Tinubu holds closed-door talks with Speaker Abbas, reps members at Villa

President Bola Tinubu on Friday afternoon held closed-door talks with the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, alongside some Reps members at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

The meeting held shortly after the lawmakers joined the President in observing the Jummah prayer at the State House mosque.

The short gathering, which was not listed on the President’s official schedule for the day, was confirmed by officials who saw Abbas arrive at the Villa alongside other lawmakers, including the Chief Whip of the House of Representatives, Hon. Usman Kumo, who represents the Akko Federal Constituency of Gombe State under the All Progressives Congress.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said they were not privy to the substance of the discussions.

They followed him back to the office after the prayers but I don’t know what they discussed. The chief whip, that reps member from Gombe, Usman Kumo, was with them,” one official said.

“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,” a presidential aide stated.

Online could not confirm the identity of the other lawmakers present at the meeting.

The visit comes barely 48 hours after the extended leadership of the Senate led by Senate President Godswill Akpabio held its own closed-door meeting with Tinubu at the Villa on Wednesday evening

Multiple sources had on Thursday told The PUNCH that the senators had lobbied for automatic return tickets ahead of the 2027 general elections.

However, the President rebuffed the request and reaffirmed the authority of state governors over the selection of candidates in their respective states.

It also comes less than 24 hours after Tinubu met with APC governors on Thursday evening and formally ceded to them the power to drive the primaries process in their states.

Niger State Governor Mohammed Bago had confirmed the decision to journalists after the meeting saying, “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, either consensus or direct primaries.”

The APC has rescheduled its House of Representatives primaries for the for May 15, 2026, and will begin the sale of nomination forms on Saturday.

Tinubu’s reaffirmation of the APC governors’ authority over the selection of candidates in their respective states has deepened anxiety among federal lawmakers, including several senators whose relationships with their governors have been strained.

The President had earlier suggested that he would “do everything within the party’s power” to ensure the return of serving legislators, a promise that raised expectations in the National Assembly.