Saraki, Oyegun absent at Tinubu colloquium

Senate President Bukola Saraki and John Oyegun, national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), are not at the 10th Bola Tinubu colloquium holding at the Eko Convention Centre in Lagos.

Neither Saraki nor Oyegun issued statements to commemorate with Tinubu on the occasion of his 66th birthday but the senate president tweeted  a birthday message to Tinubu around 7am on Thursday.

Yakubu Dogara, speaker of the house of the representatives, who did not also attend, released a congratulatory message on Wednesday.

There are reports that Tinubu was among those who convinced President Muhammadu Buhari to withdraw his support for the elongation of the tenure of the ruling party’s national working committee.

After the president’s action, Tinubu issued a statement where he lauded Buhari for “saving the party from serious legal turmoil”.

Oyegun and Tinubu fell out after the primary election in Ondo state.

Saraki’s decision to defy the leadership of the party in emerging as the nation’s number three citizen is believed to have irked Tinubu.

However, many senators, governors, ministers, presidential aides and captains of industry were at the programme.