APC Leadership: Buhari Consolidates As Tinubu, Others Shun NEC Meeting
Former governor of Lagos State, Senator Ahmed Bola Tinubu may have succumbed to alleged threats by some ex-governors in the All Progressives Congress (APC) and stayed away from National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of the party in Abuja, Nigeria’s federal capital territory.
Tinubu, among notable members of the APC, including the party’s former interim chairman, Chief Bisi Akande, boycotted the meeting.
Major issue before the NEC was the crisis rocking the party since the election of Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives, polarising the party.
On the absence of Tinubu and Akande, the spokesperson of the party, Lai Mohammed said invitation to the meeting was at the discretion of the national working committee of the APC, or its executive committee.
The implication was that the erstwhile national leader of the party, Bola Tinubu was not invited to attend the meeting.
TheStreetReporters.com recalls that President Muhammadu Buhari assumed national leadership of the party after he was elected on the platform of the APC as President of Nigeria.
This led the party’s spokesman, Lai Mohammed insisting that Tinubu remained the national leader of APC.
Meanwhile, before the meeting entered into a closed-door session, Buhari appealed to
APC members to respect the supremacy
of the party and “allow the system to
work”.
After the meeting, Mohammed said the NEC provided an enabling environment to look into ways of resolving what he described as the National Assembly logjam, adding that all sides had agreed that the party was supreme, and must be respected.
“Also, it is important to let you know that everybody in the party is united on two issues which are party supremacy and the need to ensure that this government deliver its campaign
promises, he said.
“It is for the interest of everyone who voted for change. I would not want to go into the nitty-gritty of what the resolution will be because as I speak for now I don’t know.
“When you talk about party’s supremacy, it is derived from the constitution,” Mohammed noted.
It is, however, unclear how the party will reverse the decisions of National Assembly members on leadership at the legislative chambers, which was contrary to the party’s directive.
