A national Leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Bola
Tinubu, and the party’s immediate past interim National Chairman, Bisi Akande,
boycotted a meeting of the National Executive Committee, NEC of the party which
held on Friday due to lack of proper communication from the party’s leadership,
PREMIUM TIMES understands.
Both leaders were conspicoulsy absent at Friday’s meeting.
The APC spokesperson, Lai Mohammed, did not exactly explain why they were not
present.
Mr. Mohammed had, while responding to inquiries on the
absence of the two leaders, said that Messrs. Tinubu and Akande were not
members of NEC and that it was the prerogative of the party leaders to invite
those who were not NEC members to the meeting.
President Muhammadu Buhari had, while making his comments at
the opening session of the NEC, paid encomiums on Mr. Akande as the first
chairman of the party and how he worked with “dexterity” to put the party on a
strong pedestal, which gave it success.
Mr. Buhari thanked Mr. Akande on behalf of all APC members
and said, “it’s a pity he is not here with us”.
PREMIUM TIMES gathered Mr. Tinubu actually made plans to
attend the meeting and, indeed, was in Abuja for that purpose.
“ Asiwaju called Papa Akande on Thursday and asked him if he
was attended the NEC meeting and Akande asked him if he received any invitation
himself, to which Tinubu said no.
“Papa said why should you go to a meeting you have not been
invited?” a source close to the two leaders told PREMIUM TIMES.
The decision by the two leaders to stay away from Friday’s
meting was the clearest indidcation yet that they were not happy with recent
events within the APC.
It has been widely reported that the former Lagos Governor
was strongly supporting the candidature of Messrs. Ahmed Lawan and Femi
Gbajabiamila to emerge as Senate President and Speaker of the House of
Representatives respectively.
Mr. Akande, a longstanding political ally of Mr. Tinubu,
recently wrote an open letter in which he said that Messrs. Saraki and Yakubu
Dogara who defied the party to emerge as Senate president Speaker of the House
respectively were sponsored by some oil barons and “some elements in the
north”.
Our source informed us Saturday that although Mr. Akande
eventually received his invitation to the NEC meeting “around 9pm on Thursday,
it was too late in the day for him to attend”.
He also said Mr. Akande did not get back to Mr. Tinubu to let
him know that he had received his invitation late.
Indications that Mr. Tinubu was invited for the meeting was
that a seat was reserved for him with a name tag in front, which remained empty
throughout the duration of the meeting.
Messrs. Tinubu and Akande could not be reached for comments
for this report.
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