Members of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) held an in-person meeting at the Forum’s Secretariat in Abuja on Wednesday night.
Fifteen governors, mainly of the All Progressives Congress (APC), were present at the meeting as of the time of filing this report.
Governor Alex Otti of Abia State elected on the platform of the Labour Party (LP) and his Anambra State counterpart, Chukwuma Soludo of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), were the only opposition governors in attendance.
No agenda was released, despite persistent pressure from journalists to uncover the official motives for the meeting, which began at the NGF headquarters around 10 p.m. and ended at about 11 p.m.
However, sources within the NGF hinted that the governors who attended the meeting were unable to reach an official agreement on the controversial tax reform bills presented by President Bola Tinubu to the National Assembly.
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The new tax bills introduced by the Tinubu administration have been enveloped in widespread controversy and sparked scathing criticisms and stiff opposition from many including the 36 state governors under the aegis of the National Economic Council (NEC).
The 19 governors in northern Nigeria have also unequivocally rejected sections of the bills and called for the withdrawal of the bills from the National Assembly.
It was learned that the failure to arrive at an agreement was the reason the NGF could not produce a communiqué after the meeting.
The governors also refused to speak to journalists after the meeting, a serious deviation from previous practices, where a designated governor would address the media on what transpired during their discussions.
