Politics

Updates: Buhari, APC governors meeting ends in deadlock

Published

9 years ago

April 3, 2018

The meeting President Muhammadu Buhari held with governors of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on Tuesday ended in deadlock.

None of the governors addressed state house correspondents when they left the council chamber of the presidential villa at the end of the meeting.

Rochas Okorocha (Imo), Simon Lalong (Plateau) and Nasir el-Rufai (Kaduna), explained to reporters that a unanimous agreement was reached at the meeting not to talk to the media.

On his way out, one of the governors said “Some people think they are tall but they can never control us. Never!”

It was earlier reported that the meeting was about the tenure of the party’s national working committee (NWC) led by John Oyegun.

During the last National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of the party, Buhari said he was against the extension of the NWC period in office by a year.

As a means to prevent a fresh crisis, some stakeholders had reportedly proposed a caretaker committee to be led by Adams Oshiomhole, a former governor of Edo. But this is vehemently resisted by Governors loyal to Oyegun, who vowed to fight on.

On Tuesday, all the governors elected on the platform of the APC met with Buhari to iron out the issue.

The governors, who are divided over the tenure extension of Oyegun, were reportedly engaged in fierce arguments during the over one-hour meeting.

According to sources within the Presidency, the meeting has been rescheduled with the governors being asked to pick a convenient date. Abdulaziz Yari, governor of Zamfara state, had chosen April 9 but el-Rufai tackled him on the choice of the date.