President Muhammadu Buhari is not attending the annual colloquium to mark the 70th birthday of former Lagos State Governor, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu today, The Quest Times can report.
Our findings revealed that Buhari will not be attending the event due to other pressing State matters.
The president’s close aides add that he had already issued a public congratulatory message to Tinubu yesterday.
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According to our sources, the President’s absence from the colloquium is a move that may further dampen the presidential ambition of former Lagos State Governor Tinubu.
There could be some political undercurrents or undertones to the president’s no-show.
Normally, Tinubu’s birthday is celebrated by the holding of a talk-shop or colloquium on a major topic of public interest.
The annual event has held mostly in Lagos, but has held a couple of times in Abuja, the nation’s capital city, as well.
A top presidential aide tells Quest Times exclusively that the president has other engagements on his plate and will likely send a representative.
It was not clear whether Vice President Yemi Osinbajo was also invited, as at press time, but Aso Villa sources tell Quest Times that he may also not be leaving town. He has also already issued a message of congratulations, where he prayed for the former Governor.
Although President Buhari has not publicly said anything one way or the other on Tinubu’s 2023 presidential aspirations, many observers say that his body language shows he may not be supporting the former Lagos Governor for the APC presidential ticket ahead of the 2023 elections, mainly because he is opposed to a possible Muslim-Muslim ticket; and also because he doesn’t want the ticket given to the highest bidder.
He made the latter point publicly on Saturday at the APC Convention.
But if the president were to attend the event, it would have been seen as a boost for Tinubu’s presidential campaign and add some weight to the birthday talk-shop. His absence at the event would no doubt be seen by political pundits as the nation’s number one citizen further distancing himself from the “lifelong ambition” of Tinubu.
The last time the president attended Tinubu’s birthday was in 2018 in Lagos.
However, the vice president, who is the founder of the Bola Tinubu Colloquium, has been attending the birthday event in the last 12 years of the Colloquium.
In his congratulatory message, Vice President Osinbajo says: “It gives Dolapo and I great pleasure to send you our heartfelt birthday felicitations. And it is a unique one indeed; the Platinum Jubilee and the completion of yet another remarkable decade.”
