Buhari angry with Tinubu for shunning APC’s NEC meeting

….rejects Asiwaju’s phone calls

*Embattled leader makes frantic calls to Obasanjo, others

President Muhammadu Buhari is reportedly miffed with the former Governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, for shunning the last National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of the All Progressives Congress (APC) held in Abuja last week, National Pilot has gathered.

Tinubu, who is an acclaimed National Leader of the party, did not attend the party's enlarged NEC meeting, which was convened to address some of the challenges occasioned by the leadership tussle in the National Assembly.

The ex-Lagos State governor, though not a member of the APC NEC, was invited by the party to the meeting reportedly meant to unify warring forces in the party and being the party's NEC first meeting after the 2015 general elections.

While the embattled APC national leader’s reserved seat was left unoccupied throughout, notable leaders in the party attended the meeting.

Tinubu’s absence with that of former Interim chairman of the party, Chief Bisi Akande, is believed to be connected with the fallout of the crisis rocking the APC since the emergence of the leaders of the 8th Assembly.

While President Buhari was said to have rued the absence of Tinubu, he openly congratulated Akande describing him as one who led the party with “dexterity and integrity”.

Buhari comment at the occasion reportedly jolted the Tinubu loyalist who took words to the APC leader.

After the meeting, a highly placed source who was privy to the development told this medium that Tinubu made several unsuccessful attempts to reach the president who refused to answer several calls put to him by the ex-governor.

Worried by the president’s action, Tinubu reportedly intensified efforts to get the President through proxies and other notable leaders who he believed have the ears of the Buhari to intercede on his behalf.

To this end, the embattled leader allegedly tried to reach out to some acquaintances of the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, former President Obasanjo, among others notable party leaders.

This medium could not confirm other moves the embattled leader had made after the unsuccessful earlier attempts.

“The President is angry with Senator Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu for his absence at the last NEC meeting of the party. The development did not go down well with the president who has repeatedly appealed to party leaders to subsume personal interest within the interest of the party.

“The NEC meeting was attended by nearly all the party bigwigs and the absence of Tinubu was seen as a direct flagrant to the appeal of President Buhari for party leaders to bury personal ambitions for the party to move forward.

“Since the incident, President Buhari has refused to pick the calls of the national leader who has now resorted to getting the President through proxies.

“He (Tinubu) made frantic calls to reach some friends of the senate president and leaders like former President Obasanjo among others, who he believes, have the president’s ears to help him intervene in the issue.

''His action of late has infuriated the president, who is not interested in interfering in the independence of the national assembly and this did not go down well with Asiwaju Tinubu, who is boosting of circumventing the president's wish.

''Also, the president has seen him as too domineering and has started avoiding him to allow him focus on his task of governing the country'', the source said.

#Politics