Governor Sanwo-Olu of Lagos lay face down on the ground in front of President Bola Tinubu at a meeting on Sunday, Peoples Gazette heard from multiple sources present, seeking forgiveness from the Nigerian leader after his attempt at political gamesmanship backfired in January.

Mr Sanwo-Olu followed a band of ruling APC loyalists to meet the president at his Queens Drive, Ikoyi, residence Sunday afternoon, after months-long attempts to resolve the fallout fell through.

“The governor prostrated for the president, and the matter was resolved,” a source at the meeting said under anonymity to avoid political backlash. “It was the right thing to do as a Yoruba man.”

The source said that Yoruba best practices dictated that Mr Sanwo-Olu should seek forgiveness from Mr Tinubu, even if Mr Tinubu had been the aggressor.

“Even if the elderly person is the one at fault, it’s the younger person who must still apologise,” the politician added.

The meeting came months after Mr Sanwo-Olu used the president’s name to rally members of the Lagos House of Assembly to topple Mudashiru Obasa as speaker. The January 13 incident was largely successful because Mr Sanwo-Olu deceived Lagos lawmakers, some of them later admitted to The Gazette. Mr Obasa has since been reinstated to office.

Similarly, The Gazette reported that Mr Sanwo-Olu had further ensnared himself in a bitter political feud with the president after it was learnt that he funded his socialite paramour, Aisha Achimugu. Some of the resources Mr Sanwo-Olu piped to Ms Achimugu were later tracked to opposition elements, including Atiku Abubakar. Mr Abubakar, a former vice-president, denied the allegations. Ms Achimugu was charged with corruption earlier this year.

The rancour had fueled a recent social media rumour that Mr Sanwo-Olu might be ousted from office before the expiration of his tenure in 2027. This frenzy caught intense public attention after Mr Tinubu appeared to decline to shake hands with Mr Sanwo-Olu at an event last week.

Mr Sanwo-Olu was an aide to Remi Tinubu when he was tapped to succeed Akinwunmi Ambode as Lagos governor in 2019, engineered almost exclusively by Mr Tinubu’s political machinery in the Nigerian commercial hub.

Today’s detente, attended by members of the Governance Advisory Council—a think tank under Mr Tinubu’s patronage—may finally end the simmering confrontation, which Mr Sanwo-Olu had expected to continue his work as Lagos governor without fear of impeachment.

“The matter was resolved, and we’re happy to hear that,” a spokesman to the president said by telephone Sunday evening. A spokesman for Mr Sanwo-Olu was not immediately available for comment.

It was unclear what Mr Tinubu said at the event; our sources only emphasised, without elaborating, that he accepted Mr Sanwo-Olu’s plea.