APC ready to work with Saraki, Dogara, says Oyegun

The storm  in the All Progressives Congress (APC)  caused  by  Tuesday’s emergence of Dr. Bukola Saraki  as Senate President and Mr. Yakubu Dogara  as House of Representatives Speaker may soon be over.

APC National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, said yesterday that the party had decided to put the matter   behind it and move ahead.

He said “the party is now disposed to working with Dr.Saraki.”

Saraki and Dogara had emerged presiding officers of the two arms of the National  Assembly  against the stand of the  party which  picked  Dr. Ahmed Lawan and Mr.Femi Gbajabiamila  as its candidates for Senate President  and House of Representatives Speaker at a mock election in Abuja last Saturday.

Oyegun, speaking to State House correspondents  at the Defence House, Abuja, after the APC Transition Committee submitted  its report to President Muhammadu Buhari, said  it was  high time the APC  faced  reality  on the dispute, and work with the current leadership of the National Assembly even as the party tries to resolve the issue internally.

“We have faced greater challenges before and this too shall pass away,” he said of the heat generated by the emergence of Saraki and Dogara against the party’s decision.

Asked if the APC was ready to accept Saraki, Odigie-Oyegun said: “Of course, he has been duly elected by his colleagues. We have a reality and we must live with it.”

On Saraki’s  aborted  visit to the APC National Secretariat, Abuja on Thursday, the party chair  said party officials were  not available to receive him as they were out on consultations.

He said: “Nothing went wrong. There were a lot of consultations and you can’t be in two places at the same time and so it was not comfortable for us, but we have been talking.

“We don’t want to make a song and dance of it; everything  is being put in proper perspective.”

He dismissed fears that the dispute over the National Assembly leadership positions could spell doom for the APC, saying: “No. It is not the first or second time we have passed through  this and we came out stronger.

“This may not even be the last time; we come out every time stronger and more determined.”

Asked  about the party’s next line of action, he said: “There is no next step. What has happened is within the APC family and we are sorting it out within the family. People say they are going to court which is their right, but as a party, we are looking at everything and we are coming out strong.”

The party had earlier threatened to sanction Saraki and Dogara for allegedly going against its directive  on candidates for the positions of Senate President and House of Representatives Speaker.

Senator Lawan and his supporters  had also  threatened to challenge Saraki’s election in court.