Northern Governors Moves To Polarize Nigeria Governors Forum.

Babangida Aliyu-Governor of Niger State and chair of Northern Governors's Forum

By SaharaReporters, New York

Governors from Nigeria’s Northern states who are opposed to the establishment of state police may have started maneuvers to whittle down the efficiency of the Nigerian Governors Forum. The Nigerian Governors Forum, which has all 36 state governors as members, is pushing for a constitutional amendment to allow for state police.
SaharaReporters learnt that a majority of Northern governors kept away from a meeting of the Nigerian Governors Forum that was scheduled Wednesday night in Abuja. They also showed up at the Presidential Villa on Thursday morning to attend the National Economic Council meeting that was chaired by Vice President Namadi Sambo.
A source disclosed that Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State, who chairs the governors’ group, looked forlorn and dejected as he descended the staircase at the Rivers State lodge in Asokoro, Abuja. The lodge was the venue of the meeting called to address issues pertaining to state police and other constitutional amendments the governors wish to back.
Some of the northern governors who stayed away from the meeting were in fact in Abuja, and took part in a regional meeting of the Northern Governors Forum that held earlier Wednesday.
In a clear expression of dejection, Mr. Amaechi refused to speak with journalists after his few colleagues who came for the ill-fated meeting had left.
Only nine governors and eight deputy governors attended the meeting, which had been billed as important by members of the Forum.
The governors in attendance were those of Rivers, Ebonyi, Akwa-Ibom, Ekiti, Ondo, Sokoto, Kaduna, Kano and Kogi states. The deputy governors of Niger, Adamawa, Yobe, Jigawa, Cross River, Bayelsa, Delta and Nasarawa states also attended the meeting.
At its last meeting on August 8, the forum had deferred debate on the on-going constitutional amendment until the end of the Ramadan fasting period. The fasting period ended last week.
At the August meeting, Mr. Amaechi had told newsmen that the Forum put off the debate on the constitutional amendment till the end of the Ramadan period to enable governors who traveled for the lesser hajj to return.
But a source who is a top aide to a Northern governor told SaharaReporters that several northern governors opposed to the establishment of state police deliberately kept away from yesterday’s meeting. “They knew that the issue of state police would be discussed at the meeting and therefore decided to stay away,” he said.
The governors from the northern part of the country had initially supported the idea of state police when it was first raised at a meeting of all 36 governors. However, several Northern governors backed away from the idea during a subsequent meeting of governors from the Northern sector. “They felt the time was not ripe for the creation of state police,” said our source.
Two sources also told SaharaReporters that northern governors were also at odds with their counterparts from the southern part of Nigeria on whether to abrogate provisions for offshore/onshore dichotomy as well as the derivation principle in sharing the country’s oil revenues. In addition, northern governors are reportedly against enshrining the country’s six geo-political zones in the constitution.
One source revealed that the existing wide disparity on some issues between northern and southern governors compelled the governors from the North to stay away from Wednesday’s meeting.