The Peoples Democratic Party Youth Vanguard says it has uncovered fresh efforts to discredit the Presidency, the Peoples Democratic Party Governors’ Forum (PDPGF) and its chairman, Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State.

The plot, according to the group, is designed to cause bad blood between Governor Akpabio and President Goodluck Jonathan, “with the elements behind the attempt resorting to fabricating lies about the forum (PDPGF) and its chairman over the roles they played in the recent Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF) election.”

A statement signed by the president of the group, Comrade Musa Elaho, and made available to newsmen in Abuja, said: “Information within the reach of the party revealed that the first step of the scheme to discredit Akpabio and cause a friction between him and the president, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, was taken through the sponsorship of a media report that the Akwa Ibom State Governor bungled the peace effort with (Rivers State Governor Chibuike) Amaechi prior to the NGF election, with others bound to follow in the coming days.”

However, according to the PDP Youth Vanguard, “contrary to the tissue of lies weaved together to deceive Nigerians that Akpabio bungled the peace effort and was nearly thrown out by the party’s Board of Trustees chairman, Chief Tony Anenih, the PDPGF chairman took steps that pleased the party before and after the election and he and Chief Anenih have enjoyed a good working relationship that will lead the party and the country to greater heights.”

The group said that “contrary to the insinuations made in the sponsored media report, the PDPGF was neither created to rival the NGF nor to ensure that Amaechi did not win reelection as chairman of the NGF; it was a product of a robust thinking premised on the need for governors on the platform of the party to bond together on various issues and to have a united front for moving Nigeria forward.”

According to the group, “Similarly, Akpabio as the PDPGF chairman went along with the position of the Northern Governors’ Forum, which had adopted the new NGF chairman, Jonah Jang, as the consensus candidate for the NGF chairmanship that had been zoned to the North. The PDPGF, as the majority, had also taken a position on where the NGF chairman should come from; it is, therefore, left to be seen, how he bungled any peace effort.”

Concluding, the PDP youth group stated: “Though the President has said times and again that he had nothing to do with who emerges as NGF chairman but will cooperate with the forum to move the country forward, we are surprised that sponsors of the report still link the Presidency with the NGF election to the point that they insinuated that the President was angry with Akpabio.”

•File photo shows Governor Akpabio shaking President Jonathan.