Abba Hamisu Sani
Africa-Press – Nigeria. Tinubu i s the Nigerian President elect. under the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress – APC during the 25th February Presidential election.
During the keenly contested election which Tinubu emerged winner ,former vice President Atiku Abubakar of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) became second while ,Peter Obi of Labour Party was third and former Kano State Governor who was the New Nigeria Peoples Party – ANPP candidate emerged forth.
Shortly after the declaration of Tinubu as the President elect. by the Independent National electoral Commission INEC .He announced to form a government of National unity through integrating other people outside his party into his upcoming government.
Based on this Tinubu continues to consult with different politicians and other technocrats, among whom he recently met in Paris is the presidential candidate of New Nigeria Political Party Engineer Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso.
The Paris meeting between Tinubu and Kwankwaso
Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the president-elect, and Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, who flew the flag of New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) in the February 25 presidential election, met for four hours in Paris, France, on Monday 15th May.
Many Nigerian Print and electronic media reported that the center of discussion of the meeting was the potential involvement of Kwankwaso in the incoming administration as Tinubu plans to form a “government of national unity” — which means giving certain positions to opposition parties.
The meeting also discussed issues around the election of the legislative leaders ahead of the June 13 inauguration of the 10th national assembly.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has zoned the two top positions in both chambers but some of its members are kicking against the formula and threatening to go into an alliance with the opposition to torpedo the arrangement.
While APC has 59 senators and 175 members of the houses of representative Members, NNPP has two Senators and 19 lower chamber members respectively.
A simple majority of 56 senators and 181 reps are needed to elect the top two leaders in the respective chambers.
Tinubu’s representatives have also been meeting with key figures in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) According to The Cable newspaper.
The Paris meeting between Tinubu and Kwankwaso started at 12.30 pm and ended at 4.45 pm, insiders told TheCable.
Femi Gbajabiamila, speaker of the house of representative and presumptive chief of staff to the president-elect, attended the meeting while Abdulmumin Jibrin, an NNPP rep-elect and former leader of a Tinubu campaign organization, accompanied Kwankwaso.
Oluremi Tinubu, senator and wife of president-elect Kwankwaso’s wife, Salamatu.
TheCable learnt that Tinubu and Kwankwaso reminisced on their relationship dating back to the national assembly in 1992.
Tinubu was a senator while Kwankwaso was deputy speaker in the house of reps.
The possibility of Kwankwaso’s joining Tinubi’s Government
TheCable news paper said it understands that Kwankwaso, in principle, agreed to join Tinubu’s government subject to consultations with the stakeholders on both sides.
Tinubu is expected to brief Kashim Shettima, the vice-president elect, APC governors forum and other party leaders while Kwankwaso will do the same with his party leadership.
TheCable learnt that Tinubu expressed concern over the strained relations between Abdullahi Ganduje, outgoing governor of Kano state, and Kwankwaso, and promised to broker peace between them.
Ganduje was deputy to Kwankwaso when he was governor of Kano from 1999-2003 and 2011 to 2015 but they parted ways.
Tinubu polled 8,797,726 votes to win the presidential election, beating PDP’s Atiku Abubakar by a margin of two million.
However, Kwankwaso polled 1.5 million which many analysts believe were votes that could have gone to Atiku if the former Kano governor had not defected from the PDP.
Many Political analysts are of the view that Kwankwaso might join Tinubu’s Government since he refused to join other Presidential candidates and their parties at the presidential election petition Tribunal.
For More News And Analysis About Nigeria Follow Africa-Press
