Leaders of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) have converged at the National Secretariat of the party for its National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting in the nation’s capital, Abuja.
All roads leading to the venue of the meeting on Blantyre Street were cordoned off by a combined team of armed security men including soldiers from the Guards Brigade.
Vehicular and human movements on Blantyre Street were also restricted just as journalists were kept outside despite the release of an accredited list of reporters on Wednesday morning by the party spokesman, Felix Morka.
Some early arrivals at the venue include all National Working Committee (NWC) members; Forum of State Chairmen; former governor of Zamfara State, Abdulaziz Yari; Minister of Budget and National Planning, Atiku Bagudu; and Deputy Speaker, Benjamin Kalu.
Governors of Edo, Benue, Ondo, Ekiti, Kaduna, Jigawa, Nasarawa, Yobe, Niger, Lagos, Kogi, Ogun, Imo, deputy governor of Ebonyi and former governors of Kogi, Kebbi, Niger, Zamfara, and Plateau were in attendance.
Conspicuously absent from the NEC meeting were former President Muhammadu Buhari; former Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai; and former Governor of Rivers State and ex-Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi.
The leader of the party, President Bola Tinubu, Vice President Kashim Shetimma, Senate President Goodwill Akpabio, and Speaker Tajudeen Abbas arrived at the venue at noon. The meeting was presided over by APC National Chairman Abdullahi Ganduje.
The NEC meeting, the first since Tinubu’s assumption of office in May 2023, comes a day after the national caucus meeting of the party at the Presidential Villa also in Abuja.
Some APC chieftains including El-Rufai and an ex-National Vice Chairman of the party Salihu Lukman had complained about the lack of internal democracy in the ruling.