By; Sunday Ode, Abuja.
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Monday met with the leadership of the National Assembly and five All Progressives Congress (APC) Governors behind closed-doors in his office at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The meeting which lasted for about three hours was, however stormy and inconclusive judging by the countenance and reactions of some of the participants when they emerged from the meeting.
The meeting which started at 2:00pm was also in progress for about an hour before President Muhammadu Buhari jetted out of the Presidential Villa for his trip to Morocco where he will be attending a climate change conference from Tuesday.
Attendance at the meeting included the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, Speaker of the House of Representative, Yakubu Dogara and Secretary to Government of the Federation, David Babachir Lawal.
Governors at the meeting were: Abdulaziz Yari (Zamfara), Rochas Okorocha (Imo), Ibikunle Amosun (Ogun), Jubrilla Bindow (Adamawa) and Sani Bello (Niger).
Indications that all did not go well in the meeting emerged when the governors came out with long faces and were talking to one another as if they were quarreling or blaming one another for something that went wrong.
When they came down from the Vice President’s office, none of the governors agreed to speak to newsmen.
Governor Okorocha who almost opened up was made to hold back by his Zamfara counterpart, Yari who is also Chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF).
Okorocha quickly waved at newsmen in disapproval and said: “they said I should not talk”.
Outside the office where their cars were parked, the governors were joined by Saraki and Dogara and were crowded by newsmen. At this time all of them were complaining about one thing or the other in hushed tones.
As newsmen continued to pester them for comments, Saraki asked Yari to address them but the governor declined and threw the responsibility back to Saraki to speak on the meeting in his capacity as President of the Senate.
When Saraki made to enter his car, he stood behind the right rear door, paused and said: “Am sure the VP will issue a statement. But nothing of great alarm. It’s all for good governance, inclusion and collaboration with all arms. The states are here, national assembly executives just came up with ideas on how to make things work even better, that’s all.”
To a question on whether the meeting was stormy, the Senate President responded: “There is nothing like stormy session, it has do with inclusion, good governance, collaboration and to make things better. “
The meeting attended exclusively by APC chieftains was however believed to have discussed thorny issues of appointments and crisis of confidence currently tearing the party which had blown open in recent times, amid speculations of planned mass exodus.
The governors had recently complained to President Buhari over lopsided appointments and lack of proper consultation with them before such appointments were made public but he asked them to put their grievances in writing.
The dispute between APC National Leaders, Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the party’s National Chairman, John Odigie-Oyegun over the Ondo guber primary said to have been won by Rotimi Akeredolu is also said to be taking a toll on the ruling party and must have formed part of discussions at the meeting.
