President Buhari hosts significant APC stakeholders, as Tinubu is absent

President Muhammadu Buhari hosted a delegation led by the All Progressives Congress’ stakeholders at the State House, Abuja on Friday.

But the party’s presidential standard bearer, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, was reportedly absent at the meeting.

THE CONCLAVE reports that Tinubu was in Abuja on Friday and observed the Jumaat prayers at the Mosque in Central Business District, which shares a fence with the Ministry of Budget and National Planning.

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He attended in company with his running mate, Senator Kashim Shettima and Kano State Governor, Dr Abdullahi Ganduje, among others, who were formally recognised and prayerfully advised by the Imam of the mosque.

It could not be confirmed whether Tinubu was still in Abuja as of the time the stakeholders’ meeting started at 3 pm and whether or not he was scheduled to be part of the meeting.

The delegation, which consisted of the Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Idris Wase, the APC Vice Presidential candidate, Kashim Shettima, and other key members of the party, was ushered in to see the President about 3:00 pm.

Others present were former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole, former Minister of Agriculture, Audu Ogbe and former Chief of Air Staff Air Marshall Sadiq Abubakar.

Also in attendance were some members of the Progressives Governors Forum. They included Babagana Zulum of Borno, Inuwa Yahaya of Gombe, Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa and Abubakar Bagudu of Kebbi.

A former governor of Borno State, Ali Modu Sheriff, and Senator representing Taraba South Senatorial District, Emmanuel Bwacha, were also in attendance.

The visit happened about two days after Shettima was unveiled as Tinubu’s substantive running mate.

The former Borno State Governor, who was at the Villa to see Buhari on Wednesday, told journalists that he “felt morally bound” to thank the president personally, before returning with a larger delegation on Friday.

Reacting to agitations over the Muslim-Muslim ticket floated by his party, he said the APC ticket was not designed to protect the interests of one faith as there were religious leaders to do that.

“In Borno, we spent over N1bn naira rebuilding churches destroyed by the Boko Haram insurgency. And this legacy has been continued by Governor Babagana Zulum. We have taken more Christian pilgrims to Jerusalem than some of the Northern states headed by Christians.

“So, we have that history of inclusivity, of togetherness. What we need is competent leadership. We are not coming into government to represent the Muslim or the Christian faith. The Sultan of Sokoto is eminently qualified to protect Muslim interests and the CAN president is eminently qualified to defend Christian interests as well,” he said.