President Muhammadu Buhari, yesterday, met behind closed doors with 18 state governors of the APC controlled in Daura, Katsina state.
The governors that attended the meeting include the Chairman of the Governors’ Forum and Zamfara state Governor, Alhaji Abdulaziz Yari; Rochas Okorocha (Imo); Abubakar Muhammed (Bauchi); Kashim Shettima (Borno); Abiola Ajimobi (Oyo) and Malam Nasir El-Rufa’I of Kaduna state.
Others are Governors Badaru Abubakar of Jigawa, Abdullahi Ganduje (Kano); Godwin Obaseki of Edo; Yahaya Bello (Kogi); Atiku Bagudu (Kebbi); Abubakar Sani-Bello (Niger) and Tanko Al-Makura of Nasarawa state, while the governors of Benue, Osun and Ogun State were represented by their deputies.
The governors of Yobe and Plateau states were also represented at the meeting.
Though, the agenda of the meeting could not be officially confirmed at the time of filling this report, it was gathered that it is unconnected with the 2019 general elections and the cracks within the ruling party nationwide.
Buhari had on Thursday flown to Daura from Abuja ahead of the meeting, which many believed was scheduled to hold in his home town because of the importance he attached to it.
It was also gathered that the president, also used the occasion of his visit to condole with his extended family members over the demise of Hajiya Ai’sha Alhaji Mamman and Hajiya Halima Dauda, who died last week.
A source told Blueprint Weekend yesterday that the meeting, which was initially scheduled for Aso Villa in Abuja, became necessary in view of the deepening crisis within the party and to pave way for the reconciliatory process of the Asiwaju Bola Ahmed led committee.
The president had last week appointed the former Governor of Lagos state and the National Leader of APC , Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu to lead a committee that will reconcile all its aggrieved members as the 2019 elections draw nearer.
Blueprint Weekend can report that no fewer than 12 state chapters of the party are currently embroiled in one wrangling or the other but the mostly pronounced is the Kaduna, Kano and Kogi states respectively.
It would be recalled that before the meeting, El-rufai and some members of the party in the state were locked up in a battle of supremacy over the control of the party’s structure.
On Thursday, the party was factionalised in the state and a leader of the group, Shuaibu Inuwa Wada, queried the governor over alleged anti-people and anti-party activities, and also slammed an 18-month suspension on the governor’s Political Adviser, Uba Sani.
The group also sanctioned el-rufai’s Commissioner for Finance, Suleiman Abdu Kwari, and the Acting States Secretary of the party, Yahaya Bab Pate, for activities it described as “inimical to the interest of the chapter.
But the governor has described them as ‘mere attention seekers’ and fingered the senator representing Kaduna North, Suleiman Hunkuyi, as the brain behind the ploy.
Although, the president has not categorically said that he would seek re-election in 2019, APC governors, the South-east geo-political zone and the governors in North-west and several support groups have thrown their weights behind actualising his second term bid.
However, the Chairman of the APC governors’ forum, and Governor of Imo state, Rochas Okorocha, told journalists that they were in Daura to condole with the president over the loss of two members of his extended family.
