APC reconciliation: Badaru, Lalong brief Osinbajo

By Chijioke Okoronkwo

Abuja – Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Friday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, received Governors Abubakar Badaru of Jigawa  and Simon Lalong of Plateau  in a bid to unite members of All Progressives Congress (APC) in Imo, Ogun and Oyo States.

News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the APC recently inaugurated a five-member reconciliation committee chaired by Badaru, to reconcile aggrieved members of the party in Imo and Ogun States.

Other members of the committee are Governors Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State,  Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State and Inuwa Yahaya of Gombe State.

Badaru spoke with State House correspondents after meeting with the vice president.

“I met with the vice president as a party leader to discuss the assignment that the party has given to me to see how best we can unite and make the party strong in Imo, Ogun and Oyo.

“ I briefed him on what we have done so far and he gave us some suggestions on how to do the job very well.

“In addition to that, I briefed him today for the zero oil committee; we met today and we are charting our progress and a new agenda for the development of non-oil exports.

“`It is just to make sure that the party is strong and is back again and if there are ripples among members of the party; bring them together and make sure we have one strong and powerful party,’’ he said.

For his part, Lalong said that the meeting with the vice president was in continuation of the committee’s assignment to reconcile the parties.

According to the governor, the committee has started the reconciliation work concerning Imo, Ogun and Oyo states but the vice president’s input is needed.

“We need some information from him to also assist us in reconciling the parties; that was why we came here to consult him.

“As a very senior party man, he can always give advice; he gave his own advice on how to go about it because he is very much interested in reconciliation within the party; to guide us.

“ So, we have taken the advice and we are going back; especially, one of the states is his state; he is from Ogun.

“And part of the reconciliation, he is also Ogun; you cannot do reconciliation without consulting him; he knows everybody that is there; he knows part of the problems that are there; so, he can always give us advice as to how to go about it,’’ he said.

Lalong said that as the Chairman of Northern Governors’ Forum, consultations were being made to resolve the Southern Kaduna crisis.

He said he had issued a statement in respect to the crisis condemning the crisis and also calling for calm and proper investigation.

“What happened in Southern Kaduna also happened in Plateau State before.

“In addition to that, on my own, I had a meeting with some Southern Kaduna people and I went back to the governor.

“ Two days ago, I was in Kaduna to inform the governor that we are having meetings; that we will help him.

“After consultations, we will still come back and sit down with the governor because we must see the end of this crisis,’’ he said (NAN)

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