.Citizens tell govs to rejuvenate body
•What infuriated Oshiomhole, former SSGF chair
•Eyes on Seriake Dickson, oldest S-South gov, to stimulate colleagues
•How PDP govs can make Gov Obaseki key into SSGF

By Emma Amaize, Samuel Oyadongha, Simon Ebegbulem, Jimitota Onoyume, Festus Ahon, Emmanuel Una, Chioma Onuegbu, Emem Idio & Emmanuel Ayungbe

PORT HARCOURT—FACTS have emerged on how the South-South Governors’ Forum, SSGF, the once-powerful association of the governors of BRACED States, namely Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa-Ibom, Cross River, Edo and Delta went moribund, and the people, livid at the development, have charged the current governors of the region to revitalize the body.

Discontented citizens, who spoke to NDV, said Hon Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa, Mr. Nyesom Wike (Rivers) Emmanuel Udom (Akwa Ibom), Prof Ben Ayade (Cross River), Mr. Godwin Obaseki (Edo) and Senator Ifeanyi Okowa (Delta) should not pretend that all is well when their South-East, South-West and Northern counterparts meet on a regular basis to confer on issues of common concern, notwithstanding political party disparities, but they remain divided because of politics.

South-South Governors

During the time of Chief Lucky Igbinedion in Edo, former Governor James Ibori (Delta), Donald Duke (Cross River) late Diepreye Alamieyeseigha (Bayelsa), Peter Odili (Rivers) and Obong Victor Attah (Akwa Ibom), the South-South Governors Forum was a strong voice in the country, probably because they were all members of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

The citizens lamented that with a dysfunctional South-South Governors Forum, the regional institution established in 2011 by the governors to drive the process of economic cooperation and integration among the South-South states, BRACED Commission, has been lying comatose. Many said they were enamoured when at a meeting in Port-Harcourt, Rivers State, June, 2011, the then governors;

Chief Timipre Sylva (Bayelsa), Chibuike Amaechi (Rivers), Adams Oshiomhole (Edo), Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom), Senator Liyel Imoke (Cross River) and Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan (Delta) sought to deepen the collaboration in the areas of education, human capacity development, information and communication technology, infrastructural development, agriculture and investment.

Economic collaboration

In fact, they envisaged a new dawn as the governors sought to forge closer economic collaboration similar to the ECOWAS union of states and nations with the BRACED Commission, even proposing to invest in a regional Oil and Gas Company and a regional Electric Company, but today, they do not even get together, not to talk of pursuing set agenda.

Clark hollers at govs: Elder statesman, leader and convener of the Pan Niger Delta Forum, PANDEF, Chief Edwin Clark, who described the development as heartrending, observed: “Sadly, the South-South Governors’ Forum, which use to meet from time to time, to discuss issues affecting the region, is no longer in existence.

Lamenting the lack of unity among groups in the region, Chief Clark retorted: “They lack unity and cooperation among themselves. Their counterparts in the other regions are meeting to discuss about their regions. For instance, not too long ago, the Governors of the South-West region met together in Ibadan to discuss issues of common interest, despite political party differences.

“I will also want to plead with the governors, in the interest of our region, which today by the doing of the Almighty God is the lifeline of the entire country, to squash their differences, cooperate and resuscitate their Forum, which has been moribund for some years. I will also like to appeal to them, through their colleague, the Governor of Delta State, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, that the leaders of PANDEF will like to meet with them, as a matter of urgency. As governors, they are today the political leaders of the region and so, have a duty to meet with their people.

Political leaders

Chief Clark  further noted: “Apart from one or two of these governors, others have not shown enough concern to the problems and crisis now facing the region. They behave as if all is well in the region. It is not enough for them to be present during our visit to  Mr. President (November 1, 2016 meeting of PANDEF with President Buhari in Abuja) because they had no discussions with us before the visit.”

Split by party differences, egocentricity: Findings by NDV showed that what initially glued the governors together was political party affiliation and what tore them apart was individual ambition and party segregation.

All was glowing with the SSGF until 2013 when one of them, the current Minister of Aviation, Hon. Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi, who was governor of Rivers State at the time, won election as the Chairman, Nigeria Governors Forum, NGF. Instead of supporting Amaechi from his South-South zone, the then President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan for inexplicable reasons, threw his weight behind the former governor of Plateau State, Jonah Jang, who emerged as factional NGF chairman.

Sorry to say, South-South governors, all PDP faithful with Dr. Jonathan then, except Oshiomhole of Edo State, who is of the All Progressives Congress, APC, declined to back Amaechi. He rebelled against Jonathan and his colleagues, which was how he and Oshiomhole became insepa-rable and determined to fight the other four governors, Senator Imoke, Dr. Uduaghan, Godswill Akpabio and Timipre Sylva before he fell out with Dr. Jonathan and PDP.

Despite the fact that the South-South governors held a successful economic summit at Asaba, Delta State in 2012, its activities were hindered by politics and the cat and mouse relationship until 2015 when Senator Imoke handed over mantle of leadership to Oshiomhole as chairman of South-South Governors’ Forum.

Oshiomhole’s nail in the coffin: Oshiomhole had fraternized with the other five South-South PDP governors and the Federal Government under Jonathan during his first term, but when he found out that the government refrained from rendering assistance to his state because of party affiliation, he showed his true colour and under him as chairman of SSGF, the divergence among South-South governors worsened.

Cat and mouse relationship

He was particularly enraged when the then President Jonathan gave out about N2 billion ecological fund to PDP states in the South-South, leaving out Edo, despite his lamentations about the devastating erosion problems in Auchi, Queen Ede and Ekenwan road in Benin City. He had to seek the World Bank’s assistance to solve the problems. His promise to sustain the tempo at Calabar when he took over from Senator Imoke was not kept, as the governors were then clearly divided. The governors of Delta, Rivers, Akwa-Ibom, Bayelsa and Cross River states preferred to meet under the canopy of South-South PDP Governors’ Forum than the South-South Governors Forum.

Battle line: At one of the meetings in Asaba in May 2016, the new set of governors, Udom Emmanuel (Akwa-Ibom), Nyesom Wike (Rivers), Ben Ayade (Cross River), Seriake Dickson (Bayelsa), and the host Senator Ifeanyi Okowa (Delta State), resolved among other things that the PDP would takeover Edo State, Oshiomhole’s province from APC.

A former aide of Oshiomhole narrated: “Each time there was election in Edo State, the PDP governors had a way of coming together to ensure they frustrate the APC. That created serious animosity between them and Oshiomhole. With such attitude towards his state, there was no way that Oshiomhole would agree or get committed to any issue raised by any of these governors, as regards the development of the South-South.”

Incensed, the former governor, prior to the 2016 governorship election, accused the governors of Delta and Rivers of sponsoring mayhem in Edo State. Oshiomhole was hell bent on winning the state for APC, but the PDP governors wanted to return the state to their party, hence, the battle line was drawn and it effectively scuttled any form of peace among the governors. He was suspicious of any move made by the five PDP governors and no doubt, his successor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, who he practically installed, might not all of a sudden forget what his former boss passed through for he watched from the sidelines all through.

Derailed by recession, party politics: However, the immediate past Commissioner for Information in Edo State, Prince Kassim Afegbua, explained that the prevailing economic recession and politics of transition in Edo State affected the progress of the BRACED Commission under his boss, Oshiomhole.

Economic recession

His words: “When Comrade Oshiomhole assumed the leadership of the body, economic recession had set in. There was no way the objectives could be pursued further. From recession to politics of transition, hence it was impossible to meet up with the overall commitment. The BRACED commission had a good intention of helping to tap on the comparative advantages of the six states, but the commitment was lacking amongst the states.

“The idea did not take off from the paper. Coupled with this was the fact that states in the South-South region belonged to different political parties. That also means that they will naturally share different ideologies in terms of manifestos and party philosophy of development. I was privileged to attend a few meetings where serious and critical issues of development were discussed, but the national politics amongst political parties appeared to have derailed the process.”

Afegbua asserted: “I remember vividly that Ambassador Joe Keshi, who was the Director General of the Commission wanted the idea to be driven in a manner that will explore the potentials of the states, but in a way, it appeared a duplication of effort.

In Edo State we had our own economic blue print put together by our economic team. We had our own targets in terms of building infrastructure and exploiting our comparative advantage in the area of mineral resources. Ditto for Delta State that had its own Delta Beyond Oil idea.

Set goals and objectives

“There was no way some of the states would subordinate their already flourishing ideas. So to that extent, the BRACED commission created the awareness for states to look inwards, which in a way is a huge achievement on their part. It is an idea that has been established, if only the present governments can further the narrative in order to achieve the set goals and objectives.

So it was not really due to the fact that the other governors were not cooperating with Oshiomhole then, some of the states see the issues as a duplication of effort since they also have their priorities and economic plans and that actually affected the progress of that commission.”

Presently, the South-South Governors Forum is in disarray. Our sources said the defeat of PDP at the centre may have whittled the influence of the governors in the politics of the nation.

Role waiting for Gov Dickson

However, observers said they expect the current PDP governor of Bayelsa State, Hon Seriake Dickson, who is the longest serving South-South governor to rise above party cleavage to give direction to the new crop of governors, a role he is yet to assume.

None of the governors was willing to speak to our reporters on the matter and their officials, who volunteered comments, were somewhat evasive on the palpable issues, but many believe that Hon Seriake could get the new Edo state governor, Obaseki, to enlist in the objectives of the forum.

Winning Obaseki: A source familiar with the matter, said: “It is possible, but he (Dickson) also has to talk to his fellow PDP governors. Governor Obaseki has taken over and the situation is different now from what it was in the time of Oshiomhole, who is viewed as a stubborn personality. Obaseki is a gentle man and a financial expert. He will be a good asset to the South-South if the majority PDP governors embrace him by forgetting their political differences and focus on the growth of the region.

He further  said: “Obaseki will be very open to issues that will develop the region knowing full well that boosting the economy of the South South will help the state. He has promised 200,000 jobs in his first four years in office, therefore, he will welcome any move to brainstorm on how to boost the economy of the region.

“There is no doubt that political differences has not only caused the underdevelopment of the region, but a major snag in the ability of the governors to speak with one voice. If the PDP governors in the region see Edo as one of their own without looking at it politically, they can get Obaseki completely involved in any of their ideas and he will also contribute his quota and with that they can speak with one voice.

“But the moment they see the Edo governor as an outsider due to the fact that the state is controlled by the APC, Obaseki may decide to stay aloof over issues that has to do with the region and that will not be healthy for the region,” he added.

(Continues in next edition)