*Saraki’s defection good riddance – FG
*He used his position to slow down governance – Mohammed
*S-West PDP welcomes defectors, as party hosts them to dinner in Abuja
*Saraki as Senate President behaved like an opposition member – APC
“Whatever is the reason, we can decamp from party but we can’t decamp from Nigeria. The only thing is that there are other consequential issues that every man or woman of honour who had taken such decisions would be expected to follow through. I mean you should not collect a crown that belongs to a family and wear it on behalf of the family for your personal reasons.”
The National Chairman of governing All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, has asked Senator Bukola Saraki to immediately resign his position as Senate President.
The former Edo State governor was on Thursday in Abuja reacting to Tuesday’s defection of Saraki to the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
He had specifically led some senators to a closed-door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa.
Fielding questions from State House Correspondents after the parley, Oshiomhole, who stated that he was not taken aback by the cross-carpeting, however, noted that it was imperative for Saraki to relinquish his post since he is now in a minority party at the parliament.
“Whatever is the reason, we can decamp from party but we can’t decamp from Nigeria. The only thing is that there are other consequential issues that every man or woman of honour who had taken such decisions would be expected to follow through.
“I mean you should not collect a crown that belongs to a family and wear it on behalf of the family for your personal reasons.
“It is just a matter of honour to leave the crown where it belongs. As it stands even now, APC is still the largest party in the Senate. We have 53 senators, that is much more than what the PDP or APGA has,” he submitted.
However, the ruling party said it is least disturbed by the decamping of its immediate national publicity secretary, Bolaji Abdulahi, Saraki, as well as Governors Abdulfatah Ahmed and Aminu Tambuwal of Kwara and Sokoto states.
In a statement, the party’s Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Yekini Nabena, stated that defectors had the right to pursue their political ambitions wherever they desired.
Noting that it remains focused on continuing its unbroken run of victories in future elections, the APC urged its supporters nationwide to remain steadfast.
The APC spoke just as National Chairman of PDP, Prince Uche Secondus, said Nigeria has become a crisis-ridden country on account of killings in Benue, others as well as the alleged impunity in the land.
During a solidarity visit by party stalwarts to Governor Samuel Ortom in Makurdi, Secondus condemned the recent impeachment notice purportedly served on their host by eight of the 30 members of the House of Assembly.
He said Benue “is being persecuted by the powers that be because the state now belongs to the PDP,” a development he stated was not good for democracy.
Saraki’s defection good riddance – FG
In the meantime, the Federal Government in its first formal response to the gale of defections from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) Wednesday described the exit of Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, as a good riddance that would remove obstacles to the delivery of good governance.
The government’s reaction was articulated through the Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, who described Saraki as Senate President as one that slowed down governance.
Speaking after the regular Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting in Abuja Wednesday, Alhaji Mohammed said: “If Senate President Bukola Saraki were not a member of the APC, the party and the government it leads could not have suffered more than they had already done, with regards to the delay in passing the budget, approving key appointments and so on.
“In other words, Saraki has behaved all along as a member of the opposition, deliberately slowing down the progress of the APC-led Federal Government.
“It is therefore neither a surprise nor a blow that he has defected.
“Perhaps the only surprise is that when he eventually defected, it was a mere whimper. If we didn’t gain by having our member as Senate President, we stand to lose nothing by losing him.”
On the effect on Kwara politics, he said: “Realising this, the true APC members in the state have come together to strengthen the party, open its doors to new members and reposition it for the 2019 elections, with a view to delivering Kwara to President Muhammadu Buhari.
“This was what we did this past weekend, and you saw the way the people reacted. Yet, what happened at the weekend was not even a rally. It was a consultative stakeholders’ meeting. And it was a defining moment for the millions of Kwarans seeking political direction and emancipation.
“Thankfully, the national leadership of our party has hearkened to our demands by dissolving the exco and constituting a caretaker committee.
“That offers a fresh start for the APC in Kwara. No one tree, no matter how big, can make a forest. Every Kwaran is important in the emerging political dispensation in the state, and it is the realisation of this new dawn that has set the state agog for the APC.”
He said that with the defection of the Senate President, “Kwara State is now breathing the air of relief. The future of the party in the state can only get better.”
