By Ekpo Okemini in Umuahia
Governors of the Southeast states rose from a meeting on Sunday evening and agreed to hold talks with the Federal Government over the continued detention of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu.
The decision was taken at a meeting of the Southeast Governors Forum held in Enugu yesterday
Rochas Okorocha of Imo State, Dave Umahi of Ebonyi State, Willie Obiano of Anambra State and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State attended the meeting, which held at the Enugu State Government House. Abia State governor, Okezie Ikpeazu, was absent and sent no representative.
Umahi, who spoke to journalists on behalf of the governors, listed the agenda of the meeting to include challenges of ecology uncompleted and abandoned projects, power and security .
Umahi said, “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 several other 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 these and actions have already started on these issues.”
“South-East governors also agreed to meet with all stakeholders in the South-East to discuss and address all issues that are of interest to our people.”
“We approved a total of two representatives each for our Economic Committee of South-East Governors and we have mandated the committee to immediately meet and fashion out a road map towards our economic integration and this we will do in coming weeks.
“They (committee members) will present a road map for our economic indices and development in our next meeting,” Umahi said, adding,
“Let’s announce to you that our secretariat here in Enugu is now fully functional.
“If you have a need to contact the South-East Governors Forum, you do that through our secretariat. Fortunately it is also in the Government House, Enugu,” he said.
Umahi used he opportunity to dispel a weekend news report about fire outbreak in Ebonyi Government House, “Let me digress a little to say that there was no fire incident at the Government House of Ebonyi State. That is not correct. What happened at the Office of the Chief of Staff was over usage of the air conditioner and it had a little problem.”
