ABUJA (Reuters) - Prominent northerners in Nigeria's ruling party, including the losing candidate in its presidential primary, held meetings at the weekend to plan their next move following President Goodluck Jonathan's victory last week.

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, defeated by Jonathan in Thursday's vote, met with ex-military ruler Ibrahim Babangida and former national security adviser Aliyu Gusau, all of whom are prominent northern opponents to Jonathan.

"They were reviewing the primaries," said Garba Shehu, Abubakar's campaign spokesman, but gave no details on the outcome of the meeting.

Some analysts have said Abubakar and his northern supporters could strike some sort of deal with opposition parties to try to ensure Jonathan does not win the April general election.

Jonathan's candidacy in the People's Democratic Party (PDP) primary was controversial because it ruptures a "zoning agreement" under which power is meant to rotate between the mostly Muslim north and largely Christian south every two terms.

Jonathan, the first head of state from the oil-producing Niger Delta in the south, inherited the presidency last year when his predecessor Umaru Yar'Adua, a northerner, died.

Some PDP stalwarts say a northerner must complete what would have been Yar'Adua's second term and backed Abubakar as a "consensus candidate" against Jonathan at the primaries.

Jonathan clinched victory in the primary by a wider margin than expected but faced some resistance in the north, particularly in Babangida and Gusau's home states. Abubakar's agents have refused to sign off on the results.

Jonathan is the clear favourite to win the presidential election on April 9 as the PDP has won every such poll in Africa's most populous nation since military rule ended in 1999.

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This man Atiku, is an ENEMY of Nigeria, a greedy corrupt official.

He should be arrested and extradited to the US to face corruption charges.

Eh, I'm skeptical of their chances.