PDP crisis: Jonathan, IBB, Ahmadu Ali in secret meeting

Determined to find a solution to the crisis rocking his party, the Peoples Democratic Party, President Goodluck Jonathan on Tuesday went into a secret meeting with former Military President, retired General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, and a former National Chairman of the party, Dr. Ahmadu Ali.
The meeting was held at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The meeting, which lasted for about an hour, was held at House 7.
Journalists were barred from getting close to the venue.
Prior to this, close allies of Jonathan – Governors Godswil Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State, Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State and Gabriel Suswam of Benue State – had met with the President.
There was no briefing after the secret meeting but sources said it was a preparatory to a crucial meeting scheduled for Tuesday night with the aggrieved seven governors that have joined the ‘New PDP’, said to be the brainchild of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Babangida and some elders of the party have been mediating between the warring factions.
At the ruling party’s last convention, Abubakar and Governors Babangida Aliyu, Rotimi Amaechi, Rabiu Kwakwanso, Abdulfatai Ahmed, Sule Lamido, Magartakada Wamakko and Muritala Nyako had walked out of the convention.
However, about an hour later, they announced a parallel National Executive Committee under the chairmanship of the party’s former PDP Acting National Chairman, Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje.