ENUGU, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA)- Governor Hope Uzodinma of Imo State State has been elected as the Chairman of South-East Governors’ Forum.
Uzodinma was unanimously endorsed at a meeting of the forum attended by all the Governors from the zone in Abuja on Thursday.
According to BBC News Igbo, the other Governors that were present in the meeting included Governor Chukwuma Soludo of Anambra State; Governor Alex Otti of Abia State; Governor Francis Nwifuru of Ebonyi State and Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu State.
This is the first time since the existence of the forum that the Governors would relocate from the headquarters of the forum in Enugu to meet in Abuja.
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It was gathered that the meeting held in Abuja was not unconnected with the security situation in the South-East.
South-East had been a hotbed of insecurity in the better part of the last two years, following increased agitations that resulted from the marginalization of the South-East by the Federal Government of Nigeria, particularly during the just-ended administration of General Muhammadu Buhari.
Recall that the forum, under the chairmanship of then Governor Dave Umahi of Ebonyi State, had launched regional security outfit, known as Ebubeagu, with Gen. Umahi (rtd) as its coordinator.
But, due to lack of funding, the outfit did not see the light of the day, even as insecurity worsened in the region in the last two years.