May 16, (THEWILL) – Nigeria’s President-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, on Monday, received Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, presidential candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) in the February 25 presidential election, in Paris, France.
THEWILL reports that Tinubu is currently in Europe to meet with investors and strategised ahead of his inauguration as President on May 29.
Although the meeting between Tinubu and Kwankwaso has not been officially confirmed, it is coming amid opposition to the zoning of presiding officers of the 10th National Assembly by the All Progressives Congress (APC).
While the APC has 59 Senators-elect and 175 Reps-elect, the NNPP has two and 19 respectively. Only a simple majority of 56 senators and 181 reps are needed to elect the top two leaders in the two Chambers respectively.
Despite a majority seat in the 10th Senate, the APC is currently rocked in crisis over the zoning and endorsement of presiding officers of the 10th National Assembly.
According to TheCable, discussion between the President-elect and Kwankwaso centred around issues of the leadership of the National Assembly ahead of the June 13 inauguration of the Legislative Chambers.
The lobby is to ensure that lawmakers elected on the platform of the NNPP support the zoning arrangement of the APC for presiding officers.
Quoting insiders, TheCable said the meeting, which started at 12.30pm and ended at 4.45pm, had the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila and Abdulmumin Jibrin, an NNPP rep-elect, in attendance.
It also reported that Kwankwaso, in principle, agreed to join Tinubu’s government subject to consultation with the stakeholders.
Tinubu is expected to brief Kashim Shettima, the Vice President-elect, APC Governors Forum and other party leaders while Kwankwaso will do same with his party leadership.
