluntary association of Governors and it should be left alone to regulate its own conduct and activities.
