Leaders of the ruling All Progressives Congress, led by President Bola Tinubu have gathered at the party’s National Secretariat in Abuja for its National Executive Committee, NEC, meeting.

Security was tight around the venue on Blantyre Street, with armed security personnel, including soldiers from the Guards Brigade, blocking all access routes.

Both vehicular and pedestrian movement were restricted, and journalists were kept outside despite an accredited list being released earlier by party spokesman Felix Morka.

Early attendees included all members of the National Working Committee, the Forum of State Chairmen, former Zamfara Governor Abdulaziz Yari, Minister of Budget and National Planning Atiku Bagudu, and Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu. Governors from Edo, Benue, Ondo, Ekiti, Kaduna, Jigawa, Nasarawa, Yobe, Niger, Lagos, Kogi, Ogun, and Imo, along with the deputy governor of Ebonyi and former governors from Kogi, Kebbi, Niger, Zamfara, and Plateau, were also present.

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Notably absent from the meeting were former President Muhammadu Buhari, former Kaduna Governor Nasir El-Rufai, and former Rivers Governor and ex-Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi.

President Tinubu, Vice President Kashim Shettima, Senate President Godswill Akpabio, and Speaker Tajudeen Abbas arrived around noon, with the meeting being presided over by APC National Chairman Abdullahi Ganduje.

This NEC meeting, the first since Tinubu’s inauguration in May 2023, followed the party’s national caucus meeting the previous day at the Presidential Villa.

Some APC leaders, including El-Rufai and former National Vice Chairman Salihu Lukman, have expressed concerns about the lack of internal democracy within the party.

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