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Tag: Senate president

  • Saraki’s Presidential aspiration a huge joke – APC

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) said on Wednesday that Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki lacked the capacity to become the President of Nigeria, describing his aspirations as a huge joke.

    The party challenged the Senate President to showcase his achievement in his eight years in office as governor of Kwara State that qualifies him for the office of the President, pointing out that a presidential candidate aspirant who is promising to create jobs and infrastructures should have evidence of his past achievement in that area.

    Read Also:Saraki heads 85-member PDP’s Osun campaign council

    Acting National Publicity Secretary of the party, Yekini Nabena said in a statement made available to newsmen in Abuja that as Senate President, Saraki used the position to superintend over budget padding, sabotage the executive by frustrating confirmation of presidential nominees among others.

    The statement reads: “At last, the Senate President Dr. Bukola Saraki has declared his intention to run for the Presidency of Nigeria. While the All Progressives Congress (APC) welcomes him to the race as it is his right to do so as a Nigerian Citizen, there are however many issues that border on his integrity, antecedents, competence and capability to preside over the affairs of the country.

    “Meanwhile, we are not unaware of reports that Saraki’s presidential declaration is his tactic to deflect attention from the deluge of issues he deals with particularly ahead of the 2019 General Elections i.e. pressure to reconvene the National Assembly, a fast shifting political order in Kwara State, among others.

    “Saraki in his declaration speech stated among others:
    •       I have decided to heed the call of teeming youths who have asked me to run for the Presidency.
    •       I have what it takes to secure inclusive growth for Nigeria.
    •       I will address our infrastructural deficiency through aggressive financial initiatives.
    •       Our fight against corruption will be on deterrence.
    •       I offer leadership driven by empathy.

    “On these few points, we are mindful of the popular axiom: “By their fruits, we shall know them”. By virtue of Saraki’s antecedents, he is an abysmal failure and is totally incompetent to offer himself as a candidate for leadership of Nigeria.

    “As Kwara State Governor, was his Shonga Agricultural Programme not a white elephant project in which hundreds of millions of State funds was sunk into? “The infrastructure, particularly roads network in Kwara State in which the present administration remains under his tight grip and political machinations long after leaving office, remains deplorable while state resources is mismanaged through corrupt enrichment.

    “A Presidential aspirant, who promises to create jobs and turn around the economy at the national level, must have done so in a state he served as Governor for eight years. We challenge Saraki to give the nation his scorecard as a Kwara State.

    “As Senate President, how Saraki used the position to superintend over budget padding, sabotage of the executive by frustrating confirmation of presidential nominees, stalling legislative approvals for election budgets and his recent shadow boxing on the Electoral Act, among other treacherous actions against the APC (which he was then a member) in pursuit of his selfish political interests has been well reported.

    “Was Saraki’s Senate Presidency not a journey of shame and disgrace? – moving from one Court or Tribunal to another over charges of forgery of Senate Rules, false declaration of assets, and being linked with armed robbers who brutally killed and maimed innocent residents in Offa recently.

    “Saraki says he is heeding the call of Nigerian youths to contest the Presidency. We are not aware of any meeting of Nigerian youths held during which they decided that. For the record, the #NotTooYoungToRun group berated Saraki for selfishly using their forum to make his presidential declaration.

    “We are not surprised by Saraki’s selfish actions as it has come to define his politics and persona. Saraki says he will offer leadership driven by empathy. Coming from an incredibly selfish and self-opinionated politician this is indeed an irony.

    “Saraki’s Presidential aspiration is a huge joke and should not be taken seriously. He has repeatedly displayed his character as extremely selfish, deceitful, untrustworthy and unreliable. His only goal is to get to the top, stay at the top, ruin or wreck whatever he finds there or in the event of failure, collapse the system or process.

    “Nigerians have had enough of Dr. Bukola Saraki’s retrogressive and disruptive style of politics and deserve no more.”

  • Saraki, Tambuwal, others exit have no dent on APC – Buhari

    …they are conservatives, migrant, rolling stone politicians says Oshiomhole

     

    President Muhammadu Buhari said on Thursday that the defection of Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki, Governors Aminu Waziri Tambuwal (Sokoto), Abdulfatai Ahmed (Kwara) and Samuel Ortom (Benue) and some members of the National Assembly which was meant to cripple the party barely had any dent on the APC.

    The President spoke just as the National Chairman of the party; Comrade Adams Oshiomhole described those who have left the party as conservatives whose departure will strengthen the party since they never believed in the change agenda and the spirit of progressives.

    Read Also:APC decides on primary today

    Buhari who spoke at the sixth National Executive Committee meeting of the APC and the first under the new leadership of the party said those who plotted the down fall of the party failed to muster the required number to cause an upset within the party, particularly the at chambers of the National Assembly.

    The President who arrived the APC national secretariat for the NEC meeting at about 11.20am and departed at exactly 2.16 pm however told the meeting that the party must ensure a hitch free, fair and credible primary which he said will be a precursor to the conduct of free, fair and credible general elections in 2019.

    While congratulating the current leadership of the party for their election, he said “the team emerged at a turbulent time when there were rumors and speculations of massive defections in such a way that could rock the very foundation of the party.

    “Despite reconciliatory attempt to keep the house together, some members were hell bent on pulling down the roof. They left, threatening to go along with scores of people. But due to the work of the new party Leadership, the exit barely made a dent on our super structure as they could not muster the figure they had envisages to cause an upset, particularly in the two chambers of the National Assembly. APC remain in control and is increasing by the day with quality people joining the party.”

    The President said further that as the party match towards the conduct of party primaries, “I ask All and sundry to ensure that we play the game according to the rules. Let us come out with free, fair and credible primaries which will be a precursor to free, fair and credible election next year.

    “Let us shine the light through our primaries and the rest of the country will find the way. Our primaries must be in complete compliance with the provisions of the constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria 1999 as amended, the electoral act and above all, the constitution of the party.

    “This is the time we must work for unity, harmony and togetherness. Let us all join hands to move the party forward. We must take our party to the next level and I urge all and sundry to give support to our National Working Committee.

    “The new National Executive Committee members assumed duty at a very critical time. With the general elections coming very early next year, 2019, any political party worth its salt must get its internal dynamics right and match as a team towards a deceive time such a major election in the country.

    “Today, we are meeting to look at some major decisions that will ensure an excellent performance at the polls next year. Starting with party primaries at various levels, I urge you all to ensure that decisions taken here are those that be for the good of the party and meets the yearnings and expectations of our teeming members and supporters nationwide. They look up to us for guidance and we must not disappoint or fail them.”

    He assured of his commitment to fulfill his Electoral promises, saying “Hope is rekindled in our heart that we will give our country purposeful leadership and improve the quality of life of the people.

    “We will continue to secure the country, fight graft and reposition the economy in such a way that jobs can be provided for our youth and give them a future and hope. We will fulfill all the promises we made to Nigerians. We are fulfilling them and will continue to serve with heart and might to build a nation where peace and justice and prosperity shall reign.”

    Addressing the meeting, National Chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole said ambition was responsible for the exit of all those who left the part6 and not because of anything done to them by the party.

    While practically referring to them as conservatives, he said “I stumbled on a quote which might interest Mr. President and I think it summarises what has happened to us. I can’t find anything more appropriate.

    “I do not know exactly the occasion and I don’t know the date this statement was made by one of Nigeria’s foremost political leaders who was described as the best president Nigeria never had, Chief Obafemi Awolowo.

    “In one of his works, he said, ‘For the Progressives to be in power, they need the support and collaboration of some Conservatives. After attaining power, the conservatives would on their own move away. The progressives, once the conservatives have moved away on their own, would now build a great party that will move the nation forward’.

    “Mr. President, the conservatives have moved away. So, this was bound to happen because when we promised change, they all sang it, but it had different meanings to different people.

    “For some, it was to be the change that would lead to more of the same but for the Nigerian people; they know that change meant a move from a political order that services only the political elite at the expense of the poor and the masses.

    “When it became clear that this change cannot allow business as usual, the conservatives left on their own. Our party is stronger, smarter, more cohesive and there is no better evidence than the fact that we have won all the major elections after they left the party.”

    Going down memory lane on efforts made by the Leadership to address grievances by members, Oshiomhole said “After our elections, we worked hard to meet with people from the states who had issues arising from the congresses and we reassured them that we would treat every case on its merit and I believe that we have done a lot of that and will continue to do what we have to do to ensure that there is peace and unity in the state chapters.

    “We also had meetings with the APC caucus in the senate and thereafter we had a meeting with the APC caucus in the House of Representatives. At those meetings, we reassured everyone that as a party that is democratic, there will be issues and contestations but that the most important thing is for us to be able to see through the issues.

    “I am happy to report that as a result of those engagements, many senators and members of the House of Representatives renewed confidence in our party. But those who were determined to leave, not on account of what anybody has done wrong against them, but on account of an ambition they believe they cannot realize on our platform, even though they were not denied the opportunity to try out that ambition, but perhaps because they could read like an Oracle what the future would be particularly as people have contested before when we didn’t have any incumbent.

    “I had thought that by the provisions in our party constitution, they had the right to contest and that right was not going to be denied them. But reflecting on what has happened in the past and reading the minds of party members and leaders, they came to the conclusion that the only way they can realize their ambition was to relocate and they relocated. Of course, for distant observers, they think that this is a huge blow to our party.

    “I made a comment which seems to have been misunderstood in some quarters, when I said that if some individuals of no particular fixed political address decide to leave, I will not lose my sleep.

    “I speak of no particular fixed address because if you have a history of moving every season from one political party to the other with one constant thing in mind, to contest, now what is your political address? So, for people like that who are migrant politicians, rolling stone politicians, I am not able to identify their political address and therefore, I refuse to miss my sleep.

    “But some people said this was arrogant, but we also need to be blunt. What can you do about someone who feels that in every election, he must contest and if he cannot win he must decamp. Some have decamped as many times as the many elections that has taken place.”

    He said further: “I made a commitment on behalf of the leadership of the party that every one of persons who have grievances, no matter the nature of those grievances, arising from genuine misunderstanding, arising from communication gap, arising from conflict of interest, our responsibility is to help this party to find common ground and do genuine reconciliation, play up what unite us, down play what divide us so that together, we can continue to work together within the party and address issues that affect our Vision.

    “I am proud that most of the people who have such issues have confidence that the party will listen and we have listened and have resolved a lot of the issues. Today, I am sure that many of our senators, House of Representatives members and leaders across the country who have issues have seen that the issues are being resolved and now have greater confidence in the activities of our party.

    “I will continue to assure them that we will not pretend that there will be no conflict tomorrow. What we promise is that as they arise, God will give us the wisdom, patience and courage to do justice and make them feel comfortable within the family of the APC.”

    “We have seen people who go back to their communities to decamp and we see ‘uncommon defectors’ but the others sat in their chambers, in a Guest House and prepared their defection notes. Some are known to have remained in Abuja, detained by their own consciences and unable to visit their constituencies.

    “So, I want to assure you that we have purged ourselves of excess fats that would have possibly interfered in the flow of blood in our vain. We are stronger, more determined and we are much certain of our future.”

    Turning to the President, he said “We asked the President to continue to provide leadership to deal with the vices that has detained Nigeria in the last and which seems to explain the paradox that has detained Nigeria, a country that is so rich and its people so poor.

    “Mr. President, God has a purpose for sparing your life and that is because you have not finished the mission that He entrusted to you, to lead the forces of change, to reposition our country, reorder our values and to encourage all of us.

    “Those who submit to change, in spite of their past still have a chance to play a role in the commitment to rebuild the nation and ensure it offer hope to every citizen.

    “Mr. President, you are the only one who has had the courage to look at western leaders’ eye ball to eye ball and as them to return the stolen money. If you have stolen money in their vault, you won’t have the courage to say so. None of your predecessors have had the courage to say so in the manner that you did. Those are thing we are proud of and they give us courage and confidence that Nigerians will not be fooled come 2019.”

  • Saraki, Jonathan meet in Abuja

    Senate President Dr. Bukola Saraki is currently meeting with former president Goodluck Jonathan in Abuja.

    Saraki is meeting with Jonathan for the first time since his defection to the Peoples democratic party (PDP).

     

     

    More details soon…

  • PDP: Saraki calls for unity to win 2019 elections

    Senate President Bukola Saraki on Wednesday urged members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to work together for the victory of the party at all levels.

    Saraki made the appeal  in Ilorin, the Kwara state capital at a meeting with PDP members in the state.

    The PDP members came from all the wards and 16 local government areas of the state.

    He said the victories of PDP at both federal and state levels would be beneficial to all the members in the state.

    The Senate president said that the future of PDP is now bigger and brighter than what it used to be.

    “If we emerge victorious at the federal level all of us will be the beneficiaries. In the state, with your support we will win the state. All of you here are the key players in Kwara politics. With unity of purpose no party can contest with you.

    “We are here to unite all of us under the party we belong to today. I amassuring all members that there will be equity, internal democracy and justice. It is not going to be winners take all. As far as I am concerned everybody here today belongs to our political structure.

    “There is nothing like old or new Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). We have all become one PDP. There is nobody here that will not say one way or the other we have not been together before. I am very sure that the future is bigger and brighter than the past. I want all of us to be united for the progress and development of Kwara state.

    “As par the politics of the state, nobody can wrest the power from us if we are united. By the grace of all of us in the forthcoming elections, we will emerge victorious both at the federal and state levels.

    “We will ensure that we work as one party, because we have always worked together before. We will see that all the wards and local governments popular candidates emerge based on their popularity and acceptability. I want to emphasis it that I don’t have any anointed candidate at all levels. I don’t have candidates for state Assembly, it is the person you want in your constituency that I will okay. Don’t allow anybody to deceive you that I have endorsed any candidate.

    Read Also: Saraki : PDP calls for immediate arrest of Miyetti Allah leader

    “I implore party leaders and elders not to drop my name to impose unpopular candidates. I don’t have candidate for the National Assembly. All of us will collectively choose who becomes the next governor. We will ensure that there is no faction but one PDP. We will ensure that meetings in the local government areas take place in one venue. And we will all work together for the interest of the party.

    “I want to assure you all that as far as I am concerned everybody belongs to one PDP family and there is no favouritism of one man over the other.

    “Please go back home to start the work. I am sure many more will come back and join us because those that left left under the wrong assumption that it will be different from what it used to be.

    “They were misled that those coming are out to move them away. Nobody is moving you away because this place belongs to you too. Let us go back and start work closely together and by the grace of God we will all be victorious.”

    “I urge both old and new members of the party to ensure peace and harmony in your wards and local government areas.”

  • 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”.

  • Condition for Saraki to remain Senate president, by Oshiomhole

    All Progressives Congress (APC) National Chairman Adams Oshiomhole is insisting on Senate President Bukola Saraki’s removal. His time is up, he said.

    To retain the Senate presidency, he said, the only condition is for Saraki to return to the APC.

    Besides, the Senate President will be removed legally, Oshiomhole said yesterday.

    Oshiomhole, who spoke at a meeting with APC National Assembly members, said however that the party was not ready to welcome the Senate President back to its fold, insisting that Saraki will be removed legally as minority cannot preside over majority.

    The former Edo State governor asked those who have become judges to be prepared to challenge the impeachment of the Senate president in any court of their choice. He was apparently referring to the recent judgement of the Court of Appeal which says that the Assembly has a right to its independence.

    Some governors were not at the meeting. Oshiomhole also said they could not attend as a result of “communication breakdown”.

    He said: “Democracy teaches us that minority has the right to have their say but majority must have their way. So, if we have 56 senators and they have 49 senators, I insist that 49 senators cannot preside over the affairs of a house in which APC has 56 senators. And I ask them to tell us anywhere in the world where minority rules over majority.

    “Often times, we take flights to Washington and other places to understudy the American presidential system of government. Once you lose majority, without further ado, you step down.

    “So, I want to repeat, Sen. Saraki as president of the Senate will be lawfully and democratically impeached. It will not be illegally done. It will be done according to law and tradition.

    “Those lawyers who have chosen to sit as judges need to be reminded that lawyers are, at best, officers of the court and do not constitute the court. So, when Sen. Saraki is lawfully and democratically impeached, they will be free to go to anywhere they want to go and canvass the legality or the illegality of the action. It is not in their place to pronounce with finality as if they constitute the judicial arm of government.

    To Oshiomhole, Saraki should not keep the Senate president’s seat. He said:

    “I want to reassure the Nigerian people that we are committed to leading by example and that means absolute submission and obedience to the letters and spirit of the Nigerian Constitution and everything we will do, we will ensure that it is done according to law, including the impeachment of Sen. Bukola Saraki. There is no hiding place for him. I insist, his time is up.

    “The only way that, probably, he could have retained that seat is to decide to return but we will not be ready to welcome him. He must remain where he is and we will continue to ensure that he surrenders the presidency of the Senate to the majority party in the Senate – in line with the provisions of our constitution.

    “We have very many important issues, which require the National Assembly to deliberate on. Those issues that were pending when the two presiding officers hurriedly adjourned the deliberations of the House without exhausting the calendar.

    “The result is that we have serious pending issues that require deliebertaions by the National Assembly, including the issue of the apprval of foreign loans without which this year’s budget cannot perform; the issue of the INEC budget and virement of the budget.

    “Ours is to appeal to all of you that your commitment to the sustenance of democracy is enough to get you to do all that you can to get the National Assembly to reconvene so that these and other weighty national issues will be deliberated upon, appropriate decisions reached so that the Nigerian government is not shut down.

    “If we do not take those steps and government cannot spend money that should be appropriated, we run the risk of government shutdown. As members of the governing party, I believe you will do whatever is needed to be done to prevent a government shutdown.

    “I want to reassure you that we value you; all the stories about people being denied or that you would be frustrated out, I want to assure you that our party values experience; our party values knowledge; our party values loyalty and our party will do everything possible to reward loyalty and demonstrate that loyalty pays and we will not be ashamed to do so.

    “We are already doing so many things on our part, but, like they say, the taste of the pudding is in the eating. With time, all these shall come to pass and we would have kept our word as you have kept yours.”

  • No date for National Assembly resumption, says Saraki, Dogara

    Senate President, Abubakar Bukola Saraki and Speaker, House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, Tuesday said that no date has been fixed to reconvene the two chambers of the National Assembly to consider the budget for the 2019 elections.

    Saraki and Dogara in a joint statement informed Senators, House members and Nigerians that no date has been set for the reconvening of the Senate and the House of Representatives to consider the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) 2019 elections budget request forwarded by President Muhammadu Buhari on July 17, 2018.

    Read Also:INEC Budget: NASS cannot reconvene now -Saraki, Dogara

    The statement by the media aides of Saraki and Dogara, Yusuph Olaniyonu and Turaki Hassan respectively, said that “the leadership of the two chambers had met and agreed to reconvene to consider the proposal this week before which a meeting between the Joint Senate and House of Representatives Committees on Electoral Matters and officials of the INEC must have held on or before Monday August 13, 2018.”

    The joint committees, it said, were also expected to meet with the joint Senate and House Committees on Appropriations, Loans and Debts on the Eurobond loan request after which two reports would have been ready for presentation in the two chambers.”

    “However, no such meeting had taken place yet as a result of which both Senate and House of Representatives cannot reconvene as there is no report to consider.

    “Until the Committees have a ready report for the consideration of the two chambers, it will be most irresponsible to recall members from recess especially those that may have travelled to Saudi Arabia for the Hajj,” the statement said.

  • Oshiomhole: Saraki will be impeached legally

    National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Adams Oshiomhole said on Friday that the party will work for the impeachment of Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki in accordance with the laws of the land and in accordance with democratic norms across the world and not by thuggery.

    Oshiomhole also said that the only thing the Senate President can do to avoid impeachment will be to take the honourable part and resign his position which he occupied by provision of being a member of the majority party in the senate, adding that there is no way a minority party can rule over majority in the senate.

    Addressing a news conference at the party headquarters in Abuja, the APC chairman said that since becoming the senate President, Senator Saraki has never done anything with the interest of the nation at heart, adding that every action of the Senate President has been dictated by his personal interest.

    Read Also:More pressure on Saraki to quit Senate presidency

    Oshiomhole vowed that apart from having Senator Saraki impeached as senate President, the party will work hard to ensure that he does not return to the senate during the 2019 general election, stressing that the people of Kwara State are fed up with his brand of politics which has not impacted positively on them.

    He accused Senator Saraki of betraying the party to clinch the senate Presidency by entering into an alliance with the opposition party and offering them the position of the deputy Senate President.

    While accusing the Senate President of putting personal interest above national interest, Oshiomhole said that attempt to use the invasion of the National Assembly on Tuesday to portray himself as the conscience of the nation is to insult our collective intelligence as a people.

    Oshiomhole said: “We decided to call for this press conference basically to respond to issues raised by the Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki during his press conference.

    “It is important that we respond to some of the issues he canvassed so that the public is not misled into turning villains into heroes and twisting the facts that are not hidden to the Nigerian public. It is important that we help the Nigerian public by refreshing their memories.

    “The senate President raised the issues of the fact that he has always acted not on t basis of his own personal interest, but that he has always acted on the basis of national interest. The truth is that it is doubtful if the senate president has ever acted either in the National, interest or in t interest of his own political party before his defection recently.

    “Without going back to ancient history, it is important to look at how Senator Bukola Saraki became the President of the Senate. He decided, clearly, against the party position to enter into a deal with the opposition PDP and got a faction of the PDP, taking advantage of the provisions of the provision while majority of the APC senators were holding a meeting at the International conference Centre to resolve the issue of leadership of the senate and other principal officers that are expected to be produced by the ruling party with majority senators.

    “By putting his personal interest over and above the interest of the party, he went into alliance with PDP and conceded the position of the position of deputy senate president to the opposition in other to obtain the support of the opposition for him to become the senate President.

    “So, for the first time in our democratic history in Nigeria, we had a situation whereby, whereas the APC had majority of senators, it went on to elect a PDP person as deputy senate President. This action alone portray Senator Saraki for who he is and that his personal interest come before an6 other interest, including the National, interest and that of his politics party.

    “Having went into this unholy alliance with the opposition and mortgage the rights of the ruling party, he appointed opposition senators to Head strategic committees whose activities can affect either for good or for bad, the working of government and the relationship between the government and the legislature by grading away those strategic and sensitive positions.

    “Senator Saraki did that in other to continue to protect himself against the wishes of his party as senate President. That showed that the only thing that was constant in his mind was to cling on to the position of senate president even if it is at the expense of his own party and the country.

    “Even the media has consistently draw attention to how senate Saraki is managing the senate to the extent that questions have been raised as to whose interest the senate was serving.

    “You do not have a partisan politician appreciate that in an election year, every democratic government around the world would do everything possible to ensure that it is seen to be working for the people of the country.

    “Like any other political party in government, Nigerians expected the APC government under President Buhari to do everything possible this year to make up for lost time in terms of budget implementation and addressing critical infrastructures without which sustainable development is impossible.

    “The senate under senator Saraki choose to delay the budget up to the end of the first half of the year and to coincide with the period of the rainy season such that those aspect of infrastructure such as roads cannot be constructed during the rainy season.

    “These were not errors of the Head under his leadership, but clearly designed to frustrate the capacity of the government to address critical infrastructural deficit without which the ordinary man cannot feel the impact of governance.

    “Again on receipt of the budget, the President cried out that it was a clear distortion from the well thought proposal that he submitted to them. He appreciated that while they can make alteration to the budget, he did not expect that it will be completely rewritten as to make far more provisions for recurrent expenditure with very little for capital projects. He said this budget will be difficult to implement.

    “So, when I said he has never put the interest of Nigeria first, I support this statement by reference to the deliberate delay of the budget and deliberate manipulation of the provisions in the budget in a way that will compromise the capacity of the government to address critical infrastructures.

    “It is no longer a secret that as senate President, he tried to conspire with others to create a semblance of division within the ruling party having failed to truncate the convention, when they assembled a handful of people who were neither delegates nor contest for any office at the convention to purport to have formed a political party.

    “There is nothing for me to add to the illegality of this action and the false foundation that Senator Saraki tried to leave than to adopt the well thought out presentation of Femi Falana.”

    He said the actions of the senate President and his utterances did not portray hi. As a man who have the interest of his people at heart, saying “Those things did not portray him as someone who is concerned about sustaining democracy because sustaining democracy also implies absolute commitment to the rule of law.

    “If the rule of law is compromised and Nigeria is reduced to banana republic when it will be survival of the fittest, he is probably not the strongest man in town to cling on to that office. So, each time he takes an action that constitute a breach of the constitution, he is, by his own action undermining the foundation and weakening the fabrics of our democracy.

    “However, upon his illegal defection, which he had to do hurriedly because the number of senators he was playing on their fears that they will not be able to return to the senate.

    He said further that Senator Saraki had planned to reduce the APC to a minority party in the party and compiled a list of 36 senators who were to sign their agreement to defect to the PDP, but was frustrated when some of the senators refused to sign.

    “At a point, he has on his list, about 36 Senators who were about to defect. But consequent upon our election, we took preemptive steps to reassure some of those senators.

    “The first meeting we held after our election was with Senator SARAKI to try and listen to his grievances and this I did in company of the Vice President and he acknowledged that those steps were taken when he was leaving, to listen to what I called negotiable and verifiable grievances.

    “But however, his real grievances are not negotiable which is about ambition, value and his fundamental values and the values of the APC. When he defected, he went to Ilorin to tell the people part of the truth that he was leaving for two reasons.

    “He alleged that Buhari gave out over 200 juicy appointments without allocating some to him and he chooses to speak for the Speaker of the House of Representatives that he was also not given. He lamented that he was not given a share of the so called 200 juicy positions.

    “My question is, giving SARAKI, the Senate President juicy position; does that coincide with the Nigerian project? Or the interest of the people of Kwara State of his Senatorial zone. At no time did he refer to the interest of the people of his constituency or the people of Nigeria.

    “The second reason he gave was that he was being persecuted. That is alleged persecution of his person and not his people. He never pretended that any of these actions had anything, to do with the people of Nigeria, but his person.

    “I think the governor of Kwara State was more explicit in collaborating his claim when he said that he as governor and Saraki as senate President were being link to armed robbery cases. Again, that has nothing to do with the Nigerian project or the Kwara people.

    “What is the truth? Who linked Senator Saraki to armed robbery? Was it the federal government t or arrested armed robbers? It is the armed robbers that alleged that the weapons with which they carried out the operation were procured for them by senate President. This is contained in the police report which is no longer a secret.

    “He has not denied knowledge of these people since some of them were captured in his entourage during his condolence visit. So. If armed robbers linked the name of the senate president, is the APC or the government to blame?

    “A crime that led to the killing of about 35 persons cannot be dismissed with a wave of hand and in any jurisdiction, when your name is linked to such heinous crime, people don’t clap for you. It is the duty of the security agents to investigate and establish whether they are valid or invalid.

    “So, if he was linked to armed robbery, which cannot be an offense of the government or the APC. The best defense I have heard is that the robbers said that he did not ask them to use the weapon for armed robbery.

    “In support of my thesis that Saraki has never acted in the national interest, my final submission is on the way he adjourned the senate. The senate calendar is not a secret to the presiding officer and the calendar that was known was that the senate was going to adjourn on a Thursday.

    “But by Monday night, SARAKI used his guest house, wrote out names of senators with provision for them to sign for senators to decamp from the APC to the PDP, but some of the senators refused to sign. That is what frustrated his calculations to turn the APC to a minority party in the senate. Is it a coincidence that as he was reading the names of defectors in the senate, his counter in the House was also doing same.

    “So, there was coordination for defection day. But happily, the preemptive measure we have taken to address genuine grievances frustrated their number such that from 36, he could not get more than 14 senators to decamp including one that subsequently overcame the manipulation.

    “Between Tuesday and Thursday, the senate was expected to discuss the supplementary budget for INEC. INEC requirement are not things that you buy from the shelf. You have to order them from the manufacturers and so, time is of the essence.

    “But the senate under SARAKI adjourned without considering the matters before it including the budget for INEC. So, if SARAKI adjourned the senate ahead of schedule to resume towards the end of nominations, can that act be said to coincide with national interest.

    “If you decide to frustrate INEC by denying it the funds that it requires, can you be said to be a defender of democracy? If INEC don’t get their funds and therefore are unable to conduct t credible election, will that not lead to further consequences for our democracy?

    “So, I submit that SARAKI, s action were calculated to undermine democracy. Those who fought for democracy y did not do it so that it can be runner at the mercies of a senate president whose interest is clearly at variance with national interest. There was a request for virement which was also not considered.

    “A substantial part of the 2018 budget meant for capital project was supposed to be sourced through loan and under the constitution; you cannot borrow from foreign countries without the express endorsement of the national, assembly. Without those loans, the budget cannot be implemented.

    “While this was pending, Senator SARAKI put his personal interest above his office and chooses to adjourn the senate, leaving these huge national issues unattended to. So, for an officer that behave like that, how he can argue that anything he did was not about himself.

    “Everything he did has never been informed by National interest. There are also allegations of lack of transparency and we have seen Nigerians trying to demystify what they earn. We have an arm that is completely unaccountable because of the way he has presided.

    “Therefore, his attempt to use the incident at the National Assembly on Tuesday to portray himself as the conscience of the nation is to insult our collective intelligence as a people.

    “There is the futile attempt he has made to suggest that the Tuesday’s incidence was an attempt to carry out an illegal impeachment. How can a presiding office arrive at such a conclusion that there was a plan to carry out an illegal impeachment.

    “Until an action takes place, you cannot determine the outcome, if impeachment itself is unlawful, then you can understand where he is coming from. It is lawful to impeach anyone, including the President the Senate and his deputy if the number required to do so is present.

    “So, he cannot preempt that. From their own statement, they claimed to be aware that the Senate Preside t was going to be illegally impeached and so mobilized thugs to the senate. They told the world that they have adjourned till 25th September.

    “But meanwhile, about 15 PDP Senators were in the Senate and imported things that molested two of our members they signed in the senate. D8s you find any APC senator in the senate? If APC senators were not in the senate and it was PDP Senators that were there, what is the basis of the false claim that there was an attempt to carry out an illegal impeachment.

    “In any case, SARAKI is not going to be the first senate president to be impeached and I doubt is he is going to be the last. But definitely, he will be impeached according to law and democratic norms. The only way he can avoid impeachment is for him to do what is honourable.

    “We saw Senator Akpabio who was the PDP leader in the senate. Once he made up his mind to leave the PDP, he wrote to inform the PDP even before his defection that he was resigning.

    “So, Senator SARAKI has demonstrated neither character nor being a man of honour. I told him when we held a meeting that he came to join the APC as a senator and it is on our platform that you became senate president. Once you made up your mind to leave, the honourable thing to do is to resign as senate president.

    “If he does not resign, he will be impeached according to law and not by thuggery or by mob or anything that undemocratic. He cannot sustain a minority rule in the senate and that is what is hunting him in the senate.

    “When I say that the senate president will be impeached, let me emphasis that he will be impeached properly according to law. The constitution is clear how a presiding officer can be impeached and because several impeachment has taken place, we are not about to witness what has not taken place before.

    “We have enough precedent to fall back on. I have looked at the constitution which does not say that an impeachment is illegal. It is done, you cannot arrive at the conclusion that it is unlawful. How can we be accused of planning an illegal impeachment when it has not commenced.

    “If he think that by saying that he will preempt the APC from having him impeached, he is deceiving himself. I think that the time of SARAKI is over, the way he has manipulated the politics of Kwara stat, he failed to understand that the Nigerian project is far mor complicated than being at the mercy of his own dynasty.

    “He will not only be impeached, we will work hard to have him defeated as a senator in his own Senatorial zone come 2019 by the people of Kwara stage who are fed up with Saraki. Go and check the results of the elections that made him a senator and you will find out that the President got more votes from Kwara Central that Saraki got for himself.

    “So, he can’t claim that the vote the APC got from his Senatorial zone was because of him. They were inspite of him and that is why his leaving is of no political consequences as far as electoral issues are concerned. We tried to talk to him, not out of fear, but out of conviction that as a presiding officer, there are rules of engagement and we don’t him to get so emotional as to affect those rules of engagements.”

  • National Assembly ‘ll keep defending democracy, says Senate president

    SENATE President Bukola Saraki yesterday reiterated the resolve and commitment of the Eighth Senate and the National Assembly to keep protecting and defending the nation’s fledgling democracy.

    Saraki, according to a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Sanni Onogu, in Abuja, spoke when the chairmen and leaders of 45 registered political parties visited him at the National Assembly.

    He told the party leaders, led by Democratic United Party (DUP) National Chairman Chief Perry Okpara, that as direct representatives of the people, lawmakers would keep playing their role to ensure that the rule of law is followed and that human rights are respected.

    Saraki said: “I thank you for taking out time to be with us here today. Thank you for the solidarity message and we truly appreciate it as it encourages us to further do what we are doing to defend democracy in our great country.

    “The big thank you goes to all Nigerians that stood with us and have come to support us here in the National Assembly because in supporting us, you are supporting our democracy.

    “We will continue to defend it. We will continue to ensure that there is respect for the rule of law and that due process is followed across the country.

    He was optimistic that the perpetrators of the recent siege on the National Assembly have learnt their lesson from the wide condemnation that has continued to trail their action.

    Okpara told the Senate President that the visit was to show their solidarity with the National Assembly leadership for standing up in defence of democracy in the face of the recent siege to the complex by Department of State Services (DSS) operatives.

    He condemned the DSS siege and declared that as national leaders of political parties, “we cannot sit by and watch our country slide into the Hobbesian state of anarchy, where life has become short, brutish and lawless”.

     

  • Northern youths seek Saraki’s removal as Senate President

    •Protesters: Akpabio should replace him

    HUNDREDS of Northern youths under Arewa Solidarity Front (ASF) yesterday defied a downpour to protest against Senate President Bukola Saraki.

    They sought Saraki’s removal as Senate President and to be replaced by former Minority Leader Senator Godswill Akpabio.

    The protesters, who matched to the Kaduna State secretariat of All Progressives Congress (APC), wrote the party’s national chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, to ensure that Saraki is removed from office and be replaced with Akpabio.

    The group added that it has concluded plans “to secure a minimum of two million authentic signatures in favour of the vote-of-no confidence on Saraki by Nigerian voters”.

    “At the end of this exercise, we intend to meet with all the senators from our immediate constituencies in Northern Nigeria to further drum up support for the replacement of Senator Saraki with Senator Akpabio,” the group said.

    ASF Chairman Haruna Abdullahi Maikano, who presented the letter to Oshiomhole through the Kaduna State APC Secretary, Mohammed Bello Shuiabu, said: “As a group of northerners concerned with the protection and promotion of democratic institutions, we cannot fold our arms and watch a selfish few, trying to truncate democracy and harming our national interest.”

    To this end, Maikano urged the APC Secretary to ensure that the letter entitled, “Enough of Saraki’s anti-democratic conduct”, get to the APC national chairman.

    Leader of the protesters, who read the letter, said: “We resolved to formally write to you and intimate you on the position of the mass majority of northerners regarding the conduct and performance of the Senate President.

    “We have been following with keen interest, happenings in the National Assembly in the last three years and wish to register our disappointment with the poor leadership of the Senate under Saraki.

    “We call on the APC national leadership to pursue the immediate removal of the incompetent Senator Saraki, who emerged Senate President through alleged fraudulent exercise.

    “We urge the National Chairman to prevail on our distinguished senators to save the image and restore the glory of the Senate by replacing Saraki, who has so far built the image of a leader with too many pending court cases.”

    Receiving the letter for onward transmission to the party’s national chairman, the state APC Secretary thanked the Arewa group for the letter. He promised to deliver it accordingly.

    He said the APC is a party of justice and respect for the rule of law and, therefore, it would follow all the rules in ensuring that it gets back what rightfully belongs to it.