The national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu and former national chairman of the party, Bisi Akande, yesterday met with the President Muhammadu Buhari at the Aso Rock Villa.

No sooner had the duo commenced a closed-door meeting with Buhari in his office than speculations became rife in the social media that Tinubu might have come to submit names of candidates for ministerial appointment to the president.

Tinubu, who spoke to journalists after the meeting that lasted over two hours, debunked rumours that he was at the Presidential Villa to reconcile the ministerial list by pushing for his preferred candidates.

When told that there were rumours that he had come to tinker with the ministerial list, Tinubu simply said, “What can I do about that? They have the right to speculate; they have the right to their lies and I have the right to debunk”.

Asked whether it was true that there is a seeming power tussle between him, Bisi Akande and Atiku, Tinubu said, “Don’t listen to rumours; there is no struggle. Our party is not even looking at the direction of power struggle or any such thing.

“The support structure is to encourage and support the president as you have heard from Chief Bisi Akande, to help him institutionalise his goal, principle and vision for a new Nigeria”.

On criticisms trailing the delay in the ministerial list, Tinubu said, “There are pitfalls in rushing or quick-fix depending upon the depth of the rot. And that rush can cascade into mistakes of unimaginable magnitude.

“There is equally glory and recovery in slowness when you have a slow-fix of a bad foundation. So, to me, I would rather take the one that will last the country and endure for a longer period of time than the rush-hour shopping”.

On allegation by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that the country was drifting into dictatorship under Buhari, Tinubu asked the opposition party to keep their mouths shut if they have nothing to say.

He said: “I disagree with that. He was elected on a platform of democracy. He has adhered to rule of law so far. What is dictatorship about what he has done? He has helped to stimulate the economy in the various states and that is where the people are.

“So, what is dictatorship? And institutional paralysis had occurred in the country. It is very important for a steady man like the president to really help the nation recover from the paralysis and that is what he is doing. So, I don’t see what is dictatorial about that.”

“If they don’t have anything to say, they should rather be quiet. They created what is wrong here today and we can’t sweep that under the carpet. There must be rule of law”.

On his part, Akande said they were at the Villa to discuss with the president about rot piled up for him by past administrations.