by ‘Jola Sotubo

President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday met with Governor Babangida Aliyu of Niger and Sule Lamido of Jigawa.

The two governors have been in-between ranks following their decision to remain in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) even after their fellow aggrieved governors defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The meeting was said to have been held behind closed doors at the Presidential Villa in the Federal Capital Territory.

Meanwhile the Vice President, Namadi Sambo, also held a strategy meeting with 11 PDP governors with the aim of achieving normalcy within the party.

The Sun reports:

While Jonathan met with the aggrieved governors inside the First Lady Conference Room, Sambo and the other governors met in House Seven, one of the guest houses in the villa.

The meeting of the president and the governors was still ongoing at the time of filing this report.

That of the vice president and the PDP governors however ended at about 8.30pm.

None of those who attended the meeting was ready to speak with the State House correspondents.

When contacted, the factional chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, Plateau State Governor, Jonah Jang, declined to comment, rather he directed newsmen to the Chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum, Governor Godswill Akpabio.

Akpabio in turn said the meeting was at the instance of the vice president and declined to make comment.

Sambo was joined at the meeting by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator Pius Anyim and the Chief of Staff to the President, Chief Mike Oghiadomhe.

Governors who were present at the parley included Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom), Martins Elechi (Ebonyi), Sullivan Chime (Enugu), Idris Wada (Kogi), Jonah Jang (Plateau), Shehu Shema (Katsina), Emmanuel Uduaghan (Delta), Theodore Orji (Abia), Isa Yuguda (Bauchi), Seriake Dickson (Bayelsa), Liyel Imoke (Cross River), as well as Niger and Kaduna deputy governors.