Oyegun not in villa meeting with Sheriff ―Presidency

NATIONAL Chairman of the ruling All Progress Congress (APC), Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, was not present at Thursday’s meeting between Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and former National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Ali Modu Sheriff.

He had earlier been reported as participating in the closed doors at the presidential villa, Abuja.

But Senior Special Assistant to the Vice President, Laolu Akande, has said this was not the case.

In a tweet on his twitter handle @akandeoj, he said: “For the records, Alhaji Modu Sheriff was @ the VP’s office yesterday but APC Chair, Chief Oyegun wasn’t. All Nigerians welcomed to the villa.”

The meeting between Osinbajo and Sheriff had lasted for about two hours.

However, at the end of it, the former Borno State Governor left the villa without offering any comments on his mission to waiting State House corespondents.

Sheriff’s tenure as the chairman of the opposition party witnessed upheaval which factionalized the PDP following a leadership tussle with the Senator Ahmed Makarfi-led National Caretaker Committee (NCC) of the party.

The crisis was only resolved when the Supreme Court declared the NCC as the authentic national leadership of the party.

Many of Sheriff’s loyalists have since indicated their desire to decamp from the PDP to other political parties.

It was not immediately clear whether Sheriff was at the presidential villa to discuss his possible return to the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) from where he initially joined the PDP.

But reports suggested that his Borno State home chapter of the APC has rejected his attempt to rejoin the party.