Politics
Why Tinubu And Kwankwaso Met For Four Hours In Paris – Report
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Tinubu and Kwankwaso were on opposite sides in the February 25 presidential election.
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While the former emerged victorious according to figures released by the electoral commission, the latter was far behind.
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There are now indications that both politicians may work together in the future.
Eko Hot Blog reports that President-elect Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the candidate of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) in the February 25 presidential election, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, met for four hours in Paris, France, on Monday, according to The Cable.
The online newspaper reported that the meeting focused on Kwankwaso’s “potential involvement” in the incoming administration of Tinubu.
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The president-elect is said to be planning to form a “government of national unity,” essentially giving certain positions to opposition parties.
Monday’s meeting between the two leaders also reportedly featured discussions around the election of the legislative leaders ahead of the June 13 inauguration of the 10th national assembly.
The All Progressives Congress (APC), Tinubu’s party, has zoned the two top positions in both chambers but some of its members are kicking against the formula and threatening to go in alliance with the opposition to torpedo the arrangement.
While APC has 59 senators and 175 members of the House of Representatives, NNPP has two and 19 respectively.
A simple majority of 56 senators and 181 representatives are needed to elect the senate president and speaker respectively.
Former NNPP presidential candidate, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso and President-elect Bola Tinubu
Tinubu and Kwankwaso also reportedly reminisced on their relationship dating back to the national assembly in 1992.
The former was a senator while the latter was deputy speaker in the House.
According to The Cable, Kwankwaso, in principle, agreed to join Tinubu’s government subject to consultations with the stakeholders on both sides.
The former Lagos governor is expected to brief Vice President-elect Kashim Shettima, APC governors forum and other party leaders while Kwankwaso will do same with his party leadership.
The Paris meeting between Tinubu and Kwankwaso was reported to have started at 12.30pm and ended at 4.45pm, according to insiders who spoke with TheCable.
Speaker of the House and presumptive chief of staff to the president-elect, Femi Gbajabiamila, attended the meeting while an NNPP rep-elect and former leader of a Tinubu campaign organisation, Abdulmumin Jibrin, accompanied Kwankwaso.
Jibrin has been reportedly scheming to have the opposition parties produce the next speaker of the House.
Tinubu polled 8,797,726 votes to win the presidential election, beating Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the runner-up, by a margin of nearly two million.
However, Kwankwaso polled 1.5 million votes which many analysts believe were votes that could have gone to Atiku if the former Kano governor had not defected from the PDP.
Tinubu’s representatives are also said to be meeting with key figures in the PDP.
FURTHER READING
The NNPP did not join the PDP and the Labour Party in challenging the outcome of the presidential election at the election petitions tribunal.
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