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| APC Publicity Secretary Lai Mohammed |
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National Leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Bola Ahmed Tinubu has responded to the emergence of Senator Bukola Saraki as President of the Senate.
Tinubu, while speaking on the development at the national secretariat of the party on Tuesday in Abuja, said, “I will never recognise such a kangaroo arrangement that produced Bukola as the Senate President. “Or how do you want me to recognise a man who deliberately defied his own party because of his personal interest? It is not done anywhere.
“Therefore, recognising Bukola as the Senate President after all he had done to our party today, having gone against the wish and pattern of our great party, honestly will amount to endorsing impunity, and which you should all know I will not ”,Tinubu said.
He added, “For me to recognise Senator Bukola as the Senate President, he must show remorse for today’s action. He had earlier promised to defy the party and the deed has been done. You don’t do that in politics.
“Personal interest must not override that of the party that beget you. It’s a spoken and silent rule of the game, which all and sundry must abide with. “I’m not God, but as far as this party is concerned, I’m a leader and I know what is good for the party at the appropriate time.
Speaking now is not for the party, but for myself. I cannot recognize Bukola as the Senate President.”
In a related development, The National Publicity of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Alhaji Lai Mohammed has described the present composition of the leadership of the nation’s National Assembly, the Senate headed by Senator Olusola Saraki, and the House of Representatives, led by Yakubu Dogara, as pro-Peoples Democratic Party
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Mohammed, while speaking on Sunrise Daily on Channels Television Wednesday, stated that the action of some of its members over what happened on Tuesday during the inauguration of the 8th National Assembly, deserves punishment.
“What we have in the Senate now is a pro-PDP Senate which is not in the interest of our party. How do you expect us to sit with Ekweremadu and Mark and discuss matters of national importance?
“These are part of the old Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) order we struggled to defeat at the centre. So how can we then sit down with them to discuss issues of national importance with these people?” he querid.
When reminded that the APC still controls majority at the National Assembly,
Mohammed stated that the National Assembly leadership as currently constituted is an ally of the PDP, “because it got its mandate through the block votes of the PDP. Remember, there were only eight APC Senators who voted for Saraki. The balance which is 49 are from PDP. In the House of Representatives, only 30 APC members voted for Yakubu Dogara. So you can see that the National Assembly is pro-PDP.
“They even overreached themselves by naming David Mark as the Senate Leader before they realised the illegality of their action and reverse themselves.”
Mohammed stated further that insamuch as the party will not want to lose its members, those involved will still be sanctioned because “the indiscipline should not be allowed to go just like that. If this is allowed to go, then it means any member can perpetrate bigger indiscipline and hope to get away with it.”
Senate President, Bukola Saraki has blasted all those who claimed that he has plans of switching from the All Progressives Congress (APC) to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) describing them as his political adversaries.
In a statement issued by his media office on Wednesday, Saraki who refrained from mentioning names, is believed to have directed his accusation at Alhaji Lai Mohammed, APC National Publicity Secretary.
In response to Mohammed and rumour making the rounds that he will return to PDP, Saraki denied that he had a plan to decamp to PDP, describing the insinuation as ” absurd and laughable.”
According to him, “it is just cheap blackmail by political adversaries who want to call a dog a bad name in order to hang it. And those making such desperate allegations should remember that I willingly left the PDP on matters of principles when the party was in power. Is it now that the party is out of government and in opposition that I will now return having worked so hard for my party in the last general elections,” he queried.
He stated his commitment to the All Progressives Congress (APC), saying he remains a loyal party member and a leader of the party, committed to contributing his quota to building the party and helping it to deliver its promise of change to Nigerian people.
He urged all members of the National Assembly to put politicking behind them and settle down for the proper business of legislating. “Our country is going through a very trying times. We have the challenge of insecurity in the North East. The massive problem of youth unemployment and general economic challenges occasioned by the falling oil prices in the international market and the consequential fall in revenue.
“All these are coming against the huge public expectation that propelled our party into office. We have pursued our legitimate aspirations appropriately. Now that the issues have been settled, we need to move on in the larger interest of our people, without whose mandate we would not have been in a position to aspire to these positions in the first place.”
The Senate President stated his readiness to embrace every member of the Senate regardless of his or her political leanings in the leadership elections just concluded.
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