Jonathan going for fence-mending meeting with Buhari

The PDP presidential candidate, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan and his APC counterpart, Muhammadu Buhari may meet before the March 28 presidential elections. The PUNCH gathered on Sunday that the meeting which might hold outside the country was to establish rapport between the two contenders before the election.

A source close to the Presidency said, “We are trying to broker a meeting between the two leaders. The way the presidential electioneering is going may create serious divisions among Nigerians. We need to stop this.

“Apart from this, I think there is serious apprehension in the camp of the President that if Buhari wins, he’s going to jail a lot of President Jonathan’s supporters for alleged corruption.

“This is one of the issues that is causing serious tension in the camp of the President and we also need to make sure that in whatever we do, there must be peace in the country.”

It was learnt that the claim by former President Olusegun Obasanjo that Jonathan was afraid that Buhari could jail him was real after all.

A top member of the ruling PDP, who also spoke with Punch on the condition of anonymity said, this fact could not be denied by the party and the Presidency.

He said, “You have listened to the press conference by our campaign office and we didn’t deny that aspect. But we dealt with other issues.

“That statement by former President Obasanjo is real. It is true and we all know that. But we know that very soon, the meeting which we are hearing is being coordinated by some concerned leaders, might address that.”

Obasanjo had on Saturday said, "I believe the President’s fear is particularly motivated by whom he sees as his likely successor, that is, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari. I believe people would have been telling him that Buhari is a hard man; he will fight corruption and he (Jonathan) may end up in jail if not in the grave. I think people would have told him that sort of thing and he is not the only one afraid of Buhari."