Former Prime Minister and UK envoy to the Middle East, Tony Blair, has confirmed he held a private meeting with the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Gen Muhammadu Buhari(retd) in London during the weekend.

Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State had claimed Gen Buhari was not in any meeting with Tony Blair, but that the former head of state had checked into a London hospital. He claimed the APC photo-shopped a photo showing Tony Blair, Buhari, Governor Amosu of Ogun State and former Kwara State Governor, Bukola Saraki.

Vanguard contacted Tony Blair’s office and got confirmation that the former Prime Minister did had a meeting with the APC candidate.

In an e-mail response to Vanguard’s inquiry, Rianne Buter, Senior Media Manager at The Office of Tony Blair,  said: “ Mr. Blair had a private meeting with General Muhammadu Buhari in London,” adding that “Mr. Blair hopes to visit Nigeria shortly when he will see the President.”

It will be recalled that Fayose had claimed the photo of Buhari meeting with Blair was photo-shopped.

In a statement by his Special Assistant on Communication and New Media, Lere Olayinka, Fayose said, “Without doubt, it is obvious that this cabal in the APC is trying so hard to deceive Nigerians on Buhari’s health status. That’s the reason they have been using ‘Photo-shopped’ pictures to defend their lies on Buhari’s UK trip.

‪”First, they used a March 5, 2013 picture, claiming that Buhari was taking a walk in London on Thursday. Later they came up with another poorly cropped picture of Buhari with former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair.

Source: VANGUARD