A leadership crisis has deepened within the Progressive Governors’ Forum (PGF) following the emergence of rival camps within the body of governors elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Hope Uzodimma, governor of Imo state and chairman of the forum, has insisted that he remains in charge of the PGF, alongside Uba Sani, governor of Kaduna state, who serves as deputy chairman.
However, another bloc within the forum is said to be aligned behind Dapo Abiodun, governor of Ogun state, and AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, governor of Kwara state.
Governors in Abiodun’s camp are from Adamawa, Zamfara, Delta, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Rivers, Bayelsa, Niger, Kwara, Plateau, Enugu, and Katsina states.
Those backing Uzodimma are the governors of Kano, Taraba, Kebbi, Yobe, Lagos, Gombe, Kogi, Edo, Ekiti, Ondo, Sokoto, Jigawa, Ebonyi, Nasarawa and Kaduna states.
Meanwhile, the governors backing Uzodimma on Friday passed a vote of confidence in him.
The governors arrived at the Imo State Lodge in Abuja for what was described as an emergency meeting.
The meeting took place hours after the PGF denied reports claiming Uzodimma had been removed as chairman of the forum.
Governors present at the meeting included Umar Namadi of Jigawa, Hyacinth Alia of Benue, Nasir Idris of Kebbi, Mai Mala Buni of Yobe, Abba Yusuf of Kano and Ahmed Ododo of Kogi.
Others at the meeting were Francis Nwifuru of Ebonyi, Babagana Zulum of Borno, Ahmad Aliyu of Sokoto, Agbu Kefas of Taraba, Uba Sani of Kaduna and Lucky Aiyedatiwa of Ondo.
Emmanuel Akabe, deputy governor of Nasarawa state, also attended the meeting on behalf of his principal.
Details surrounding the disagreement were still unclear at the time of filing this report.
Neither faction had officially issued a detailed statement explaining the cause of the division.
Earlier, there were reports that Peter Mbah, governor of Enugu state, has emerged as the new chairman of the body.
The reports claimed Mbah succeeded Uzodimma after an extraordinary meeting of APC governors held in Abuja on Thursday night.
Multiple sources said about 20 governors attended the closed-door meeting, including those from Ogun, Bayelsa, and Enugu states