President Bola Tinubu on Friday held a closed-door meeting with the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, and some members of the House at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Saturday PUNCH learnt that the Friday’s meeting, which was not on the President’s official schedule, took place shortly after the lawmakers joined him for Jummah prayers at the State House Mosque.
Officials at the Villa confirmed that Abbas arrived alongside other lawmakers, including the Chief Whip of the House, Usman Kumo, who represents Akko Federal Constituency of Gombe State under the All Progressives Congress.
However, details of the discussions were not disclosed as of press time.
“They followed him back to the office after the prayers but I don’t know what they discussed. The Chief Whip, Usman Kumo, was with them,” a source said.
Another presidential aide said the visit was part of ongoing strategic engagements between the President and federal lawmakers ahead of the 2027 general elections.
“You know the senators came for their own meeting on Wednesday and now the Reps. But you can’t say if they are asking for the same thing the senators want,” the aide added.
The meeting came barely 48 hours after the President met with the leadership of the Senate at the Villa on Wednesday evening.
Tinubu, who also met with state governors on Thursday night, had earlier rejected calls for automatic tickets for senators, instead empowering state executives to oversee the party primaries process ahead of the 2027 elections.
Niger State Governor, Mohammed Bago, confirmed after the meeting that Tinubu directed governors to oversee primaries in line with the Electoral Act, whether through consensus or direct primaries.
“He gave us a matching order on what to do for him. He has ceded his executive power to the governors to go ahead and conduct primaries based on the Electoral Act,” Bago said.
The APC has already fixed its House of Representatives primaries for May 15, 2026, with sale of nomination forms expected to begin on Saturday.
The President’s recent engagements with lawmakers and governors have intensified political realignments within the ruling party, particularly among federal legislators whose return bids for 2027 may now depend heavily on state party structures.
Political observers say the sequence of meetings signals early negotiations and power balancing within the APC ahead of what is expected to be a highly competitive 2027 election cycle.
