Shagari, IBB, GEJ, Shonekan absent at Council of State meeting presided over by PMB
Four former Nigerian leaders were absent at the ongoing Council of State meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Villa.
They are Ibrahim Badamasi Babamgida, Goodluck Jonathan, Shehu Shagari and Earnest Shomekan are absent.
Only Generals Yakubu Gowon and Abdulsalami Abubakar as well as Chief Olusegun Obasanjo are the former leaders present at the meeting.
Obasanjo, who was five minutes late, rushed to greet Buhari before taking his seat.
This is the third of such meeting since Buhari assumed office about three years ago. The first one was on October 21, 2015; and the second, September 7, 2016.
The meeting, which began at 11:05am, is being attended by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and Senate President Bukola Saraki.
The closed-door meeting is expected to discuss the security challenges confronting the country.
Gowon and a former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Mohammed Uwais, said the opening prayer.
Before the meeting started, President Buhari had gone round the Council Chambers to shake hands with his visitors.
The governors in attendance are those of Sokoto, Delta, Adamawa, Imo, Benue, Lagos, Nasarawa, Abia, Bauchi, Jigawa, Kebbi, Plateau, Kano, Wike, Akwa Ibom, Edo, Ekiti, Zamfara, Ogun, Niger, Ebonyi.
Former Chief Justices of Nigeria, Idris Kutigi and Aloma Muktar are also in attendance.
A one-minute silence was observed in honour of the late former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Dahiru Mustapha.
