Governors elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress Tuesday night went into a closed-door meeting at the Kebbi Governor’s Lodge, Abuja.
Tuesday’s meeting came just hours after the Progressive Governor met with the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), at the Presidential Villa.
Although the PGF Chairman, Abubakar Bagudu, did not state specifics to be discussed on Tuesday night, it is believed that the core agenda would be on the consensus chairmanship candidate ahead of March 26.
Earlier at the Presidential Villa, our correspondent gathered that the governors tried in vain to change the President’s mind to dump Abdullahi Adamu as the consensus candidate for the national chairmanship.
After enumerating their reasons against the former Nasarawa State Governor, Buhari was said to have bluntly refused to change his mind.
The Kebbi State Governor also debunked notions that the Progressive Governors Forum was still divided over the party’s direction regarding zoning and chairmanship after what appeared to be a heated disagreement among them as they emerged from the meeting with the President.
He said, “There’s no altercation, I’m not aware of any. Mallam Nasiru (Kaduna State governor), again last week, answered that look, if by altercation people are talking about differences of opinion before a decision is arrived at, then maybe, that is what people can…but as a body, the 22 governors of APC are united behind the party and Mr President.”
Earlier on Tuesday, concerned party members under the auspices of the ‘APC National Stakeholders’ warned against attempts to “impose” former members of the Peoples Democratic Party, Senators Abdullahi Adamu and Ken Nnamani, as the party’s National Chairman and Deputy National Chairman, respectively.
“We have always been against imposition in whatever guise, considering our belief that whenever a consensus option is adopted, as long as it is not predated by wide consultation, it would no doubt violate every known democratic ethos and principles.
“The lingering and now widespread speculation as to the plan to bring a former member of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP in the person of Senator Abdullahi Adamu as the APC National Chairman in the forthcoming Convention, where loyal, qualified and competent foundation members of the APC are also in the race is not only an aberration but a violation of the established principle of APC which respects long-term fidelity and frowns at injustice.
“While it is within his constitutional rights to vie for any position within the APC or even the country as a whole, we believe that the individuals who are purportedly behind the plot to make Abdullahi Adamu the next APC National Chairman cannot sit down alone in their zones and decide who gets what,” they said.
The PUNCH also learnt that APC Governors from the Southeast protested the zoning of the office of the National Secretary to the Southwest, with Bagudu insisting that it was too late to amend the zoning formula.
The PGF Chairman’s position notwithstanding, the Southeast governors, our correspondent learned, are determined to air their stance to the party’s National Secretary, Dr John Akpanudoedehe, in a meeting of the APC governors holding Tuesday night.
In attendance are the Governors of Kebbi, Abubakar Bagudu; Borno, Babagana Zulum; Jigawa, Muhammad Abubakar; Ondo, Rotimi Akeredolu; Niger, Abubakar Bello; Kaduna, Nasir El-Rufai; Ekiti, Kayode Fayemi; Kogi, Yahaya Bello; Ogun, Dapo Abiodun; Ebonyi, Dave Umahi; Osun, Gboyega Oyetola; Lagos, Babajide Sanwo-Olu; Plateau, Simon Lalong; Imo, Hope Uzondinma; Nasarrawa, Abdullahi Sule, Kano, Dr Abdullahi Ganduje; Kwara, Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq; Katsina, Aminu Masari; Zamfara, Bello Matawalle; Cross River, Ben Ayade and Deputy Governor of Anambra State, Nkem Okeke.
The Yobe State Governor and Caretaker Committee Chairman, Mai Mala Buni, was the last to arrive.
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