With the 2019 General Elections coming close, and with the mass exodus of bigwigs in the political scene to various parties, President Muhammadu Buhari has appealed to Senate President Bukola Saraki, to stay back in the party, THISDAY reports.
The President made the plea at a meeting he had with the senate President, over the impending defection of top members of the APC massed in the reformed All Progressives Congress (rAPC), including Governors Aminu Tambuwal (Sokoto), Samuel Ortom (Benue) and Abdulfatah Ahmed (Kwara) who met with the leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party on Wednesday in Ilorin, Kwara State, to consider the absorption of the rAPC.
THISDAY had reported Thursday that although Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, PDP National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus and other top members of the PDP, had gone to Ilorin purposely to pay a condolence visit to Alhaji Abubakar Baraje, an rAPC chieftain, over the death of his mother, and a meeting to discuss their possible crossover to the PDP actually took place.
Buhari’s meeting with Saraki, the outcome of which was not made public, is coming after Samuel Ortom, the Benue State governor, indicated on Tuesday that he had technically left the APC, which prompted the National Chairman, Mr. Adams Oshiomhole, to intervene, asking Ortom not to return to the PDP.
THISDAY gathered that Saraki’s meeting with Buhari at the Presidential Villa Thursday was set up by APC governors, including Alhaji Aminu Masari (Katsina State), Senator Ibikunle Amosun (Ogun State) and Senator Atiku Bagudu (Kebbi State), who after initial discussions with the Senate president at his Abuja residence on Wednesday night, prevailed on the president to meet with him and persuade him not to defect from the party.
The APC National Chairman Adams Oshiomhole too, THISDAY learnt, spent much of Monday at Saraki’s house trying to straighten things out.
Oshiomhole’s effort was said to have been followed up in Ilorin on Wednesday by the Deputy National Chairman (South), Chief Niyi Adebayo, who led a delegation on a fence mending mission.
Masari, Amosun and Bagudu were said to have advised Buhari to meet with Saraki and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, to persuade them to reconsider their decision to move out of the APC as this could adversely affect the fortune of the party in 2019.
The president, THISDAY learnt, agreed with the governors and met with Saraki Thursday even as he is expected to meet with Dogara around the weekend.
Although there was no statement after the presidential fence-mending, it was learnt that there was no concrete resolution as both leaders left the meeting with all options left open.
Culled from THISDAY
