In a significant political maneuver, President Bola Tinubu convened a late-night meeting of the All Progressives Congress (APC) National Caucus on Thursday, December 18, 2025, at the State House in Abuja. This gathering served as a crucial preparatory session for the party’s upcoming National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting, the highest statutory decision-making body within the APC structure.
The strategic meeting, attended by the party’s most influential figures, underscores the importance of internal consensus-building in Nigerian politics. The attendance list read as a who’s who of the ruling party: Vice President Kashim Shettima, former Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, Senate President Godswill Akpabio, alongside a powerful bloc of serving and former governors, National Assembly leaders, and senior stakeholders from all six geopolitical zones. This composition highlights the caucus’s role as an elite, pre-NEC clearinghouse for major party decisions.
President Tinubu seized the occasion to deliver a pointed charge to the state governors present. His focus was twofold: a renewed emphasis on grassroots development and a firm directive on implementing the Supreme Court ruling for local government financial autonomy. “There is no autonomy without a funded mandate. We will give them their money directly. That is the truth. That is compliance with the Supreme Court,” Tinubu stated unequivocally. This directive is not merely administrative; it’s a profound political shift. By bypassing state coffers to fund local governments directly, the federal government aims to weaken the financial stranglehold of governors, potentially reshaping patronage networks and empowering local tiers—a move with far-reaching implications for governance and political loyalty.
The APC National Caucus, by convention, serves as the strategic inner circle that meets prior to the broader NEC gathering. Its membership—including the President, Vice-President, former presidents and vice-presidents from the party, governors, and zonal representatives—allows for frank discussions and the harmonization of positions before they are presented to the larger, more diverse NEC body. This tiered meeting structure is designed to ensure party discipline and present a united front, preventing public discord during the official NEC proceedings.
According to insights from the meeting, the agenda extended beyond local government autonomy. The core objectives were to reinforce party cohesion, strengthen internal discipline, and align on organizational priorities ahead of the NEC. In practical terms, this likely involved discussions on:
– State-Level Coordination: Harmonizing party activities and messaging across the 36 states to present a unified national front.
– Stakeholder Alignment: Managing the diverse interests of the party’s various blocs—legislators, governors, ministers, and the party bureaucracy.
– Future Strategy: Deliberating on the party’s direction amidst national challenges, setting the tone for the NEC’s formal deliberations.
The timing and substance of this caucus meeting reveal a leadership focused on consolidating internal party control and driving a specific governance agenda. By addressing the governors collectively on the sensitive issue of local government funds, President Tinubu is asserting federal authority and attempting to centralize a key aspect of the party’s reform narrative. The success of this pre-NEC harmonization will be tested in the outcomes of the Friday meeting and, more importantly, in the tangible implementation of the discussed policies across the federation. This event is less about a routine meeting and more a window into the ongoing power dynamics and strategic calculus within Nigeria’s ruling party.
