SAN FRANCISCO, January 12, (THEWILL) –
Seven state governors from the Northern part of the country on Friday met behind closed doors with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja after the Friday Juma’at service at the State House Mosque.
The governors, all elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) were Abubakar Bello of Niger, Ibrahim Gaidam of Yobe, Yahaya Bello of Kogi, Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano, Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna, Jibrilla Bindo of Adamawa and Simeon Lalong of Plateau State.
Speaking to State House correspondents after the meeting, Ganduje claimed that the coming together of the seven governors was coincidence and not for any purpose.
“We are seven in number here but we came separately not for any purpose but after the Friday prayers, we decided to say hello to Mr. President,” he said.
“It’s just coincidence that we met in the Mosque and some joined us later and we decided to go to greet him.”
However, El-Rufai interjected when Ganduje was asked what his response would be if people insinuate that the meeting was all about 2019.
“We are politicians and those of us you see here want the President to contest the 2019 election, we have no apologies for that,” he declared.
“We believe in Mr. President we want him to continue running the country in the right direction. People can speculate about 2019 we have no apologies.
“Whether they are right or wrong (about speculations) is besides the point. Everybody is entitled to his own opinion but as governors, and most of us here, with the exception of Yobe Governor, are first time governors, we are interested in the continuity and stability and we want the president to continue with that.
“Like our leader the governor of Kano said, we just happen to be here by coincidence and we went to pray and decided to felicitate with the President and we feel satisfied that anytime we see him, he is getting better and better.”
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