Lokman said Zahid should not have given Akmal the go-ahead to hold the special Umno Youth convention last Saturday.

He recalled an incident in Kepala Batas last year, when Akmal allegedly reneged on a promise to Zahid following a controversy over the Malaysian flag being displayed upside-down.

“He should not have been given the permission to hold the convention,” he told FMT.

FMT had previously reported that Zahid agreed to the convention only on the condition that there would be no discussion of withdrawing from the unity government and no criticism of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.

Lokman went on to claim that Akmal had promised not to attend the Kepala Batas gathering.

“The president himself thanked him for deciding not to proceed. But a few days later, he attended the gathering anyway,” he said.

On Aug 10 last year, Akmal said the Umno Youth wing would visit a hardware store in Kepala Batas accused of hoisting the Jalur Gemilang upside-down. The following day, the gathering was postponed due to unavoidable circumstances.

Despite this, on Aug 14, Akmal led a gathering of over 500 Umno Youth members outside the shop.

When Akmal opened the convention on Saturday, he claimed that the assembly had been approved by Zahid.

He also claimed that Zahid told him that he would back calls by grassroots members to exit the unity government.

Akmal said this in response to claims that he did not get Zahid’s blessing to hold the convention and that he was going against the party leadership.

He was reported to have said: “I want to make it clear – Zahid was the first person to agree to this convention. I told him that if we were to ‘pull the handbrake’ and leave the government today, he would be the first to be targeted.

“But Zahid told me that if this is what the grassroots want, he is prepared to fight all the way.”