SAN FRANCISCO, June 01, (THEWILL) – Eight governors elected on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) on Sunday, held a meeting with the National Leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, at the state House Marina, Lagos to make a case for their counterpart, Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki.
Reports indicate that the governors were at the closed-door meeting to seek Tinubu’s intervention in the search for truce in the political conflict between Obaseki and his godfather, the National Chairman of the APC, Adams Oshiomhole.
Governors who attended the meeting included the chairman of the Progressives Governors Forum, Abubakar Bagudu (Kebbi), Abdullahi Ganduje (Kano), Babajide Sanwu-Olu (Lagos), Rotimi Akeredolu (Ondo), Adeboyega Oyetola (Osun), Dapo Abiodun (Ogun), Mohammed Abubakar (Jigawa) and Obaseki himself.
Five of the governors, including Obaseki, then proceeded to Abuja in preparatory to a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari.
Punch reports that a source privy to the meeting said, “The governors met with our national leader, they laid their cards on the table and plainly asked for his intervention.
“They admitted that mistakes had been made especially with the governor’s refusal to pave the way for the swearing in of 14 elected APC members as members of the state Assembly.
“They also noted that the meeting ought to have held earlier and that the governor who was present at the meeting should have reached out to seek help much earlier before the situation degenerated to the level of a public spat between the governor and the national chairman.
“And being the kind of person, he is, our leader listened patiently and he is not one to rush into judgment before hearing from the other party. He will look at what is in the party’s best interest after consulting widely with other stakeholders before taking a final stand.”
THEWILL recalls that the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party had approved the direct primary as the mode of selecting the party’s standard bearer for the forthcoming governorship election in the state but supporters of the governor are opposed to the mode arguing that it was meant to frustrate his chances of standing as the party’s standard bearer.
Obaseki and Oshiomhole have been at odds over the former’s bid for a second term in office following a long-drawn battle for the political control of the state with the APC Chairman backing another candidate, Osagie Ize-Iyamu.
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