South East governors demand for 2 morel states

Details: Category: Politics; Published on Monday, 10 October 2011 03:37; Written by Admin; Hits: 590

South East Governors Forum rose from its meeting in Enugu yesterday demanding for the creation of two new states in the zone as a condition for backing the planned constitution amendment.

Anambra State governor and chairman of the forum, Mr. Peter Obi who was answering questions from reporters shortly after the meeting at Government House, Enugu told reporters that they basically discussed only one item which was the issue of constitutional amendment, especially as it concerns creation of additional states for the South-east so that the zone could have the same number of states as the other zones in the country.

The governors threatened to withdraw support for the planned constitution amendment, if they are not given another state. The Southeast has five states, the least among the six geo-political zones.

peter-obi2 To perfect their plan, the governors resolved to present their report for discussion at the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) meeting in Abuja tomorrow.

The governors said it was high time all geo-political zones in the country had equal number of states in the interest of equity, fairness and justice.

Imo State Governor Rochas Okorocha also said: “If the Northwest zone could have seven states, the Southeast zone could as well have seven. In essence, the Southeast governors are calling for additional states.”

The meeting was attended by Governors Martin Elechi of Ebonyi; Rochas Okorocha, Imo and Sullivan Chime of Enugu while Theodore Orji of Abia was absent. The meeting, which started at about some minutes to 3pm ended about 3.45pm.