Nigeria: Buhari Meets Blair in London, to Address Chatham House Thursday

The presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) yesterday, in London, met with former British Prime Minister, Mr. Tony Blair.

Ogun State Governor, Ibikunle Amosun and former governor of Kwara, Senator Bukola Saraki, were in company with the presidential hopeful at the meeting.

Though the discussions at the meeting were not immediately known, it is in continuation of his working visit to the United Kingdom.

Saraki who tweeted a group photograph of participants at the meeting, shortly after the meeting, wrote, “Just finished a meeting with @Govsia @ThisIsBuhari and @tonyblairoffice.”

It would be recalled that the Buhari campaign organisation had on Friday announced that he (Buhari) had departed for the UK on a short working visit and that in the course of the visit; he would hold meetings with key members of the British political establishment and interact with some global institutions with interest in the affairs of Nigeria.

“General Buhari would hopefully give a talk at the prestigious foreign policy hub, the Royal Institute of International Affairs, Chatham House in London,” the campaign organisation’s spokesperson, Garba Shehu, said.

In another statement issued yesterday, the director, Directorate of Media and Publicity of the APC Presidential Campaign Organisation (APCPCO), Malam Garba Shehu, confirmed that Buhari will honour his speaking engagement at the Royal Institute of International Affairs, Chatham House in London scheduled for Thursday, February 26, 2015. The statement said that Chatham House will host the event and send out invitations on Monday, February 23.

It further indicated that as part of his ongoing engagement in the United Kingdom, Buhari had an interview on Friday with a local medium, “All Eyes on Africa TV Show” with Kemi Fajodutimi and met with a former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, Saturday morning.

Shehu disclosed that Buhari left the London residence of the Awujale of Ijebuland, Oba Sikiru Kayode Adetona, at about 1:30pm UK time and returned to his rented flat in the city.

Meanwhile, the APCPCO has appealed to President Goodluck Jonathan to call Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State to order over his continued pestering of their candidate, General Buhari, with falsehood and death wishes.

Shehu said the APC had learnt on good authority that Fayose had hired people in London, who have been trailing the its presidential candidate while on his working visit in London.

“Let it be on record that knowing Governor Fayose’s antecedents, we are not leaving anything to chance. The governor, who has published death-wish advertorials on Buhari, will stop at nothing. If anything should happen to General Muhammadu Buhari while in London or anywhere, the authorities over there in the UK and at home should know who to hold responsible,” he said.