Twelve Northern governors had flown to Washington DC where they conferred with government officials, including President Barack Obama's National Security Adviser, Ms. Susan Rice, who was presiding, Ambassador Johnnie Carson, Adviser (United States Institute of Peace), Mr. Grant Harris, Special Adviser to President Obama on Africa, Mr. John Mohr – Senior Staff Member – National Security Council and Assistant Secretary of State for Africa, Ms Linda Thomas-Greenfield.
The governors who attended the meeting were Murtala Nyako (Adamawa), Isa Yuguda (Bauchi), Kashim Shetima (Borno), Ibrahim Dankwambo (Gombe), Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano), Ibrahim Shema (Katsina), Abdulfattah Ahmed (Kwara), Babangida Aliyu (Niger), Aliyu Wammako (Sokoto), Abdulaziz Yari (Zamfara), Idris Wada (Kogi), and Usman Dakingari (Kebbi). Nigeria's ambassador to the United states, Prof. Ade Adefuye, was also in attendance.
The meeting was organised by the US government, through the US Institute of Peace, with a view to exploring how the Americans can work together with state governments in the North to address the Boko Haram insurgency and the underlying problem of socio-economic under-development in the region.
There were heated arguments during the meeting on the issues of Boko Haram, 2015 elections and corruption among the Nigerian political elite.
Trouble started when some of the governors, led by Governor Murtala Nyako of Adamawa State, launched an attack on President Goodluck Jonathan. Ambassador Adefuye however did not let the accusations stand as he rose in defence of his principal and condemned the governor.
Nyako, who is a member of the opposition alleged that the Federal Government failed to block importation of weapons into the country; weapons, which are being used to fuel the Boko Haram insurgency. He also said that federal security agencies were colluding with backers of Boko Haram to perpetuate the conflict in the North. He said such security agencies were the ones facilitating the clearance of arms and ammunitions through the border and transporting same to the terrorists.
According to reports when Nyako spoke, there was "grim silence" in the room. He told his hosts that the Jonathan presidency refused to identify Boko Haram sponsors despite arrest of some of the members. He cited particular instances where the military JTF were withdrawn in some of the locations in the three states where the terrorists' activities have been intense, just in time for the terrorists to attack those locations. According to Governor Nyako, he was convinced that information was being passed from the security agencies to help the terrorists.
In Nyako's opinion, the real reason the federal government was doing all that, was to reduce the voting power of the North East in 2015 and subsequent polls, and keep the region perpetually underdeveloped.
But Nyako's charges did not go unanswered. Ambassador Adefuye mounted a spirited defence of his boss. He was supported by some of the other governors. Sources said Adefuye challenged Nyako to provide evidence for his allegations, and was tongue-lashed by Adefuye for "playing politics of 2015 at the meeting."
According to reports:
Adefuye "did not take kindly to the allegations," and the fact that the meeting was used by Nyako in particular to attack President Jonathan and the Federal Government, sources disclosed. The source said the Ambassador "had to call Nyako to order," and even sought the intervention of the organisers and other participants to ensure that the meeting did not turn into a forum to "wash Nigeria's linen in public." Sources said hot heads cooled after the Ambassador's intervention.
Besides the Ambassador, the Governor of Kogi also opposed Nyako, especially explaining that the examples the Adamawa governor gave regarding how JTF people retreated from a location just before Boko Haram attacked were just coincidental. However, the Borno Governor, Shettima, was also critical over the Boko Haram issue and the Federal Government's handling of it.
All the while, the US officials, including Rice, the NSA, kept listening, according to sources. Only few weeks ago, the US Assistant Secretary of State for Africa, Ms Linda Thomas-Greenfield, publicly challenged the Nigerian government to expose the backers of Boko Haram.
Another heated argument took place between the governors of Kano and Gombe over the issue of corruption in Nigeria.
The Gombe governor, Ibrahim Dankwambo said the issue of corruption among Nigeria's political elite is thriving because if a politician is accused of corruption all he has to do is to join the opposition party. But Gov. Kwankwaso who recently joined the opposition APC took exception to the statement. He said he did not leave PDP for APC because of corruption charges.
Afterwards, the White House released a statement on the meeting, saying they discussed areas of strategic importance to the two countries.
Nigeria's ambassador to the US, Ade Adefuye said on his part that the meeting was designed to develop additional areas where the US government could support Nigeria in the battle against terrorists and develop new ideas and projects to accelerate development in the North generally.
He confirmed that during the meeting, he frowned "against attempts to turn the meeting to a political platform," by some of the visiting governors, and praised the Niger State Governor for ensuring that the other northern governors at the meeting stayed within the developmental agenda of the meeting.
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