The New Peoples Democratic Party (nPDP) this evening hit out at the Presidency over its continued refusal to recognise Governor Chibuike Amaechi of Rivers State as Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF). The party in a statement issued in Abuja described the development as “unfortunate, dangerous, unjustifiable, regrettable and unacceptable.”

The Presidency had reiterated this position on Sunday while justifying the absence of President Goodluck Jonathan at the retreat recently organised in Sokoto by the NGF and to which President Jonathan was invited to deliver the keynote address.

However, according to New PDP, “The Presidency’s insistence on recognising Plateau State Governor Jonah Jang as the NGF Chairman is unfortunate because it does not only send across a dangerous signal but also serves to frustrate efforts to unite the country’s State Governors so as to enable them serve Nigerians better.”

The party claimed that “everybody knows that Amaechi won the transparently conducted NGF election of May 24, 2013 with 19 votes to Jang’s 16 votes,” arguing that “by refusing to accept his victory due to his personal differences with President Jonathan and his wife, Dame Patience, the Presidency is otherwise saying that majority decision counts for nothing in an election.” The party warned that “this stance, if not checked, is capable of plunging the country into chaos during the 2015 general elections.”

According to New PDP, “Sadly, it is this same disdain for majority opinion that has factionalised the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and put its very survival in jeopardy.”

The faction appealed to President Jonathan “to disregard the misleading advice of the hawks around him and make himself an agent of peace and unity, both in the NGF and the PDP.” It advised him to “rise above narrow partisanship and see himself as an impartial father eager to reconcile his feuding children” because “anything short of this will not only tarnish his reputation but also have dire implications for national peace, unity and progress.”

•Photo shows Governor Amaechi.

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