Amaechi, Akpabio meet; ‘reconcile’

Two leaders of the All Progressives Congress in the South-South region, Chibuike Amaechi, and Godswill Akpabio met each other to iron out their perceived political differences, a party spokesperson has said.

Mr Amaechi, who is the transport minister and former Rivers governor, and Mr Akpabio, a former Senate minority leader and Akwa Ibom governor, met on Sunday in Abuja. The meeting was disclosed by Festus Keyamo, spokesperson for President Buhari’s 2019 election campaign in a statement on Monday.

Mr Keyamo said he and another party leader, Nasiru Danu, brokered the meeting, which was at the instance of Mr Akpabio.

Mr Danu was one of the directors of logistics for the Buhari campaign council.

The meeting, which took place at the residence of Mr Danu in the Asokoro district of Abuja, lasted several hours, during which Messrs Amaechi and Akpabio frankly talked about their disagreements from their days as governors in PDP and in the Nigerian Governors’ Forum.

They also reviewed the performance of the party in the South-South in the just-concluded election and identified areas where things went wrong and how to improve those areas in future.

Mr Keyamo said in the end, both leaders agreed to “close ranks and work in unison for the overall interest of the party in the country.”

“They promised to put behind them all previous perceived misgivings between them and to give a positive direction to the teeming supporters of the party across the country,” his statement said.