*What Saraki said about PDP in 2014
*How Lai Mohammed broke ABS’s plot leading to his hasty defection
*Why I left APC – Gov Ahmed
Premium Times, which asked him in January 2014 why he left the PDP, has reminded how Mr. Saraki said, “A lot has been going on about the way the PDP is being run, starting from right after the last convention and they dissolved the congress of Adamawa. I am one of those who said we can’t just get up and be doing those kinds of things because it sends a wrong signal about the party.”
The Senate President, Bukola Saraki, has formally announced his long-awaited defection from Nigeria’s governing party, the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Saraki was followed by his “boy” the Governor of Kwara State, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed, who also made his own announcement concurrently.
Saraki, whose reign as President of the 8th Senate and Chairman of the Nigeria’s National Assembly have posed quite a great deal of setback to the workings of government since June 2015, observers of unfolding events said, made his announcement on his official social media handles.
“I wish to inform Nigerians that, after extensive consultations, I have decided to take my leave of the All Progressives Congress (APC),” he wrote on his Twitter handle.
Nigerians have largely expected Mr. Saraki’s defection from especially after all the federal lawmakers from his Kwara State left the APC last week.
The DEFENDER’s reports in recent times had pointed out that, from the time his Chief of Staff Hakeem Baba-Ahmed dumped the APC without resigning his job as Chief of Staff of the APC Senate President, Saraki had started sending his Advanced Party out of APC.
Although Baba-Ahmed said he had no intention of joining any party yet but the Senate President is expected to join the main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
It will be recalled that Saraki started being under pressure when what was described as his antics that he, like House Speaker Yakubu Dogara, was delaying his defection to PDP to protect his position and wait till a time his defection will make huge impact to negative affect the governing Party.
Abu Ibrahim had exposed the Senate President, who suspended legislative business on claim of embarking on annual recess, to be plotting along with Dogara to last Thursday, two days after the close of NASS, return to impeach President Muhammadu Buhari.
The recess thin was however described many as actually in protest by the Senators in solidarity with Saraki’s invitation by the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) over Offa robbery case.
Mr. Saraki, who was also accused of including names of senators behind them in the list of defectors, had since then therefore been asked by genuine APC senators and members of the governing to either honourably declare his new party or they would sack him by themselves.
Saraki’s supporters also did not help his situation as they went all out on social media saying, “Buhari is using force while Saraki is using brain”, a comment which angered many Nigerians loyal to the President, government and the APC and then made frank call, according to one of them, that “If Saraki is not expelled now he would do more damages to the polity”.
They called on President Buhari to stop being soft with the Senate President as he was said to be exploiting the softness and patience of the President Buhari for weakness.
As if acting on the various calls by a section of Nigerians and supporters of the government, Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed last weekend made a call on the National Working Committee (NWC) of the APC to dissolve the Kwara State Executive Committee to leave the space for fresh congress that will bring an all-inclusive party people on board.
The Balogun Fulani-led executive committee, with which Saraki had boasted to have a base to launch his attack on President Buhari on the insinuation that the President was behind his travails, was dissolved on Sunday and replaced with the Moshood Bolarinwa-led executive committee pending the time a fresh congress will take place.
That dissolution of Kwara APC exco broke the impending impactful Saraki had plotted and therefore crumbed his influence at base as APC structure was by that taken from him in Kwara.
Suffering from the same political calamity, Governor Ahmed, who is Mr Saraki’s political boy, also defected to the PDP before nothing was left for them in Kwara except the power of incumbency as governor.
But Lai Mohammed’s home visit on Monday showed a big challenge to the Saraki’s influence on Kwara as Ilorin people not only came out in large number but also openly pledged their support and commitment to President Muhammadu Buhari’s electoral success and the minister’s takeover of the state in 2019.
A statement by media aide to Governor Ahmed, Muyideen Akorede, said the decision followed consultations with people in the state.
“Following due consultations with the people and in response to calls by major stakeholder groups in the state, Kwara State Governor, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed today defected to the People’s Democratic Party(PDP), having realized that the All Progressive Congress (APC) can longer serve as a platform for achieving the aspirations and expectations of his people,” the statement said Tuesday.
What Saraki said about PDP in 2014
Mr. Saraki joined the APC on January 29, 2014 after falling out with the then PDP government, led by President Goodluck Jonathan.
He was among 11 PDP senators of the period who informed the Senate of their departure from the PDP on that date.
Two months before then – November 2013 – Governor Ahmed, alongside four other then PDP governors defected to the APC. They were Chibuike Amaechi (Rivers), Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto), Murtala Nyako (Adamawa) and Rabi’u Kwankwaso (Kano).
Mr. Kwankwaso, now a senator, has also since returned to the PDP.
According to a report by Premium Times which asked him in January 2014 why he left the PDP, Mr. Saraki said, “A lot has been going on about the way the PDP is being run, starting from right after the last convention and they dissolved the congress of Adamawa. I am one of those who said we can’t just get up and be doing those kinds of things because it sends a wrong signal about the party.
“Take also the issue of the NGF and what followed with not following due process and internal democracy which now led to the party not holding meetings and the like.
“Take also the case of Kwara state: we concluded plans to go into local government elections and we have gone through primaries and the party had even gone to inspect the primaries and then all of a sudden, 24 hours later someone sits here in Abuja and just writes a list of 193 councillors and 16 chairmen with no respect at all for what the wishes of the people are!
“There is no way a serious politician who has the interest of his people will be party to this kind of thing. Our main purpose of being in politics is to protect the interest of our people. So it was even not me, but the people who said we cannot continue to be in this party and support this kind of process.
“That is why whenever people ask me whether they are talking to me, I tell them that this decision goes beyond me as an individual. How do I go back to the state and tell the people that PDP is a party that represents their wishes?
“To them what the party did was like a rape on democracy. You know at the grassroots level, the people are not so interested in the president or governor. They are deeply interested in who become their councillor and chairman. So when they go through a process and Abuja said no, if you are a politician, you know what that does to you.”
