President Jonathan on Tuesday evening held a meeting with former military President, Ibrahim Babangida and a former National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Ahmadu Ali, reportedly as part of the moves to resolve the festering crisis in the ruling party.
The meeting, held in House 7 of the Presidential Villa, Abuja came ahead of a larger meeting on Tuesday between the president and other stakeholders of the party aimed at finding lasting solution to the crisis.
Messrsr Babangida and Ali, were members of the PDP Elders Committee led by former President Olusegun Obasanjo that met the two feuding factions of the ruling party last Friday. The meetings ended in a deadlock.
Reports say both men arrived at the Presidential Villa at about 1p.m. and departed within one hour.
It was also reported that three PDP governors, namely Gabriel Suswam (Benue), Emmanuel Uduaghan (Delta) and Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom, who also chairs the PDP Governors Forum were also at the Villa about the same time Messrs Babangida and Ali met with the president.
Messrs Akpabio and Uduaghan declined comment when approached for comments.
Last night’s meeting, it was learnt, considered the report produced by the Elders Committee led by Mr Obasanjo at their meeting last Friday.
Some of the recommendations of the committee which met the feuding PDP factions include:
*That the Adamawa State chapter of the party be returned to Nyako *That the Rivers State Chapter Exco be returned to Amaechi;
*That there should be a review of some of the perceived anomalies at the Special National Convention, as observed by the aggrieved governors;
*That the suspension of Amaechi be lifted and in accordance with the party’s constitution; and
*That the President should meet with Jang and Amaechi with a view to resolving the crisis in the Nigeria Governors Forum, NGF.