The Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Yekini Nabena, on Wednesday, stating anti-party activities, appealed for an immediate expulsion of the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, from the party .
This is coming a day after 15 senators and some members of the house of reps left the party. He subsequently charged Saraki of being in league with the defectors.
He said for “being the ringleader”, there was no justification for APC to continue to tolerate Saraki.
“He must go now. Or be shown the way out”, Nabena remarked, adding that the party hierarchy and other members were not in the least, surprised by the defections.
But he maintained that Saraki’s body language and expressions revealed unconcealed cooperation with the defectors
He said: “The news of the about 15 senators who reportedly defected from our party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), hardly came as a surprise to anyone. What however, shocked political observers, especially democratic minds, was Senate President Bukola Saraki’s postures and expressions, which clearly communicated his unhidden complicity in the charades against his supposed party.
“Clearly, Saraki had a big hand in organizing the events that transpired in the National Assembly. He has, therefore, lost the moral justification to remain in APC. The time to expel him from the party is now.
“The public outing by the deserters at the National Assembly was the culmination of months of antiparty activities organised and directed by Saraki. And every scene in that dramatic work of shame revealed his hand.
“When the senators submitted the letter declaring their intention to leave APC, which was excitedly read by Saraki, the Senate Leader, Senator Ahmed Lawan, attempted to point out what should have been the right procedure if APC had a true party man at the helm.
“Lawan tried to emphasise the need to allow some time for dialogue, knowing that politics is always a game of negotiation, dialogue, and agreement. Rather than listen to the senate leader and stand down the defections, at least temporarily, to see how the situation could be salvaged, Saraki simply gave in to his own consuming interest in the whole affair and enthusiastically shut down the valid intervention by Lawan.
“The senate president went on to make a deceitful case for the defectors.
APC as a democratic institution of democrats understands that “People have the freedom of association.” Saraki did not need to remind us or anyone of that fact.
“Like we had cause to emphasise in a recent statement, “The APC is not averse to dissenting positions. But we reject deceit in every shade or form.”
“We have also previously emphasised the fact that the senate president is the major sponsor of the so-called Reformed All Progressives Congress (rAPC), which has pulled out of APC, and whose members in the National Assembly staged the exit that we saw today.
“Being the ringleader, therefore, there is no justification for APC’s continued toleration of Saraki. He must go”.
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