Strong indications emerged on Friday that the presidential candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, is seriously wooing the Ciroma group following the breakdown of negotiation between the group and President Goodluck Jonathan.

The Buhari group, which had unsuccessfully been wooing the Ciroma camp for support, is said to have seen the arrest of two members of the Northern Political Leaders’ Forum (NPLF), Mallam Bello Abdulkadir and Farouk Bibi Farouk, as an opportunity to again seek the support of the Atiku camp.

Sources told our correspondents in Abuja that the reconciliatory meeting between President Goodluck Jonathan and former President Ibrahim Babangida, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and former Chief Security Adviser, Gen. Aliyu Gusau, was stopped even before the arrest of Abdulkadir.

The reconciliatory talks, which became imperative following the bitter feud, name-calling and mudslinging that trailed the January 13 Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential primary, was said to have been discontinued because it leaked.

Atiku, who was selected by the Adamu Ciroma-led Northern Elders’ Forum as the consensus candidate of the North in place of Babangida and Gusau, lost to President Jonathan at the PDP national convention held in Abuja on January 13.

Not comfortable with the no-love-lost relationship between the PDP front runners, a committee was set up to broker peace between President Jonathan on one hand and Babangida, Atiku and Gusau on the other.

While the Babangida/Atiku/Gusau camp chose Senator Ben Obi as their chief negotiator, the Jonathan camp was led by former President of the Senate, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim.

A reliable Presidency source told our correspondents that before the trouble shooting committees were set up, "there was a meeting in the house of Adamu Ciroma on Friday February 18"

According to him, those at the meeting were Jonathan, Vice President Namadi Sambo, Acting National Chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Bello Haliru Mohammed, former PDP Board of Trustees Chairman, Chief Tony Anenih, and President Jonathan’s Chief of Staff, Chief Mike Oghiadomhe.

He noted that a second meeting took place at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja on February 20 .

He said that further meeting was suspended by the two groups because the agenda was leaked to the public.

"The groups felt that there was yet no concrete agreement reached and that the leakage of the meeting’s agenda was not in the best interest of the parties involved in the negotiation," he said.

The source said the initial reason for the meeting was for the two sides to harmonise their positions in order to deliver the northern states to Jonathan at the April election.

He said that it was thought that the weak electoral chances of Jonathan could be remedied by bringing the influence of Babangida, Atiku and Gusau to bear on Jonathan’s presidential campaign.

http://thenationonlineng.net/web3/news/30530.html