The Chairman of the factional Northern Governors’ Forum, NGF and Governor of Niger state, Dr. Aliyu Babangida of Niger State few days ago flew another kite alleging that there is fictitious list of high profile people from the north who have been penciled down to have compromised to betrayed the northern region in 2015.
Speaking at the 25th anniversary of the enthronement of Alhaji Umaru Bahago as Emir of Minna last weekend, Governor Aliyu said the north was on the lookout for a list of its elite who would be induced so that it will tell the people of the region that these are the people that want to betray them.
“We heard a rumour that some people have a list of 400 prominent northerners that they are going to settle and that they are sure if they settle the 400 persons, everything will be okay in 2015. No matter what happens in 2015, we (northerners) should not be afraid because politics is a game of numbers. Through the ballot box we can always determine who becomes our leader. Do not be afraid, let there be 200 candidates, God will allow only one to emerge.”
If Babangida Aliyu, who is the also the chairman of the Northern Governors Forum, felt he was speaking the mind of Northerners he got it wrong as his Plateau state counterpart, Governor Jona Jang stopped him in his track and accused him of being the biggest betrayer of the north.
Jang said in a statement signed by the media officer of the Nigeria Governors Forum, Kassim Yakubu, that if there was any betrayer from the north, the search would not have to go too far, as Aliyu would be the first person on the list of those that have betrayed the north.
According to Jang, “Maybe Governor Aliyu and his group do not see me as a northerner and perhaps need to explain to us what makes you a northerner if they can so flagrantly disregard the collective decision.”
He advised Aliyu to always look in the mirror before he accuses anybody of distrust as he Aliyu as chairman of the Northern Governors’ Forum sowed the seed of betrayal and distrust that caused the present division in the NGF by the lack of sound judgement shown in using the Northern Governors’ Forum to further a sinister agenda.
“If Governor Aliyu is accusing anybody in the north of betrayal maybe he should think hard to find out if these people did not learn the act from him. Nigerians are not stupid, the more the issues unravel, the more they see the root cause of some of the issues plaguing our polity today and those responsible through their deceit and dishonour which now means that state governors can no longer sit down together and believe anything they agree on collectively,” Jang further stated”.
The sharp reaction of the Plateau state governor to the unsubstantiated allegation of plot to buy over 400 elites from the north did not come to political observers as a surprise. Since the Nigeria Governors Forum conducted its controversial election on May 24 there has been no love lost between the two governors. Prior to the election it was only Governor Isa Yuguda of Bauchi state and Ibrahim Shema of Katsina state that were in the race against Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers state. In order to go into the race as a united block the governors from the north met and decided to pick Jonah Jang as the 19 northern governors’ consensus candidate since the race was almost creating bad blood between Yuguda and Shema. After Jang was picked as the north consensus candidate the northern governors moved to the larger PDP Governors Forum where Babangida Aliyu, in his capacity as the chairman of the Northern Governors Forum, presented Governor Jang as the candidate of the north. But by the time they moved to the NGF meeting Babangida Aliyu and Rabiu Musa Kwakwanso led those governors from the north that betrayed Jang in support of Amaechi.
Angered by the betrayal Governor Yuguda at that point dumped the Northern Governors Forum because of what he referred to as lack of integrity and honour among some of his colleagues who back-stabbed Jang after they had reached consensus on who should head the Nigeria Governor Forum.
Said Yuguda: ““If today, we 19 governors can sit down in Abuja and decide that one of us who is supposed to be rightfully the chairman of the NGF, I say rightfully because the slot is for the north and we have decided, 19 of us out 35 governors, we have decided. We went with that decision. Normally when we take decision, our chairman will speak. So we went to PDP governors forum, ANPP governors were not part of the meeting but they were part of the northern governors forum meeting. By affirmation, all of us decided on one person and that is Da Jonah Jang, the governor of Plateau state.
“So on our own honour, we went to the PDP governors forum and the chairman of the Northern state governors’ forum, the Talba of Minna and chief servant of Niger state presented Jonah Jang as our consensus candidate for the 19 northern governors. So there was a standing ovation and we were congratulated and appreciated by our colleagues that we stepped down for Jonah Jang, myself and Shema. What will happen when we go to the larger NGF?
“There must be integrity in governance because we governors should be of integrity. We should be role models and we should not play evil politics as far as I am concerned because most people associate politics with evil. If you do not know how to tell lies, if you do not know how to betray, if you do not know how to have double face, you are not a good politician. But me I am not carved out for that. And if I sat down with 18 of my colleagues and we have agreed on something, I should see the chairman of that forum and the integrity of the northern state governors forum and by extension NGF” Yuguda said,
The NGF became factionalized as a result of the role played by Governor Aliyu. While Jang is heading one faction of the NGF, Amaechi is heading the other. Governor Aliyu openly showed the role he played during the NGF election by identifying with the Amaechi faction of the NGF.
Several months after the betrayal of Jang his brother governors from the north that betrayed him had not deem it expedient to apologise to him. Rather than apoligise, Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso of Kano was to boast that himself and Governor Aliyu used the NGF election to teach Jang lessons in elementary politics.
Kwankwaso added: “It was a game and we were trying to prove to them that nobody could shave our heads in our absence. That was why we proved to them that they were still at the elementary level of politics”.
But Jang saw the betrayal by his northern governor brothers as beyond mere political lessons and reminded Kwankwanso and his clique that honour and integrity should under no circumstance be sacrificed for anything, including politics.
Speaking through the Plateau State Commissioner for Information and Communication, Yiljap Abraham, Jang never begged any governor to nominate him to contest the chairmanship election of the forum, NGF.
Part of Jang’s statement read: “His admission that he personally nominated Governor Jonah Jang and asked Governor Suswam of Benue to support his move only because “It was a game…”Clearly showed a mind luxuriating in unethical lyrics.
“That the Kano Governor could walk cool out of the room wherein “they” had decided to set up Benue and Plateau for a national “fall” tells us a bit about why we may not capture back soon Nigeria’s political morality. That he could nominate Jang as consensus candidate and still not “vote” for him showed an incredible double-speak!
“Is this “game” part of the crafted Kwankwasiyya curriculum that must be passed by those under the governor’s tutelage? Is crass deception now being introduced as part of a leader’s necessary attitudinal regalia in Nigeria’s politics? Will this form part of our national values as we trudge toward 2015… and the years beyond?
“We refuse to consider that political deception should be celebrated as a national value or that it proves a graduation from elementary politics. Rather, leaders should be made to uphold universally accepted values such as truthfulness, unity, sincerity, courage and integrity. Not to do so is to consign “graduate leaders” to perpetual political elementarism”.
It is quite instructive that since Governor Babangida Aliyu led a few Judases to betray Jang, things have not been the same among the political class in the north. Seed of mutual distrust was sowed on the watch of Governor Aliyu as chairman of the Northern States Governors Forum and so far nothing is been done resolve the issue. Rather, they have glossed over the matter, with the hope that time will heal the wound. But from the latest reaction from the camp of the Plateau state Governor the wound that was inflicted on the political unity of the north in May has refused to heal.
Some believe that it may never heal because the betrayal was deep rooted, meticulously planned and executed. It has only further deepened the growing political divide in the north which started with the June 12, 1993 election. Since 1993 the north had never voted as a political block and after four major general elections since 1999 the divide in the voting pattern in the north has remained the same. Unless Babangida Aliyu is able to resolve his differences with Jona Jang he will be bequeathing a further polarised north to whomever succeeds him as chairman of the Northern States Governors Forum and certainly that record will not etch his name in gold when the history of political development is written for the future generation.