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Tag: Bukola Saraki

  • Okupe tips Saraki, Tambuwal as best aspirants for PDP

    A former Presidential spokesperson and chieftain of the Accord Party, Dr Doyin Okupe has tipped Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki as the only outstanding aspirant who the odd favours to defeat President Muhammadu Buhari, among all the Presidential aspirants in the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP).

    President Buhari of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) announced his intention to seek a re-election few months ago and he is most likely to be the party’s sole candidate as the incumbent.

    Speaking as a guest on a morning show which had discussions on the 2019 Presidential election, on Arise TV, Okupe projected that the 2019 presidential election will be between President Muhammadu Buhari on one side against Dr Bukola Saraki, former Vice President, Abubakar Atiku, or Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto state. The trio recently dumped the APC for the PDP.

    According to the former Presidential spokesperson, “there are two platforms on which any candidate can win a Presidential election in Nigeria; the first is by winning the Northwest and Northeast with Southern majority, the second platform is by clearing votes in the Southeast, Southwest, Southsouth and the Middlebelt. It doesn’t matter what votes come from the North, with this second strategy, a candidate will win the Presidential election convincingly.”

    He said those are the tested strategies winning presidential election in Nigeria.

    Analysing the chances of the three Presidential hopefuls, Okupe said “I see Tambuwal as a young politician from the Northwest and people have been clamouring for the return of power to the Northwest, that if you really want to defeat Buhari in an election, you need somebody from the Northwest who can divide the vote. Though he has the experience, exposure and acceptability that Nigerians can follow, but I don’t see Tambuwal in that capacity to divide the northern votes.”

    On former Vice President Abubakar Atiku, Dr Okupe said “of all the aspirants, Atiku is perhaps the most ready because he’s been contesting for long. But he is not as acceptable in the North as you would have expected a Northern candidate should be. I think Buhari is faring better even in the Northeast than Atiku. That is not enough like I said earlier, if he can gather support from the South, he is good to go.  He has been dutiful in preparing for this and he has the war chest to go for it.”

    Read Also: Okupe’s exit a non-issue – Ogun PDP

    Speaking on Senate President Bukola Saraki’s chances, Okupe said “among all the three, my best is Bukola Saraki. He has a good background of responsibility, pedigree, he is well educated, extremely exposed, knowledgeable and intrinsically intelligent. He has done excellently well since becoming Chairman of National Assembly and the present NASS under him has performed better than any we’ve ever had.

    “His emergence will give us a President that could stand with President Emmanuel Macron of France and you will not be scared of what he is going to say. Someone who can stand to talk at the United Nations (UN) and you can be confident and proud as a Nigerian.”

    On the geographical strategy, Okupe said “Buhari already holds the Northeast and Northwest, and if you want to battle with him you don’t go to his stronghold and start battling with him, it doesn’t make any sense, because as it stands today, no Nigerian politician can severely damage Buhari’s electoral reservoir in the North. The wise thing to do is to go to where he is weak like the Middlebelt.

    “If Saraki emerges on the platform of the Middlebelt, all he needs to do to weaken Buhari’s northern stronghold is to gather support from Southeast, Southsouth and Southwest, since it is very clear that Buhari will lose all the Middlebelt states including Kaduna,” he added.

    “That a candidate cannot break Buhari’s stronghold of the North does not mean the candidate cannot win the presidential election, it’s a fallacy.”

    The Accord Party chieftain further explained that “Former President Goodluck Jonathan won in 2011 with Southern majority and the Middlebelt. Despite the fact that the North voted Buhari, Jonathan still won with Southern majority and the Middlebelt votes.

    “In 2015, Buhari didn’t get any substantial votes in the Southeast and Southsouth, but he won based on the votes from the Northwest, Northeast, Southwest and some parts of the Middlebelt.”

  • APC has made Saraki current issue in Nigerian politics – Senators

    Chairman, Senate Committee on Navy, Senator Isah Hamma Misau and his counterpart in the Committee on Banking, Insurance and Other Financial Institutions, Senator Rafiu Adebayo Ibrahim, on Wednesday said that the manner in which the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) left all issues which should get serious attention from the ruling party and focused on attacking  Bukola Saraki has made the Senate President the issue in Nigerian politics.

    In a statement signed by the two Senators, they queried whether the APC is being fair to Nigeria by allegedly focusing on one individual and making him the subject of all discussions instead of telling Nigerians what APC has done in the last 38 months that it has been in power.

    The duo said, “This is the first time in the history of the country that the ruling party will leave the issue of its achievements and start blaming its failure on just one individual, no matter who the individual is. It is also the first time a ruling party will plan to hoodwink Nigerians by saying everything wrong under its watch is due to the action and inaction of one man.

    “APC has devoted all the time and knowledge of their national chairman, national leader, publicity Secretary, four senators and two presidential aides to the daily abuse of Saraki, such that it appears as if Saraki is the only politician in Nigeria today. They have made Saraki the issue in Nigerian politics today. If these individuals devote the energy they are exerting on Saraki to finding solutions to the security problem, economic crisis and collapse of infrastructure, among them, they will come out with some action plan, except they are only skillful in mischief making.

    “We can see through this plot. The plan is to get Saraki so engrossed in the battle for survival in the Senate and the pummeling from the APC cabal such that he will have no time to pursue his aspiration for 2019. However, this is a short time strategy. It will not work. That is why the man remains unfazed by the antics.

    “We are surprised that all the decisions that the Senate took as an institution is now blamed on Saraki. Are we also going to give the credit of all the achievements of the Senate to Saraki as well?

    Read Also: PDP: Saraki calls for unity to win 2019 elections

    “The laws that have been signed by the  President and which led to the World Bank improving the rating of Nigeria in the Ease of Doing Business Report, the Petroleum Industry Governance Bills which broke the jinx of over 14 years on the law, the progressive constitution amendment bills, the five anti-corruption laws, and many others, as well as the fact that the 8th Senate has done better than the previous ones in terms of number of bills passed, the petitions successfully treated and the various interventions: will all these be credited to Saraki  and not the entire Senate?

    “You blame a man for what an institution lawfully did. Is this not dishonest?

    “Senate leader, Ahmed Lawan who moved the motion for our adjournment till September 25 and the Minority Leader, Senator Godswill Akpabio who seconded the motion are in APC, yet they kept quiet when all the falsehood is being peddled now that Saraki “unilaterally and hurriedly adjourn the Senate”.

    “These Senators kept quiet about their roles simply because they want to be good boys. When the motion for adjournment was carried by voice vote, no dissenting voice was heard.

    “Many people who are grandstanding now do not care how history will record their roles. How can those who play key roles in the Senate now turn round and be blaming everything on one man? Is Saraki now a superman? Is he not just one Senator like each and every one of us?

    “Let us play back all the tape records of the Senate proceedings. Which of the decisions that are now being criticized did the APC pretenders in the Senate oppose? Of the ten- man Senate leadership, five of them are in APC.

    “Those who enjoy privileges in the Senate now look the other way when the Presidency is complaining.”

    “We abide by the principle of collective responsibility. This Eighth Senate under Saraki has done well. It has set a standard that the legislature should not be an appendage of the executive. It is an independent arm of government. Both arms need to extend the hands of fellowship to each other and the duty to work for co-operation does not lie on just one of them.

    “We will however warn the APC that they will meet a match in those of us in PDP if they try to foment trouble in the Senate whenever we resume.

    ”They have made many attempts to subvert this Senate, including stealing of our mace, brutalizing of members of staff of the Senate, invasion of the Senate complex with hooded and masked security agents, refusal to sign important bills, using security agents and anti-corruption agencies to intimidate members and the leadership as well as initiating malicious prosecution against members.”

  • Saraki: PDP calls for arrest of Miyetti Allah leader

    The leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party ( PDP ) has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately order the arrest of the National Coordinator of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association in Benue State, Alhaji Garus Gololo.

    Gololo had, in an interview published in a national newspaper on Wednesday, called on the President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki to resign his position or be forced to do so.

    Gololo however, did not state how the association intend to force Saraki out of office.

    But in a reaction Wednesday by the spokesman of the PDP, Kola Ologbondiyan, described the outburst of the Miyetti Allah leader as being in tandem with the threats by the leadership of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and “agents of the Buhari Presidency” to force Saraki out of office.

    Saying Gololo’s outburst was “ominous and revealing”, the PDP noted that his statement has exposed the synergy between the APC and some “troublesome elements” who are being used to stoke division and create violent crisis that had resulted into daily bloodlettings in various parts of the country.

    The statement said, “It is now abundantly clear to Nigerians that those fomenting crisis, including the bloody clashes in Benue, Taraba, Zamfara, Nassarawa, Plateau, Kaduna, Edo, Borno, Yobe, Enugu, Kogi, Adamawa and other states in our country, have political backers, who now want to channel them to achieve their unpatriotic quest to subvert our constitution and forcefully take over the National Assembly.

    “Before now, to majority of Nigerians, the Miyetti Allah has always represented the military wing of the APC and the Buhari Presidency. It is incontrovertible that they have now become the fourth arm of government that can determine when and how to forcefully remove the number three citizen, the President of the Senate.

    “It is common knowledge that Mr. President has come under heavy public criticisms on how his body language has condoned the unguarded utterances and actions of these characters.

    “However, in the light of these treasonable and inciting utterances by Miyetti Allah, we demand that President Muhammadu Buhari, should within the next 24 hours, order the arrest and commence immediate trial of the leadership of this group, otherwise Nigerians will henceforth hold him directly responsible for the utterances and actions of the Miyetti Allah.

    “Finally, the PDP is aware that Miyetti Allah does not represent the views and interests of the vast majority of cattle breeders or even any ethnic group in the country.

    “We therefore urge all good spirited Nigerians to rise in condemnation of the actions and utterances of these misguided elements, who are being used to attempt a constitutional breach that portends grave danger to national cohesion and our hard earned democracy”.

  • Saraki, Ahmad, Sulu-Gambari worship with Muslims in llorin

    The Senate President Dr Bukola Saraki, the Speaker of the Kwara House of Assembly, Dr Ali Ahmad and the Emir of Ilorin Alhaji lbrahim Sulu-Gambari were among the dignitaries and thousands of Muslim faithful, who performed the two rakaat prayers commemorating Eid el-Kabir in llorin on Tuesday.

    The News Agency of Nigeria  reports that the prayer which lasted less than ten minutes, amidst tight security, was led by the Chief lmam of llorin, Alhaji Abdullahi AbdulHameed.

    The Chief Imam immediately after the prayer slaughtered a ram at the Eid praying ground and urged other Muslim faithful, of sufficient means, to do the same in their homes.

    The chief Imam urged Muslims to use the Sallah to show love, harmony and peaceful co-existence with one another, irrespective of ethnic or religious affiliations.

    According to him, Eid-el Kabir is not for drinking and eating alone, but to appreciate Allah.

    Read Also: Peace remains most critical need – Ishaku

    Abdul-Hameed urged Muslims to always be good ambassadors of their religion and use their wealth to further propagate Islam.

    The Emir of Ilorin, Alhaji Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari called on Nigerians to uphold the significance of Eid-el Kabir, such as total trust and obedience to God, to accelerate the pace of economic recovery.

    The monarch charged Muslims to sustain the relative peace and harmony the state is known for at all times and be security conscious at all times.

    The Emir said the lnternational Durbar of the llorin Emirate slated for Wednesday in llorin, , is to strengthen unity and love amongst the people of the emirate and the state in general.

    Sulu-Gambari urged the people of the state to come out en masse to grace the occasion and be law abiding before, during and after the celebration.

    The Emir also prayed for the safe return of Nigerian pilgrims performing 2018 Hajj in Holy land.

  • Decision to leave APC imposed by forces within the party – Saraki

    Senate President, Bukola Saraki, on Monday faulted the statement that he left the All Progressives Congress (APC) because he wanted automatic ticket and other pecuniary benefits.

    Saraki in a statement he personally signed claimed that his decision to defect from the APC to the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) was inescapably imposed on him by certain elements and forces within the APC.

    He said that the alleged forces ensured that the minimum conditions for peace, cooperation, inclusion and a general sense of belonging did not exist.

    He further claimed that the elements allegedly did everything to ensure that the basic rules of party administration, which should promote harmonious relations among the various elements within the party, were blatantly disregarded.

    He said that his people and associates in the past three years suffered alienation and were treated as outsiders in their own party.

    Saraki said that many of his associates became disaffected and disenchanted while at the same time, opportunities to seek redress and correct these anomalies were deliberately blocked as a government-within-a-government had formed an impregnable wall and left in the cold, everyone else who was not recognized as “one of us”.

    “This is why my people, like all self-respecting people would do, decided to seek accommodation elsewhere,” he said.

    Saraki entitled his statement “The Tinubu Rhetoric – My Response, By Saraki”

    It read in full: “I have always restrained from joining issues in the media with Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and this is based on my respect for him.

    “However, I will not allow him to create a wrong, false and mischievous impression about the reasons for my decision to exit the All Progressives Congress (APC) and present his prejudices as facts for public consumption.

    “I have been consistent in my complaints to all leaders of the APC, including Tinubu, that a situation where the National Assembly is not constructively engaged or carried along in key policy decisions, particularly those that will eventually require legislative approval, is not in the best interest of the nation.

    “No genuine leader of the legislature will be comfortable that the Presidency will simply write a terse letter to the National Assembly on key issues which the federal legislature is expected to later deliberate upon and give its approval.

    “The Buhari administrations consistently treat the legislature with contempt and act as if the law making body should be an appendage of the Executive. To me, that is unacceptable.

    “In the same way, I find it very objectionable that many stakeholders who worked strenuously to get the administration into office have now been excluded in the government and not consulted on key decisions as necessary and expected.

    Read Also: Tinubu: Saraki, Tambuwal left APC for fear of Buhari

    “In fact, some of them are treated as pariah. A party which ignores justice, equity and inclusion as basic pre-condition for peace, unity and stability cannot sustain its membership and leadership.

    “Let me redirect the attention of the former Governor of Lagos State to the aspect of my July 31, 2018, statement announcing my exit from APC in which I emphasized that the decision “has been inescapably imposed on me by certain elements and forces within the APC who have ensured that the minimum conditions for peace, cooperation, inclusion and a general sense of belonging did not exist”.

    “In that statement, I further noted that those APC elements ‘have done everything to ensure that the basic rules of party administration, which should promote harmonious relations among the various elements within the party were blatantly disregarded.

    “All governance principles which were required for a healthy functioning of the party and the government were deliberately violated or undermined. And all entreaties for justice, equity and fairness as basic precondition for peace and unity, not only within the party, but also the country at large, were simply ignored, or employed as additional pretext for further exclusion.

    “The experience of my people and associates in the past three years is that they have suffered alienation and have been treated as outsiders in their own party.

    “Thus, many have become disaffected and disenchanted. At the same time, opportunities to seek redress and correct these anomalies were deliberately blocked as a government-within-a-government had formed an impregnable wall and left in the cold, everyone else who was not recognized as “one of us”.

    “This is why my people, like all self-respecting people would do, decided to seek accommodation elsewhere”.

    “Tinubu himself will recall that during the various meetings he had with me at the time he was pursuing reconciliation within the party; I raised all the above issues.

    “I can also vividly recall that he himself always expressed his displeasure with the style of the government and also mentioned that he had equally suffered disrespect from the same government which we all worked to put in office.

    “I also made the point that whatever travails I have gone through in the last three years belong to the past and will definitely not shape my decisions now and in the future.

    “However, during those meetings, the point of disagreement between me and him is that while I express my worry that there is nothing on ground to assure me that the administrative style and attitude would change in the next four years in a manner that will enable us deliver the positive changes we promised to our people, he (Tinubu) expressed a strong opinion that he would rather ‘support a Buhari on the hospital stretcher’ to get a second term because in 2023, power will shift to the South-west.

    “This Tinubu viewpoint was not only expressed to me but to several of my colleagues. So much for acting in national interest.

    “It is clear that while my own decision is based on protecting collective, national interest, Tinubu will rather live with the identified inadequacies in the government for the sake of fulfilling and preserving his presidential ambition in 2023.

    “This new position of Tinubu has only demonstrated inconsistency, particularly when one reviews his antecedent over the years.

    “Again, let me reiterate my position that my uncertain and complex relationship with Tinubu has been continually defined by the event of 2014 when myself and other leaders of the APC opposed the Muslim-Muslim ticket arrangement about to be foisted on the APC for the 2015 polls.

    “It should be noted that he has not forgotten the fact that I took the bull by the horns and told him that in the interest of the country, he should accept the need for the party to present a balanced ticket for the 2015 General Elections in terms of religion and geo-political zones.

    “Since that time he has been very active, plotting at every point to undermine me, within and outside the National Assembly.

    “It is a surprise to me that Asiwaju Tinubu is still peddling the falsehood about the fact that my defection is about automatic ticket and sharing of resources.

    “Members of the public will recall that when the issue of my decision to quit APC came to the fore and many APC leaders were holding meetings with me, a newspaper owned by the same Tinubu published a false report about the promise of automatic ticket, oil block and other benefits.

    “I immediately rebutted their claims and categorically stated that I never discussed any such personal and pecuniary benefits with anybody.

    “My challenge that anybody who has contrary facts should come forward with them still remains open.

    “It should be known that Democracy is a system which allows people to freely make their choice. It is my choice that I have decided to join others to present a viable alternative platform for Nigerians in the coming elections.

    “Tinubu and leaders of the APC had better respect this decision or lawfully deal with it. As for me, Allah gives power to whom He wishes. Human beings can only aspire and strive to fulfill their aspirations.”

  • ‘Don’t entrust Nigeria into the hands of treasury looters again’

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) has warned Nigerians against entrusting the Leadership of the country in the hands of those whose sole aim is to loot the nation’s treasury and return the country to the dark ages where impunity and institutionalized corruption was the order of the day.

    Reacting to the statement credited to Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki that he was considering contesting the Presidency, Acting National Publicity Secretary of the party, Yekini Nabena said it was evident that Saraki was out to serve his own interest and not that of the nation.

    While saying that it was not a thing of surprise that the Senate President would indicate his interest in the Presidency of the country, Nabena said Nigerians must open their eyes and vote wisely for those who an pass the integrity test.

    The statement reads: “In a recent interview with the international news organization, Bloomberg, the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki unsurprisingly declared his intention to contest the 2019 Presidency under the platform of the People’s  Democratic Party (PDP).

    “Against the backdrop of the litany of corruption allegations trailing the Senate President, Saraki’s declaration, brings to the fore our earlier call to anti-graft agencies to check the use of stolen public funds to finance elections in this country. We reiterate our position that the Nigerian electorate must have the opportunity to choose from candidates that can pass the integrity and anti-corruption test.”

    It said further: “Let us refresh our memory on some of Saraki’s corruption allegations:

    • Allegations of fraud which led to the collapse of the Saraki family-owned Société Générale Bank (Bukola Saraki who was Director of the defunct bank was indicted as over N1bn alleged to have been looted from the bank’s treasury).
    • Misappropriation of Kwara State funds, disregard of government due process and conversion of State government assets into his and cronies when he served as two-term governor of Kwara State.
    • History of betrayals, treachery and sabotage – Family, political party (PDP, APC), Senate, government.
    • Saraki was questioned by the Nigeria Police Special Fraud Unit over a N11 billion financial scandal at the defunct Intercontinental Bank.
    • Gluttonous property acquisitions and hidden multi-billion dollar assets spread across the world as disclosed by the Panama Papers revelations.
    • The multi-million dollar white elephant Shonga Agricultural Project in Kwara State when Saraki served as two-term governor.
    • Falsification of Senate standing order
    • Saraki’s link to the N298m armored Range Rover SUV seized by the Nigeria Customs Service.
    • Saraki’s link to $19.5b Paris Club Loan refund scandal
    • Oversaw budget padding in the National Assembly
    • Among other numerous corruption scandals.

    The party said that “Nigerians should be wary of a man whose personal ambition will always supersede the interest of the majority and national interest as currently displayed in the National Assembly.

    Read Also: Tinubu: Saraki, Tambuwal left APC for fear of Buhari

    “While Saraki refuses to reconvene the National Assembly, the 2019 election budget of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is dangerously delayed, an action deliberately taken to sabotage INEC’s ability to conduct free, fair, transparent and credible elections in 2019.

    “While Saraki refuses to step down as Senate President as rightly and severally demanded by the APC-dominated Senate, he is bent on foisting a PDP-minority rule (Senate President and Deputy Senate President) in the Upper Legislative House.

    “The only politics that Bukola Saraki plays is self, himself only and only himself. The interest and welfare of the people of Nigeria do not mean anything to him. Now it is the Presidency Saraki wants.

    “And we ask with what antecedents is he doing this? Conspiracy, blackmail, treachery and vaulting ambition which overleaps itself and falls on the other, as rightly captured by William Shakespeare. Bukola Saraki will rather rule in hell than serve in paradise.

    “Ahead of 2019 elections, Nigerians must ensure that we never again entrust the leadership of this great country to thieves whose sole aim is treasury looting and returning us to the dark ages where impunity and institutionalized corruption was the order of the day.”

  • No spat between Dogara, Saraki – Spokesman

    There is no disagreement, quarrel or misunderstanding between the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara and the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, the Special Adviser, Media and Public Affairs to the Speaker, Turaki Hassan has said.

    Dogara’s spokesman  in a statement denying the rumour of a rift between the leaders of the two Chambers said  the public should ignore lies being circulated in the social media especially Whatsapp.

    According to him, Dogara and Saraki have enjoyed cordial relationship in the last three years.

    His words: “Please beware of evil people, merchants of lies, falsehood and mendacity whose primary occupation is to concoct, contrive, fabricate and brew mischief and fake news which they spread and broadcast like wild fire on social media.

    “These paid minions who have sold their conscience and souls to the devil for a morsel have been broadcasting lies on social media especially WhatsApp with the sole aim of deceiving and hoodwinking the public into believing that there is a rift between the two leaders of the National Assembly – Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki and His Excellency Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara.

    Read Also: Police deny asking reporter to indict Saraki

    “To the contrary, Dr. Saraki and Barrister Dogara have enjoyed harmonious working relationship in the last three years.”

    He further added: “The Rt. Hon. Speaker will never ever say those things about the President of the Senate.

    “But for the unsuspecting members of the public and supporters of the two leaders, we would have ignored this latest round of fallacious and fictitious perfidy which is nothing but a piece of devilish fiction as it will fizzle out and end in the pit of hell where it came from.”

  • Saraki or Buhari will hate this

    This minute, conversation segues to Bukola Saraki’s political chess game with Muhammadu Buhari. The Senate President duels with the President and vice versa. It’s the stuff random fetishes are made of; it’s lure to a passive press and ‘lore’ to an ignorant electorate. The permutations unfurl in real time; they are dramatic, mellow, pulse-quickening.

    I place no wager on the likely outcome of the beef between the state officers. Like the proverbial cat and mouse, aides to the duo go gung ho against each other. In defence of their principals and desperation to feather their nests, they urge the citizenry to immortalise the damaged and the flawed.

    Through the circumstances, aides and associates to Buhari and Saraki deploy wit and random wile eerily, summoning our sympathies for their plaintiff principals. Like frantic metamorphosists, they would clothe dross as gold and mask succour as infernal terror.

    The perceptive listens to their eloquent drivel, incoherent rants and wanton justifications, in amusement, cautiously seeking the villain from the hero, the victor from the vanquished.

    The unperceptive are quite captivated; since reality hurts, they accept desperate sentiments as ‘truth.’ It is their daemonic aria, a flight of decadent will and imagination. No thanks to this pathetic gang of vanishing minds, Nigeria suffers the possibility of self-destruct.

    The scene prefigures the transition or ‘transformation’ if you like, of citizenship from gradual decline to rapid degeneracy. Let them bicker and bite their hearts out. I would wager, however, that when the dust settles on their discord, two victors may yet emerge, Buhari and Saraki; and the loser will be the electorate, as usual.

    Saraki recently defected from the ruling party, All Progressives Congress (APC), accusing forces within the party of causing his exit. There is no gainsaying the relationship between Saraki and the ruling party was fraught by distrust at his emergence as Senate President in 2015, against the wish of the party’s leadership.

    While his loyalists lament his subsequent trial, for alleged non-declaration of assets, which terminated at the Supreme Court’s ruling in his favour, as a premeditated offensive against him by political detractors; recent allegations of his connection to armed robbers, who robbed banks in Offa, Kwara State, killing over 30 people, rankles an ominous note.

    The police say their investigations show that some of the armed robbers were Saraki’s political thugs and that he may have provided arms and logistics to them. Saraki has denied any link with the suspects, alleging a witch-hunt.

    Thus, he quit the APC for the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), a move widely condemned as waddling back to gobble his vomit. Despite the spin accorded his return to the PDP, from which he hitherto defected to the APC in controversial circumstances, does it dispel his crunch politics?

    Will it make him preferable to President Buhari, if eventually he achieves his ambition of vying for the presidency, come 2019, as a candidate of the PDP?

    Buhari, nevertheless, restates his vision of romanticised ‘change’ to the applause of ardent, unquestioning loyalists and the outrage of his most virulent critics. Still, he relies on his epiphany of morality that the severely exploited and hapless citizenry are expected to die for. Buhari rode to power chanting change and promising a radical, progressive departure from the pilfering that characterised public office before his emergence.

    Notwithstanding his shortcomings in handling the herdsmen crisis, one can’t help but admire his resolve to end Boko Haram’s terrorism and recoup the country’s looted public funds.

    At his emergence as President-elect, the citizenry saw him as a saviour amid the ruling class’ primitive tribe of predators. Contemporary boondocks legend painted portraits of him as a warrior in wolf-skin vest, brandishing a shield of steeled morality and a stone-axe, forged to hack down monuments, that the corrupt ruling class built to entrench corruption.

    Since the beginning of Nigeria’s democratic experiment, politics has evolved from airbrushed imagery of shady characters in newspapers, to the wild, insolent ire of an ignorant electorate, often in support of an individual or cause.

    Ultimately, politicians loom imposingly as pimps and madams, treating the electorate as whores. In their estimation, the masses are meant to be dominated and abused. And once they have their way with them, they discard them like pieces of trash, until ‘re-election’ season.

    As we approach 2019, the political hierarchies birthing and corrupting Nigeria’s ‘Change’ are on public display. How do we identify the hero from the villain, the upright from the corrupt? Of Buhari, Saraki, others, who is deserving of our votes?

    Perhaps the one whose professed politics matches the vibrations of his soul; the candidate who validates his promises, ethics and projections by dependable philosophies of human existence.

    He offers something more than “life-boat” solutions as lifelines by which we would derive satisfaction of our necessities, sow and harvest our fruits of hope and citizenship.

    He is the one who successfully nullifies the insolence of our tribal mentality. We must have seen him attain and authenticate, a worthy equilibrium between, say, the expediency of wiping off our slums vis-à-vis the affordability of beautifully planned cities and suburbs.

    He is the candidate who struggles to repair in wisdom and coherence, while we pick him apart, as he articulates his blueprint for providing good roads and electricity, standard health care and security, stable economy and quality education, among others.

    He is the candidate without the shame of baggage and the chaos of dishonour.

  • PDP keeps vigil at NASS over Saraki’s Impeachment – Sen Gyunka

    The Senator representing Nasarawa North in the Senate, Sen. Philip Gyunka said  National Assembly members of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) are keeping vigil at the premises of the assembly to forestall any impeachment process against the Senate President, Bukola Saraki.

    This was disclosed on Wednessday in Lafia by the senator when he presented his letter of intent to contest the governorship seat of the state to officials of the state PDP.

    He said: “I woke up this morning from my night shift and I will still be going back to my night shift. That is to say we are keeping vigil”.

    “We are rotating the shift among ourselves. As regards to what they are saying about impeachment, it is not possible because the international community is aware of their plot.”

    Read Also: APC wants to drag me to gutter, says Saraki

    “Don’t be discouraged. They will intimidate you as they do to us. Like myself, I don’t know how many times they have been calling me. We didn’t know they have come to truncate democracy. But the senate president, being a product of PDP, has come to the rescue of the the situation.”

    The senator told the PDP supporters that he will bring to the office of the governor of the state the heart of a servant who had known hard times, tasted poverty and acquired requisite discipline to govern.

    “I shall bring the benefit of my vast experiences as an economist, banker, and a legislator at both state and federal levels to reform and transform the state. I will bring a new vision and new direction to governance that will be truly democratic, representative and professional to deliver and redeem the state from its downward descent,” Gyunka maintained.

    Responding, the state PDP chairman, Hon Francis Orogu, said that the state chapter of party was proud of its representatives at the National Assembly and consequently encouraged them to maintain the tempo of their loyalty to the PDP.

  • PDP laughs off APC’s allegation of plans to attack senators

    The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has mocked the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and laughed laughed off claims by the ruling party that the opposition planned to attack its senators.

    Describing the claims as childish, the PDP said the ruling party was smarting from its failed attempt to impeach the President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki and his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu as an exercise in futility.

    The opposition said the ruling party has come to its wits end in its desperate plot to illegally impeach Saraki and Ekweremadu hence the “spurious” allegation.

    A statement on Tuesday by the spokesman for the PDP, Kola Ologbondiyan, said it was sheer hallucination for the APC to link it with any attempt to attack anybody, not the least, senators.

    Rather, the opposition party said it’s clear to Nigerians that, it is the APC that has been involved in sponsoring violence and attacks in the residences of the presiding officers of the Senate as well as in the National Assembly.

    “Equally derisory is the APC’s claims that it is in talks with some PDP senators to get a two third vote to impeach the Senate presiding officers when it is public knowledge that all PDP senators are loyal to their party and had already pledged their loyalty to the presiding officers that they elected by themselves.

    “It is therefore foolhardiness for the leadership of the APC, to contemplate a capacity to impeach the presiding officers of the National Assembly whereas they are neither senators nor members of the House of Representatives.

    “It is also funny that rather than lobby senators and members on their party position, if they have any, the APC leadership toed the path of brigandage, claiming to have powers to upturn or upstage the leadership that it did not ab-initio bring into existence.

    Read Also: We’ll match APC in election rigging – PDP

    “Confronted by the realities of its shameful adventure, the APC leadership has now turned around in its trademark shambolic character to begin to look for scapegoats and who to hold responsible for their failures.

    “It is necessary to impress it on the APC that Nigerians, in attracting a democratic lifestyle, have since abandoned the garrison command leadership approach of any Nigerian, no matter how highly placed.

    “Therefore, it is too late in the day for the APC to attempt to deploy underhand tactics that are strange to democratic norms to remove a duly elected Senate leadership”, the PDP added.