LunagisthubTinubu Meets Speaker Abbas, House Members at Villa After Mosque: 2027 Ticket Tension Grows
President Bola Tinubu held private talks with House of Representatives Speaker Tajudeen Abbas and other lawmakers at the Presidential Villa on Friday afternoon, April 24, 2026 — just 48 hours after a similar closed-door meeting with Senate leaders.
The meeting happened right after the lawmakers joined Tinubu for Jummah prayer at the State House mosque. Though not on the President’s official schedule, Villa officials confirmed Abbas arrived with several Reps members, including House Chief Whip Usman Kumo of Akko Federal Constituency, Gombe State.
Officials who saw the lawmakers enter Tinubu’s office wouldn’t share details.
“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, speaking anonymously.
A presidential aide added context: “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.” PUNCH could not confirm which other lawmakers attended.
The House members’ visit comes two days after Senate President Godswill Akpabio led extended Senate leadership to meet Tinubu on Wednesday evening. Multiple sources told The PUNCH that senators lobbied for automatic return tickets ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Tinubu reportedly shut that down. He told senators that state governors control candidate selection in their states, not Abuja.
And on Thursday evening, Tinubu doubled down. After meeting APC governors, he formally handed them power to run primaries in their states. Niger State Governor Mohammed Bago confirmed it to journalists:
“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 now set House of Representatives primaries for May 15, 2026, with sale of nomination forms starting Saturday.
Tinubu’s move to empower governors has raised anxiety among federal lawmakers. Several senators and Reps members have strained relationships with their state governors — and without Abuja backing, their 2027 tickets look shaky.
First senators, now Reps members. Tinubu is meeting National Assembly leadership back-to-back as 2027 politics heat up. But his message is clear: governors run the primaries. For lawmakers hoping for automatic tickets, that’s bad news.
Want daily updates on 2027 politics, APC primaries, and National Assembly moves? Subscribe to our free politics newsletter for insider reports
Lunagisthub
