“Nigerians should wait patiently and believe in him that he’s going to come up with palliatives that will put a smile on the faces of every one of us in Nigeria,” Igbinedion told State House Correspondents shortly after the former governors met Tinubu at the Council Chamber of the State House, Abuja.

Wednesday’s meeting which lasted for a little over an hour is Tinubu’s first encounter with the former governors who were elected at the dawn of the fourth republic.

Igbinedion said the former states’ helmsmen were at the State House to voice their support for the new administration.

He said, “Mr President, Bola Tinubu, is one of the foundation members of this present Fourth Republic. As you all know, every one of us that is here was a governor from 1999.

“We came to congratulate Mr President and also to thank him for making one of us the Secretary to Government.

“We came to assure him that he has our full support and prayers for the bold steps he has started to take, for his initiatives and also let him know that this is beyond party politics, we’re now talking about the Project Nigeria, therefore all hands must be on deck to give Mr President the needed support and encouragement to foster a better a better nation.”

The meeting which began at 04:25 pm is the President’s first meeting with the former governors who were elected at the dawn of the fourth republic.

Wednesday’s meeting is at the instance of Tinubu, who was also elected governor of Lagos State at the time.

Present are Olusegun Osoba of Ogun, Bisi Akande of Osun, Lucky Igbinedion of Edo, Saminu Turaki of Jigawa, James Ibori of Delta, Donald Duke of Cross Rivers, Niyi Adebayo of Ekiti, Orji Kalu of Abia, Obong Attah of Akwa Ibom and Sam Egwu of Ebonyi State.

Also present are Chimaroke Nnamani (Enugu), Ibrahim Turaki (Jigawa), Adamu Muazu (Bauchi), Ahmad Yerima (Zamfara), Jolly Nyame (Taraba), Attahiru Bafarawa (Sokoto) and Joshua Dariye (Plateau).