The Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) has indirectly upbraided Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike for the inability to distinguish between the NGF and the Progressive Governors Forum which is the political platform of APC Governors.
In what appears a diversionary tactic, Abdulrazaque Bakindo, a spokesperson of the NGF, rather blamed Paulinus Nsirim, Rivers State Commissioner for Information of misinforming the Governor, explaining that the NGF has six core mandate areas and politics is not one of them.
Speaking against the background on the disqualification of Edo Governor Godwin Obaseki in the APC primary, Wike through Nsirim in a video shared on his Twitter page, wrote “I told them then that what they were doing was wrong. Now they have become a beggars Forum even when there are constitutional infractions.”
Bakindo massaged the governor thus, “The NGF is happy to state that Gov Wike is one of its strong members and has delegated his Deputy Gov to the Forum and she has never missed any meeting.
According to him, “Governor Wike is an old member of the NGF and a strong one at that. He could not have referred to the NGF as a Beggars Forum. Blame it on the author of the release, Mr Nsirim the Information Commissioner in Rivers State who couldn’t distinguish between the NGF and the Progressive Governors Forum which is the political platform of APC Govs. The NGF has six core mandate areas and politics isn’t one of them.”
The Rivers state Governor had blamed the forum over the current travail of Governor Obaseki who has been enmeshed in a long drawn battle with the national chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Adams Oshiomhole.
Nsirim had accused NGF of complacency, failing to intervene in the crisis and doing nothing during his rerun election in 2019 even after he was exposed to danger following the withdrawal of his security aides.
“You can see that APC governors say that they are progressive. You can see how progressive they are when they keep quiet when a fellow sitting governor is disqualified from contesting elections.”
