President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has reportedly summoned dozens of All Progressives Congress (APC) leaders from Osun State to an emergency late-night meeting at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, just days before the August 15 governorship election.
According to the report, about 76 APC leaders were brought to Abuja amid concerns over internal divisions and growing discontent within the Osun chapter of the ruling party. The meeting reportedly focused on the party’s chances of winning the governorship election and the campaign of its candidate, Bola Oyebamiji, popularly known as AMBO.
The reported intervention is significant because it suggests that the APC’s leadership is sufficiently concerned about internal cohesion in Osun to warrant direct presidential intervention.
Why the emergency meeting?
According to sources cited in the report, National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu had presented an intelligence assessment concerning the political situation within the Osun APC. The assessment reportedly indicated dissatisfaction among some party leaders who felt excluded from the party’s affairs and campaign structure.
The leaders allegedly complained about marginalisation and the distribution of federal appointments, with some arguing that appointments from Osun had disproportionately favoured the political camp associated with former governor and current Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola.
The complaints reportedly went beyond appointments. Some party leaders were said to be worried that their political relevance could diminish even if the APC wins the governorship election.
Tinubu reportedly urged the various factions to bury their differences and unite behind Oyebamiji.
A revealing political intervention
The timing of the meeting is particularly striking.
With the election scheduled for Saturday, August 15, the reported decision to bring a large group of state party leaders from Osun to Abuja for a direct meeting with the President indicates that internal party disagreements have become a matter of serious concern for the APC leadership.
The meeting reportedly included former lawmakers, former state assembly speakers and other influential APC figures, including Olubunmi Ete, Mojeed Alabi, Adejare Bello, Wale Afolabi, Shuaib Oyedokun, Poju Odusola, Bode Olanipekun and Babajide Omoworare.
APC National Secretary Ajibola Basiru was reportedly instrumental in coordinating the gathering.
The reported presence of such a broad spectrum of Osun APC figures makes the meeting more than an ordinary campaign strategy session. It appears to have been an attempt to address internal grievances before they translate into electoral consequences.
Tinubu’s warning about past losses
The President reportedly reminded the leaders of APC’s previous setbacks in Osun and urged them not to repeat the mistakes that contributed to those defeats.
That concern is understandable from a purely electoral perspective. The Osun governorship contest is highly competitive, and internal cohesion can significantly influence grassroots mobilisation, polling-unit organisation and voter turnout.
The reported message from Tinubu was therefore essentially a political truce: put aside factional disagreements, mobilise for Oyebamiji and pursue victory first.
But is it really “panic mode”?
Even though APC would disagree that no cause for alarm; what is difficult to ignore, however, is the political symbolism of bringing approximately 76 state party leaders to the Presidential Villa immediately before an election to resolve internal grievances.
Ordinarily, such disputes would be expected to be handled within the state and party structures.
The reported Abuja intervention therefore raises a legitimate political question:
Why did the situation become serious enough for the Presidency to personally summon Osun APC leaders just days before voters go to the polls?
The bigger issue: internal party democracy
The reported grievances also expose a familiar problem in Nigerian political parties: the tension between party unity and internal democracy.
If party leaders genuinely believe that appointments, campaign structures or political opportunities are being distributed according to factional loyalty, the problem cannot be permanently solved by an emergency meeting.
The underlying grievances would need to be addressed through transparent party structures.
And if the APC leadership succeeds in reconciling its factions before Saturday, the meeting could ultimately strengthen the party’s campaign rather than weaken it.
Important caveat
The specific claims about the number of leaders present, the intelligence report attributed to the NSA, individual complaints and the discussions inside the meeting are based on sources cited in the report supplied here. I could not independently verify those details from a strong primary or major-news source in the web search.
Therefore, they should be presented as reported claims, not established facts. The broader context—that Oyebamiji is the APC candidate for the August 15 Osun governorship election—is independently reflected in available reporting.
Bottom line: If the reported 76-member overnight meeting is accurate, it represents an unusually high-level intervention in Osun APC affairs immediately before the election. Whether that is evidence of “panic” or simply aggressive last-minute damage control will ultimately be judged by what happens at the ballot box on August 15.
