The governor of Imo state, Hope Uzodinma, has been elected chairman of the Progressive Governors’ Forum (PGF).
Governor Uzodinma was elected via consensus during a strategic meeting of the PGF on Wednesday, May 31.
In attendance at the meeting were Governors Mai Mala Buni of Yobe, Yahaya Bello (Kogi), Abdullahi Sule (Nasarawa), Mohammed Bago (Niger), Uba Sani (Kaduna), Inuwa Yahaya (Gombe), Nasir Idris (Kebbi) and Dapo Abiodun (Ogun).
Uzodinma was later taken to the party secretariat where he was presented to the chairman of the party, Abdullahi Adamu and others.
Addressing newsmen, Uzodinma expressed delight at his new position and promised not to disappoint his colleagues and the leadership of the party.
“There is no doubt that Progressives Governors Forum has been in place before this time and there is no doubt that we are loyal members of our great party. I want to assure you that the APC governors understand very clearly that the government each of us is presiding over belongs to the party and we know both at the federal and sub-national level, the government belongs to APC. It is an APC-led government.
Under my watch, we will be very close to the party. The purpose of the forum is to have impetus to the activities of the party and the government. We are only going to act as salesmen that will market the policies and programmes of the government. Arising from the manifesto promised to the people before the election, I can assure you that you have a team and working together with the kind of men I have seen as Progressives Governors members, I think we have gotten all it would take to ensure that policies of our government were fully marketed.”
Responding to a question on his take on President Bola Tinubu’s pronouncement that ‘subsidy is gone,’ Uzodinma said;
“The incumbent government before he left made us know that fuel subsidy is no longer sustainable. What we are talking about now is the implementation process. How to implement the program in a manner that will not be too hard on the people. And I think the government is working on it. I have confidence in the ability of the current president to navigate through the waters and take decisions that will be in the best interest of our people and the country as a nation.”