President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday received four leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) from the South-West geo-political zone, led by Chief Bisi Akande, the first interim national chairman of the ruling party.
The delegation also included Chief Segun Osoba, Prince Tajudeen Olusi and Dr Abayomi Finnih.
The closed-door meeting was held in the president’s office in the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The visitors declined to talk to State House reporters after the meeting, believed to be a high-level discussion on party matters ahead of 2023, in view of the ongoing political calculations, alignments, re-alignments and permutations.
The visitors are close political allies of the party’s national leader and former governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, whose purported 2023 presidential ambition has garnered momentum in various states across the country despite his silence on the matter.
This visit of Tinubu’s allies is seen as a strategic move ahead of the coming horse-trading in the party.
It was equally gathered that the meeting discussed some of the issues facing the party, including the planned registration of new members, the postponed national convention, and the state of the party in the South-West.
On Thursday night, President Buhari received Governor Dave Umahi of Ebonyi State into the APC from the PDP in the State House, Abuja.
Umahi was presented to the president by the chairman of the APC Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee and the governor of Yobe State, Mai Mala Buni.
The entry of Umahi into the APC is seen as a pointer that the ruling party may still consider a presidential candidate from the South-East geo-political zone in 2023 despite the strong push from the South-West.
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