The Presidency has debunked reports of rift between President Muhammadu Buhari and a National Leader of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu.
Following the removal of the chairman of the party and former Edo State governor, Adams Oshiomhole by the court, the party became factionalised. The President backed one of the factions and this led to rumours that the President’s action was aimed at getting back at the APC national leader.
President Buhari’s backing of a faction of the feuding members of the party was also interpreted as a sign of fallout between the President and the party’s national leader. Subsequently, many analysts predicted the fall of the former Lagos governor, who is believed to be nursing a presidential ambition in 2023.
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However, the Presidency in a statement signed by the President’s media aide, Sheu Garba, on Saturday, said that the relationship between the duo remained strong, adding that both are in touch with one another. “Their relationship remains as strong as ever and between the two of them, only they know how they manage their enviable relationship,” the statement said.
The Presidency said that the requests for the Emergency National Executive Committee meeting of the All Progressives Congress (APC) by President Muhammadu Buhari, were unanimously approved. It said that the meeting was aimed at pulling back the party, faced with an existential crisis from the brink of collapse, adding that the meeting followed the party’s constitution and took everyone along.
“While this action has been widely accepted with great relief by lovers of democracy and the rank and file of the membership, we are concerned that political vulturism masquerading as “smart analysis” is selling the commentary that this is a Buhari-Tinubu “showdown.” Nothing can be farther from the truth.
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“To put the records straight: In the formation of this great party and giving it leadership, President Buhari and Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who are reckoned as the founding fathers of the APC are both inspired by democratic norms, national interest and not at all by partisan motivations. These are the qualities that have made them move past cynical distractions.”
It added that opposition parties had used all their intellectuals and supporters in the media to break the relationship between the President and Tinubu and this had failed.
“For President Buhari who has received much of the cynical commentary, Nigerians know him as someone who will not do anything with bad intentions. Neither will he do anything out of partisan motivations or for himself, the statement added.
It explained that the whole exercise was meant to lead to massive reform and overhaul of the leadership of the party. It was ”to save the APC from the imminent self-destruction. We have to move ahead. We have to take everyone with us and ensure that the party is run in accordance with democratic norms and with consensus. We have to work for the benefit of the country.
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“The leaders of the party, who have received two successive massive mandates to govern the country and a majority of the states should be judged by how this exercise turns out in achieving these objectives, not cursed at the mere commencement of the process,” it explained.
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