Finally, the Peoples Democratic Party Presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, and Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, met Thursday at the residence of former Minister of Information, Prof Jerry Gana, in Abuja.
This is the first meeting of the duo since Atiku announced Delta State Governor Ifeanyi Okowa as his running mate, a slot Wike had thought would be given to him.
The meeting was first brokered by the members of the PDP Board of Trustees who met Atiku at his Asokoro residence after their initial meeting at the national secretariat of the party.
A source disclosed that Wike flew into Abuja and proceeded straight to the residence of Gana where the meeting with Atiku took place.
Though, Wike has since returned to Port Harcourt after the meeting, the source did not give details of the meeting.
The source confirmed: “They met at Jerry Gana’s residence at Asokoro. The meeting was cordial, they agreed to nominate an equal number of persons into a small committee that would look at the issues and thrash them out and present their report to a larger committee, possible for ratification.
“The meeting was cordial and it was a good sign, it was a face-to-face to signal the new direction.”
It was revealed that both men will continue their talk and agree on when the committee will commence its meeting on their behalf after being furnished with their terms of reference.
Another source simply said, “the ice has been broken. They (referring to Atiku and Wike) have commenced talks and in a few days time, the details of their meeting would be made public.
“Wike is expected to brief members of his campaign group”, the source stated.
Jerry Gana had on Sunday said, “As far as we are concerned, we are open for discussion. We want everything to be put on table. We remain in the party. We are not going anywhere, we want to be seen as equal stakeholders”.