Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is reportedly furious over the lack of support from some members of the party ahead of next year's presidential election.
Tinubu who visited the national secretariat of the party for a meeting with the APC national chairman, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, and members of his National Working Committee, is said to be frustrated by the crisis in the party and is wary of the impact it may have on his chances of becoming the next president.
According to a source familiar with the matter, Tinubu's visit was to seek the assurances of the party's national Chairman, Adamu, that he would not only ensure he wins the next election, but to also tackle potential threats to his (Tinubu's) ambition.
Tinubu also expressed willingness to accept input from Adamu into his campaign team whilst expressing confidence that the APC national chairman would do nothing to undermine his victory in next February’s general elections.
He said: “It is a great matter of joy and honour for us to be here, especially me in particular, to interact with the team that authorised my becoming the candidate of our party.
“I have not been able to say sincerely thank you since that primary and we have hit the ground running, especially as the unveiling of our running mate was held outside this headquarters.
"To all the members in attendance that day, we want to say thank you. We have come together as a political party and we have taken progressivism as our doctrine. We have to be progressive in our thinking, our deeds and objective to serve the country.
“Yes, I admit that democracy is challenging, very hard and difficult a system to manage. We have seen challenges left and right outside international sphere of politics, but we are determined to ensure that we democratise Nigeria fully and remain a beckon of democracy as the largest nation of the black race in the world.
“Thank you so much for the good job you have been doing. I sincerely thank you for the cooperation and collaboration particularly the chairman for the various wisdom and interactions that we have been having together.
“To the rumour manufacturers, I read in some papers about disagreement between myself and the chairman and that was a very big lie. They didn’t know that we have come a long way. The big masquerade dance is not in the cage but in the market square.
“And that is what Adamu used to be: full of wisdom, we were governors together before God put us together on this project again. He is going to deliver as the Chairman of the party for me to become the president of Nigeria. And I am very confident of that.
“They can say whatever they want to say, throw all the jabs that they want, we are a party strongly determined to fulfil our dreams of turning Nigeria into a very progressive, highly developed, prosperous country."