South-east pressure group, Igbo Leaders
of Thought, ILT, has waded into the crisis rocking the South-East Governors’
Forum, SEGF, in a bid to ensure peace in the organisation.
The state chief executives have not met to articulate policies or programmes that would benefit the people as a geopolitical zone for over 18 months now.
This was made known by the
Secretary-General of the ILT, Professor Elochukwu Amucheazi, while speaking in
an on Sunday night.
Amucheazi said members of the ILT had visited three out of
the five governors in a bid to resolve the matter, adding that they were
waiting for reply to the letters written to the remaining two for meetings with
them.
According to Sources Enugu that the
major cause of the crisis in the SEGF was the issue of who becomes the chairman
of the group.
The SEGF met regularly when former governors Peter Obi of
Anambra, Theodore Orji, Abia; Sullivan Chime, Enugu; Chief Martin Elechi,
Ebonyi and Governor Rochas Okorocha, Imo were in the saddle.
However, it was learnt that the SEGF
has not had any chairman since the former Governor of
Anambra State, Peter Obi,
left the position after his eight-year tenure in office, and handed over to his
then counterpart from Abia State, Theodore Orji.
Although Orji’s brief tenure was said
to have been vibrant, he has not been replaced since he left the position about
a year and nine months ago.
Like the leadership of Ohanaeze, the
chairmanship of the SEGF is rotatory, but Orji did not hand over formally to
any of his colleagues, even as the position had remained vacant since then.
According to sources, Governor Okorocha
of Imo State reportedly made overtures to his colleagues to allow him continue
from where Orji stopped but his request was not granted as the governors
allegedly developed cold feet over the issue.
He is currently building “a befitting
secretariat for Ohanaeze Ndigbo at Enugu to replace its present office donated
by the former governor of Enugu State, Dr Okwesilieze Nwodo, in 1990s.
Apart from Okorocha, who was said to
have schemed to become the chairman without success, the “new” governor of
Anambra State, Chief Willie Obiano, is believed to have shunned the governors’
forum as he has not attended the meeting for up to two times since he assumed
office about three years ago.
The last time some of the governors
attended the meeting of the forum was in the first quarter of last year, during
the crisis trailing the killing of MASSOB and IPOB members at the National High
School, Aba, Abia State on February 9, 2016.
Okorocha who is laying claims to
the chairmanship of the forum “as a ranking governor” read the communique on
the occasion.
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