Tinubu, Saraki end feud?

Strong indications emerged last night that the national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki have settled the lingering rift between them. Things went awry between the two strong leaders of the party in 2015 following the stubborn resolve of Saraki to go against the party’s directives by refusing to step down from the Senate presidency race.

The APC had rooted for Senator Ahmed Lawan as Senate President, but Saraki due to a lot of maneuverings and brinkmanship sidestepped the party directives by lobbying the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to secure the position of the third most important person in Nigeria. All efforts by the party to enforce its directive proved abortive, a development that many believed may have resulted in the raking up of the legal mess against Saraki over his alleged falsification of assets declaration when he was governor of Kwara State between 2003 and 2007.

Senator Tinubu was widely believed to be behind the actions seen as move to ridicule Saraki in order to humiliate him out of office. It got messier with the recently Samuel Banjoko, a businessman says: “so far so good, he promised us a lot of things that we should expect which we are still expecting. He has only spent one year, things that have not been happening before have started happening. For instance, the revelations by Panama papers leaks which listed other properties owned by the combatants.

It would be recalled that both have openly blasted each other and have avoided each other at public functions, a development that have heightened tension within the party especially between the executive and the Senate.. However, on Monday, things appeared to have changed as both political gladiators agreed to put behind them their differences. It was learnt that both men met shortly after President Muhammadu Buhari hosted federal lawmakers to a luncheon at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

The meeting between the two politicians was believed to have been facilitated by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and the party’s National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun. Saraki and Tinubu reportedly agreed to sheathe their words and work for the progress of the APC. After the meeting, both men were seen sharing jokes and laughing together.