GOVERNOR Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State yesterday in Abuja narrated how Governor Chibuike Amaechi of Rivers State defeated Governor Jonah Jang of Plateau State in the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, NGF, election.
Oshiomhole, who spoke at the 9th triennial delegates conference of the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, TUC, warned that the crisis in the NGF was not about the forum, but about democracy in Nigeria, especially in 2015.
He lamented that if governors could dispute an election where only 35 persons voted, how would they ensure free and fair election in 2015?
Oshiomhole, who spoke at the 9th triennial delegates conference of the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, TUC, warned that the crisis in the NGF was not about the forum, but about democracy in Nigeria, especially in 2015.
He lamented that if governors could dispute an election where only 35 persons voted, how would they ensure free and fair election in 2015?
The Edo State Governor, who berated labour for not taking decisive action on the crisis, called on unions to get more involved in the country’s governance, saying time to remain non-partisan was gone if Nigerian must get the benefits of democracy.
Oshiomhole said: “I read the communiqué of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, and I was not satisfied with its statement on the NGF election. An election was held, one won and one lost.
Jang & Amaechi
“NLC cannot be appealing to both parties to behave, it should appeal to the one that lost to behave and accept defeat. What are we going to be remembered for? That we were silent when everybody was going crazy?
‘They were preachers’
“35 people went into a room and they were saying let us be reasonable, the world is watching us. One by one they were sermonised like very seasoned pentecostal pastors.
“We had some who said we must do open ballot. I said how can you do open ballot when you are already fighting before the ballot. Let us do secret ballot because we are products of secret ballots. Why are we now afraid to do it?
“There should be one governor, one vote. Then, 35 now voted and my twin brother from Delta State became the agent of the two candidates and he stood by the Director-General, who was unanimously appointed a month earlier.
“Votes counting, executive madness”
“They counted 35 papers. So one by one in the open and in an open secret ballot we voted, and counted the votes. They were 35, representing the 35 state governors present. When they were counting, Jang, Jang, Jang, the Niger State Governor said ‘Jang in early lead’.
“After then, they started counting Amaechi, Amaechi, Amaechi and in the end, the votes were out. Jang got 16 votes and Amaechi got 19 votes. However, immediately, the very people that voted said no, no, no, we are going to walk out.
“I said, how can you walk out? Even in madness, there are levels. Unfortunately, people who call themselves Christians and Muslims, who insist they are executive governors, were demonstrating executive madness.
“All this is just sycophancy when the facts are so clear. Comrade presidents of NLC and TUC, you cannot be quiet. You must take a position. From all you have heard and seen thereafter, if Jang won, say so and if he did not win tell him to stop parading himself and behave.
“That is the truth. If you choose to live the life of a liar, you cannot live longer but the difference is even in death. Those who speak the truth, there is a place reserved in heaven for them.
“But those who choose to tell lies, there is also a place in hell that is reserved for them. This matter is serious.
It’s about democracy
It is not about NGF; it is about democracy. I need you to know the implication if you do not already know.
“If we can dispute or by Browse to Save" style="text-decoration: underline;">contestwhether 16 is majority instead of 19 in a small election, can we expect 2015 election to be free and fair? Do we need to get there before we see it?
“The time to fight is now. It is about you, not them. How could you say that votes were cast, that people signed a document in April for an election that was to take place at the end of May? And that the person that won in April is valid and not the person that won in May.
On economy
Oshiomhole added: “I need you to engage in specifics about the economy. You must revisit our industrial policies, emphasise production and not importation. I think we need to emphasise that Nigeria must return to production.
“We must not only make the refineries to work, we must build new ones so that more people can be employed. If we resolve that we can stop importation today. Where will our young engineers work if we are exporting jobs and importing unemployment, exporting prosperity and importing poverty?
“The economy is not about statistics. It is about real human beings and their well-being. So, I ask you, the labour movement: let us engage them.”
Jonathan reacts
Speaking, President Goodluck Jonathan, represented by the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chief Emeka Wogu, said the NGF was a voluntary association registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission and that he had never and would never interfere in its affairs.
He, however, called for the support of labour in his efforts to transform the nation, recalling some of the achievements his administration had achieved since two years of assuming office.
He called on labour and all lovers of democracy in the country to appeal to Governor Jang to accept defeat in the interest of free and fair elections in 2015.
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