President Bola Tinubu met with his political rival and close challenger from the 2023 presidential election, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, on Friday afternoon, creating a buzz among worshippers at the National Mosque in Abuja.
This marked the first face-to-face encounter between the two political figures in nearly 20 months since the contentious presidential elections.
Both Tinubu and Atiku attended the Juma’at congregational prayer and later participated in the wedding fatiha of the daughter of former Gombe State governor and current Senator representing Gombe Central, Danjuma Goje, held at the mosque.
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The gathering provided a rare opportunity for the two former allies—who had previously been on opposing sides during the election campaign—to engage in a public setting.
Ahead of the 2023 presidential election, candidates from various political parties, including Tinubu from the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Atiku from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), gathered at the International Conference Centre (ICC) in Abuja to sign a Peace Accord organized by the National Peace Committee (NPC) on February 22, 2023.
The event was attended by prominent figures, including then-President Muhammadu Buhari and former Heads of State, Generals Yakubu Gowon and Abdulsalami Abubakar.
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Since Tinubu’s victory in the 2023 elections—an outcome subsequently challenged in court by Atiku and other opposition candidates—the two politicians had not met in person.
Despite the absence of direct interaction, Atiku has continued to criticize Tinubu’s administration, raising concerns about various policies since the president assumed office on May 29, 2023.
The unexpected meeting at the mosque has sparked conversations among political analysts and supporters alike, as it signals a potential thawing of relations between the two prominent figures in Nigerian politics.
