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This is what IBB, ex VP discussed in Minna

Atiku and IBB held a long meeting in Minna this week. This is what they spoke about.

Atiku arrived the Minna International Airport in a private aircraft marked T7AAA at 12:35pm on Thursday, December 7.

At the airport to receive Atiku were the Niger State Deputy Governor Alhaji Ahmed Ketso, former Niger Governor Mu'azu Babangida Aliyu and Chairman of the PDP in Niger State Tanko Beji.

Atiku exchanged pleasantries with a horde of PDP faithful at the airport before proceeding to IBB’s hilltop mansion perched in the heart of Minna.

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Gloomy face

The meeting between both men reportedly lasted two hours and neither of the parties disclosed what was discussed behind closed doors.

When Atiku emerged from the meeting, he kept a straight face and disappeared into his car as journalists besieged his convoy.

Vanguard reports that Atiku wore a long, if gloomy face because IBB had told him during the meeting to shelve his 2019 presidential ambition.

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Pulse hasn’t been able to independently verify that version of events.

Vanguard writes that; “The ambition of the former president hit a brick wall as Gen. Babangida was said to have advised him to drop his presidential ambition.

"Atiku, who was besieged by anxious journalists immediately after the long meeting, snubbed them as his security aides prevented them from even going close to him.

“Please pave way; he is not ready to speak with you,’’ the body guards chorused, as their boss made straight for his waiting vehicle that drove him to the airport.

“At the airport, the former Vice President also shunned party supporters and journalists who had waited patiently to bid him bye-bye. Wearing a long face, the former vice president walked straight into the aircraft; a development Vanguard gathered arose from the negative nod from President Babangida to his presidential aspiration”.

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Harmonising positions

However, an aide of Atiku's told Pulse that both politicians spoke about the forthcoming PDP convention and how to forge the opposition party into a force capable of giving the PDP a run for its money.

Atiku formally defected to the PDP on December 3, 2017.

The aide also said both politicians compared notes and discussed throwing their weight behind a consensus PDP chairmanship aspirant.

PDP delegates will elect their chairman from a list of nine contestants this weekend.

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“They spoke about party unity and working together to beat the APC in forthcoming elections. You know Oga (Atiku) has just returned home (PDP) from the APC. Since he has just come back, it is normal that he embarks on these courtesy visits to PDP chieftains as a mark of respect.

"They also spoke about the national convention of the PDP. That’s what this was all about, really. It was a stock taking meeting”, a media aide of Atiku’s toldPulse.

Atiku is gunning for the nation’s number one job for the umpteenth time on the platform of the PDP—a party he helped found in 1999.

Atiku has been on a defection spreesince the advent of the fourth republic.

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