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It was a night of long knives at the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) meeting on Wednesday night as majority of the governors rallied round their chairman and Rivers State Governor, Mr. Chibuike Amaechi, against whom a plot had been hatched to have him ousted by some of his colleagues described as loyalists of President Goodluck Jonathan.
Before the meeting, which took place at the Rivers State governor's lodge, Abuja, the pro-Jonathan governors had mobilised to remove Amaechi.
The plot to remove Amaechi was likened to a similar one before the 2011 general election when some governors had conspired to remove the then NGF Chairman, Dr. Bukola Saraki, who was the governor of Kwara State.
If the anti-Saraki plot had succeeded, he would have been replaced by his counterpart in Ogun State then, Chief Gbenga Daniel.
Amaechi was elected the chairman of the governors in June 2011 in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, to take over from Saraki, who had completed his tenure.
By the constitution of the forum, a governor is to serve a two-year tenure renewable for another two years.
THISDAY gathered that Amaechi and the governors supporting him, having got wind of the plot, went on the offensive by directing the Director General of the forum, Mr. Asishana Okuaru, to include in the agenda of the meeting, change in the leadership of the organisation.
Due to the intense mobilisation by both camps, the governors' meeting was attended by 33 out of the 36 governors in the country.
Before holding discussions on items on the agenda, the governors had asked all administrative staff of the forum to leave the meeting to enable them have a closed door conference.
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