Governor Jonah Jang of Plateau State has accused his Kano State counterpart, Engr. Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso of being dishonest.
The Plateau State governor yesterday said it was Kwakwanso’s “dishonesty and deceit” that was responsible for the division among members of the Nigeria Governors Forum.
“The dishonesty and deceit of Kano State Governor, Alhaji Rabiu Musa Kwakwanso, is directly linked to the present division among the governors and not the Presidency”, Jang said.
The NGF has been polarised since its chairmanship election in May last year. While Jang leads a faction of the governors, Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi is leading the other. Jang’s faction is believed to have the backing of the Presidency.
Jang spoke in response to Kwakwanso’s allegation on Wednesday that the Federal Government was responsible for the division among the governors.
According to the Kano governor, his colleagues are willing to reunite but interference from the FG is making that impossible. He claimed that to frustrate any moves that would make the governors reconcile, President Goodluck Jonathan gave each state executive in the camp of Jang N2bn each as ecological fund.
He alleged that the money was taken from the common purse of the country and was not given to governors, who voted for Amaechi during the NGF chairmanship election.
But Jang, in a statement by the Media Officer in charge of his faction of the NGF, Mr. Kassim Yakubu, in Abuja on Thursday, said if anybody received bribe, it must be Kwakwanso, who he recalled nominated him (Jang) for the chairmanship of the NGF at the Northern governors meeting where they agreed on a consensus candidate for the position.
He said it was his Kano State counterpart’s dishonesty, aided by some other governors that caused division among the governors and the consequent spurious and unsubstantiated allegations by those in the Amaechi camp.
He said, “The opposition governors’ forum is getting desperate as they see their numbers dropping daily and think they can deceive Nigerians with baseless allegations.
“Governor Kwakwanso should tell Nigerians if I gave him money to nominate me. That grand deceit of nominating me and doing something else is the foundation of the division. He should tell Nigerians how and when the N2bn was paid.
“When he proudly made it public that he was being smart by nominating me and leading others to vote against me, what was he expecting?
“That deceit and dishonesty was the beginning of playing politics with the Nigeria Governors’ Forum and now he is not happy with what he created. He can always come back to the forum of the chairman he nominated”.
Jang, therefore, called on Nigerians to always cross-check statements, which he said could be designed to mislead and incite the public, adding that the proponents of such statements might be out to seek relevance at the detriment of the nation.
