South East governors vow to wade into Kanu’s detention; Begin economic integration
From: Madu Ezenoha, Enugu
Governors of the South East zone of Nigeria Sunday promised to wade into the detention of the leader of Independent People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu.
The Forum also reactivated its economic team with a mandate to come up with a blue print for the zone’s economic integration.
Chairman of the South East Governors’ Forum, and Governor of Ebonyi State, Engr. David Umahi made the announcement at the end of the governors’ meeting at Government House Enugu.
The meeting was attended by Governor of Enugu State, Rt. Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi; Governor of Imo State, Chief Rochas Okorocha, and Governor of Anambra State, Chief Willie Obiano; while their Abia State counterpart, Chief Okezie Ikpeazu was said to have missed the meeting due to delayed flight from Lagos.
Flanked by his colleagues, the Forum’s Chairman, Gov Umahi told journalists that the Governors took a decision to meet appropriate federal authorities, to take up a whole lot of issues bothering the zone; including issues of Pro-Biafra agitators like IPOB and MASSOB, as well as ecological, power and security challenges.
“We approved two representatives from each state, for our economic committee of South East governors and we have mandated them to immediately meet and fashion out a roadmap towards our economic integration and this we will do in the coming weeks so that they will present a road map for our economic indices and development in our next meeting.
“On the issue of IPOB, MASSOB, Kanu’s detention, ecological problems of the South East, various water dams that have been abandoned in the South East, our challenges of power, our challenges of security, and other very many concerns of our people; the South East governors today agreed to meet with the various and appropriate authorities of the federal government to address these problems. We are very committed to this and actions have already started on these issues,” he noted.
The chairman stated that the South East governors also agreed to meet with all stakeholders of South East to discuss and address all issues that are of interest to their people.
The Ebonyi state Governor announced that South East Governors’ secretariat in Enugu is now fully functional and urged those who have a need to contact the South East Governors Forum to do that through their secretariat, which he said is also located in Government House Enugu.
He used the opportunity to debunk reports of a fire incident at Government House Abakaliki, Ebonyi State.
Umahi said that the report as contained in some media platforms was not correct, adding that, “What happened was that in the office of the chief of staff, there was over usage of the air conditioner and it had a little problem.”
