by Isi Esene

The opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) has said that they supported Governor Rotimi Amaechi against the President Goodlcuk Jonathan in the acrimonious Nigeria Governors Forum election to disgrace the president.

The Party spokesman, Rotimi Fashakin likened it to position the opposition parties took in the election of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Bello Tambuwal where the interest of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was also frustrated.

Read the Punch Newspapers report below:

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?”