Leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) have assembled at the party’s National Secretariat in Abuja for its National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting.
Security was heightened around the venue on Blantyre Street, with armed personnel, including soldiers from the Guards Brigade, blocking access roads. Vehicular and pedestrian movements were restricted, and journalists, despite being accredited earlier in the day, were kept outside.
Among the early arrivals were members of the National Working Committee (NWC), 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 several former governors, were also in attendance.
Notably absent from the meeting were former President Muhammadu Buhari, ex-Kaduna Governor Nasir El-Rufai, and former Rivers Governor and ex-Transport Minister Rotimi Amaechi.
President Bola Tinubu, Vice President Kashim Shettima, Senate President Godswill Akpabio, and Speaker Tajudeen Abbas arrived at noon, with APC National Chairman Abdullahi Ganduje presiding over the session.
This NEC meeting, the first since Tinubu assumed office in May 2023, follows a national caucus meeting held a day earlier at the Presidential Villa.
Some APC figures, including El-Rufai and former National Vice Chairman Salihu Lukman, have previously criticized the party’s leadership over concerns about internal democracy.
