Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
President Muhammadu Buhari’s closed-door meeting with governors of the All Progressive Congress (APC) at the Council Chamber’s State House, on Tuesday, ended in deadlock.
The meeting which started at 2:15 ended at 3:30pm, with all the governors emerging and refusing to talk to State House Correspondents.
The governors of Plateau State, Simon Lalong and Kebbi State, Atiku Bagudu had said the opening prayers before the commencement of the meeting.
The bone of contention, according to findings, was the tenure elongation of the John Odigie-Oyegun-led executive and the proposed caretaker committee to be led by a former governor of Edo State, Adams Oshiomhole.
Majority of the governors were in favour of tenure elongation for Oyegun.
All the governors approached, Rochas Okorocha of Imo, Lalong as well as Kaduna State Governor, Nasir el-Rufai, to speak on the outcome of the meeting said they had reached agreement that there would be no comment.
Daily Sun findings revealed that President Buhari had, at some point during the meeting, left the governors to decide on the next date the meeting would reconvene, while the Zamfara State Governor and Chairman of the Governors Forum, Abdulazeez Yari, proposed April 9 and April 10. Governor el-Rufai, however, challenged Governor yari on why he picked those dates.
According to a source in the know, the meeting became rowdy as each of the governors tried to make his position known and the governors stormed out of the meeting venue.
Some of the governors emerged from the venue of the meeting wearing long faces, while others, in order to douse the tense atmosphere, held their lips, indicating they were not going to comment.
One of the governors leaving the venue of the meeting was heard telling his colleagues with him, “Some people who think they are tall, think they can control us, it will not work.”