The Progressive Governors Forum has held an emergency meeting at the Imo State Governors’ Lodge in Asokoro, Abuja, with 18 governors elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress rallying behind Chairman and Imo State Governor Hope Uzodimma and passing a vote of confidence in his leadership, in a dramatic response to overnight reports claiming the forum had split into two factions, with one report alleging that Ogun State Governor Dapo Abiodun and Kwara State Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq had taken charge of a rival group while another claimed that Enugu State Governor Peter Mbah had emerged as the forum’s new leader ahead of the 2027 general elections.
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The emergency meeting, convened on Friday under Uzodimma’s leadership, produced a unified public front, with Kebbi State Governor Nasir Idris moving a vote of confidence in Uzodimma and his deputy Uba Sani, and the governors collectively describing the reports of disunity as “misinformation” and insisting the forum is “stronger now than at any other time.”
However, the very necessity of convening an emergency meeting to deny a split, passing a vote of confidence to reaffirm a chairmanship that was not formally challenged, and assembling 18 governors at short notice to project unity suggests that whatever prompted the overnight reports was significant enough to require an immediate and emphatic response from the forum’s leadership.
The crisis was triggered by reports that emerged on Thursday night alleging a leadership change within the Progressive Governors Forum.
One report claimed that Enugu State Governor Peter Mbah had emerged as the new leader of the forum ahead of the 2027 general elections, suggesting a replacement of Uzodimma’s chairmanship.
Another report, attributed to political commentator Theo Abu, claimed the “PGF splits as Chairman Hope Uzodimma insists he remains in charge with his deputy Uba Sani while Ogun Governor Dapo Abiodun and Kwara Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq take charge of other group.”
The reports, taken together, painted a picture of a governing party whose state-level leaders were fracturing into competing camps ahead of the 2027 elections, with the implications extending beyond the PGF itself to the APC’s electoral machinery, which depends heavily on governors to deliver votes in their respective states.
In response, governors elected on the APC platform converged on the Imo State Lodge in Asokoro on Friday for an emergency session convened under Uzodimma’s leadership.
The attendance list underscored the seriousness with which the forum treated the reports. Among those physically present were Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa of Ondo State, Governor Uba Sani of Kaduna State, Governor Agbu Kefas of Taraba State, Governor Ahmad Aliyu of Sokoto State, Governor Babagana Zulum of Borno State, Governor Francis Nwifuru of Ebonyi State, Governor Abba Yusuf of Kano State, Governor Mai Mala Buni of Yobe State, Governor Hyacinth Alia of Benue State, and Governor Nasir Idris of Kebbi State, among others.
In total, 18 governors were physically present or represented at the meeting, including those of Lagos, Kaduna, Borno, Ebonyi, Kogi, Kano, Taraba, Yobe, Sokoto, Kebbi, Benue, Jigawa, Ondo, and Nasarawa states.
The notably absent names were not formally addressed, though the reports had specifically named Ogun State Governor Dapo Abiodun and Kwara State Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq as leaders of the alleged rival faction. Whether either governor attended the emergency meeting or was represented was not confirmed in the official account of the proceedings.
Kebbi State Governor Nasir Idris moved a motion for a vote of confidence in the forum’s leadership, categorically denying any crisis.
“We don’t have any problem to justify what the media have said. I want to seek this opportunity to move a vote of confidence on our chairman and his deputy,” Idris stated.
“Governor Hope Uzodimma and Governor Uba Sani of Kaduna remain the chairman and deputy chairman of the forum respectively,” Idris declared.
The vote of confidence was adopted by the assembled governors, formally reaffirming the existing leadership structure.
Uba Sani, the Deputy Chairman of the forum and Governor of Kaduna State, whose declaration earlier in the week that Kaduna has become “a one-party state” with “no apology” had itself generated controversy, dismissed reports of division.
“The truth of the matter is that the APC Progressive Governors Forum is very united. We’re stronger now than at any other time,” Sani stated.
“We want to assure everyone that the governors are united, the forum is united, and there is no problem at all,” the Kaduna governor added.
He stated that “the governors remained focused on supporting the administration and ensuring the success of its policies.”
Responding to the vote of confidence, Uzodimma described the reports of disunity as “a distraction” and reaffirmed the forum’s commitment to governance and the party’s electoral plans.
“Governors of the Progressive Congress are all united and resolved to support Mr President and to ensure that he comes out successfully during the upcoming elections by January 2027,” Uzodimma stated.
He added that “the forum’s priority was to deliver policies and social interventions that would improve the lives of Nigerians while strengthening support for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu ahead of the 2027 elections.”
The reference to the January 2027 presidential election and the explicit commitment to ensuring Tinubu “comes out successfully” frames the PGF’s unity as essential to the president’s re-election bid, implying that any fracture within the forum would directly weaken the party’s electoral machinery at a time when the opposition, despite its own internal turmoil, is coalescing around the Obi-Kwankwaso ticket on the NDC platform.
While the emergency meeting produced a public display of unity, the underlying dynamics that generated the split reports remain unaddressed.
The claim that Abiodun and Abdulrazaq were leading a rival faction, and the separate claim that Mbah had emerged as a new leader, suggest that at least some governors or political actors within the APC believe the current PGF leadership does not adequately represent their interests or that a change in the forum’s power structure is necessary ahead of 2027.
The Progressive Governors Forum is not merely a social club. It is the APC’s most powerful informal structure, coordinating policy positions, managing intra-party disputes, mobilising electoral machinery, and serving as the primary interface between state-level governance and the national party leadership. Control of the PGF confers significant influence over the APC’s direction, candidate selection processes, and the allocation of party resources.
If some governors believe the forum is being managed in a way that favours certain interests or regions over others, or that the chairmanship should rotate rather than remain static, the conditions for factional tension exist regardless of how many votes of confidence are passed at emergency meetings.
The PGF unity question takes on heightened significance in the context of the 2027 elections.
President Tinubu’s re-election bid depends heavily on the governors’ ability to deliver their states. The APC’s primary machinery is controlled at the state level by governors who manage party structures, influence candidate selection, and mobilise voters. A divided PGF would mean a divided electoral machinery, potentially allowing the opposition to make inroads in states where a unified APC structure would otherwise be impenetrable.
The opposition’s own recent realignment, with Obi and Kwankwaso joining the NDC and the ADC retaining Atiku, Amaechi, and others, means the APC will face a more organised challenge in 2027 than the fragmented opposition presented in 2023. A ruling party that is simultaneously managing internal gubernatorial factions while facing a more unified opposition would be in a significantly weaker position than one that presents the united front the PGF is projecting.
Governor Uba Sani’s boast earlier in the week that Kaduna is “a one-party state” with “no opposition” now sits alongside the irony of the ruling party’s own governors needing an emergency meeting to deny they are splitting apart. If the party that claims to have eliminated opposition in Kaduna cannot maintain unity among its own governors, the confidence behind the one-party claim rings hollow.
The emergency meeting and vote of confidence answered the immediate question of whether Uzodimma remains chairman with a resounding yes. But several questions remain unanswered.
What specifically triggered the reports on Thursday night? Were they based on actual meetings or communications between governors, or were they fabricated? If fabricated, by whom and for what purpose? If based on real events, what grievances are driving some governors to consider alternative leadership?
Were Abiodun and Abdulrazaq at the emergency meeting? Their presence or absence would speak volumes about whether the alleged rival faction is real or imagined. The official account does not specifically name either governor among the attendees.
Was Peter Mbah at the meeting? The claim that the Enugu governor was emerging as a new PGF leader would be directly contradicted by his presence at a meeting affirming Uzodimma’s chairmanship, or reinforced by his absence.
What role does the 2027 primary process play? If governors are jockeying for influence over the APC’s candidate selection processes, including the presidential ticket and gubernatorial nominations in states where governors are term-limited, the PGF chairmanship becomes a strategic asset rather than a ceremonial position.
The official position from the emergency meeting is clear: there is no split, no rival faction, no leadership change, and no problem.
“There is no problem at all,” Uba Sani stated.
“Reports of disunity are a distraction,” Uzodimma stated.
“We don’t have any problem to justify what the media have said,” Idris stated.
The unanimity of the denial, the speed of the emergency meeting, the weight of the attendance, and the formality of the vote of confidence all suggest that whatever happened on Thursday night was serious enough to require an immediate and overwhelming response.
In Nigerian politics, emergency meetings to deny crises are often the first sign that crises exist. Votes of confidence are typically passed when confidence needs to be restored rather than when it was never in question. And public declarations of unity are most emphatic when unity is most fragile.
Whether the PGF’s display of solidarity on Friday settles the matter or merely delays a deeper reckoning will become clear as the 2027 elections approach and the governors’ individual and collective interests are tested by the pressures of candidate selection, resource allocation, and the power dynamics that define intra-party competition.
As Uzodimma stated: “Governors of the Progressive Congress are all united.”
The coming months will test whether that unity is as solid as the emergency meeting proclaimed, or whether the reports that prompted it were early signals of a fracture that the 2027 election cycle will widen.
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