•Calls for expulsion of Saraki, Dogara
•Why PDP legislators didn’t takeover Senate
Leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) countrywide remain sharply divided over the manner Bukola Saraki emerged Senate President on Tuesday, June 9.
Second Republic lawmaker and Russian trained medical doctor, Junaid Mohammed, has weighed in by urging the APC to immediately expel Saraki and House of Representatives Speaker, Yakubu Dogara, for dishonouring the party.
APC members who want Saraki punished include the party’s national leader, Bola Tinubu; National Chairman, John Odigie-Oyegun, former interim Chairman, Bisi Akande; and National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed.
Those who kick against sanction include APC Northern leaders and Board of Trustees (BoT) members, including former Vice President Atiku Abubakar; former House of Representatives Speaker, Ghali Na’Abba, former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Chairman now an APC juggernaut, Abubakar Baraje.
South East and South South party chieftains are also said to back Saraki and are insisting that the party must tread with caution in order not to injure its general interest.
“We are worried that the Saraki/Dogara issue could create a gulf in our new ruling party, and this could take a titanic colouration,” an APC source told TheNiche.
It was learnt that those behind Saraki are surprised at the way the party is treating him as if he is no more a member.
APC interest versus Tinubu’s
“What they are calling party’s interest is simply Bola Tinubu’s interest, and what they are describing as party’s supremacy, is also the supremacy of the Jargaban Borgu (Tinubu),” another source moaned.
He cautioned against demonising Saraki, saying if he was not competent, the highly cerebral Senate members would not have queued behind him as their leader.
“He had the support of the 49 PDP senators, plus at least that of 28 of his APC colleagues. Put together, he couldn’t have gotten less than 67 votes against (Ahmed) Lawan in the election in which you require only 55 votes to win.”
Mohammed’s take
In his own take, Mohammed said: “I fully subscribe to the idea that these people (Saraki and Dogara) who ignored the prosition of the party, who have dishonoured the party, dishonoured the electorate, dishonoured the platform which put them in parliament, should be disposed of immediately. The sooner it’s done the better.”
He cited a precedent, recalling that “as a founding member of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) in the Second Republic, we decided that two of our governors and the majority of our senators and members of the House of Representatives who were not prepared to follow the rules of the party, had to go. They went.
“We dismissed (Abubakar) Rimi from the party, we expelled Balarabe Musa from the party, we expelled almost all the principal officers of the state Houses of Assembly, and we also did the same to the majority of the Senate.
“And it is on record that in the subsequent election in 1983, everyone of those we expelled failed to come back to the National Assembly and failed to come back to the state Houses of Assembly. Every one of them lost his seat.”
Mohammed insisted that what the rebels did is unpardonable.
“I am aware, for example, that [former Senate President David Mark and others are behind the present crisis. Look at their background. Mark has been a military officer who has been involved in every coup d’etat in the history of Nigeria.
“He started getting involved in coups since he was a captain. And he has been involved in every coup.
“If these people who participated in a series of coups are now where they are, we should understand their behaviour because old habits die hard. The best thing that can happen to the sanity of politics in Nigeria is to deal with Saraki and Dogara.
“I am not privy to the series of acts of indiscipline by these people, but I want to assure you that from my own personal example of a party I formed, the outstanding opposition party in the history of Nigeria (PRP), we have a history of expelling our governors and heavens did not fall.”
PDP sticks to deal with Saraki
But it has also emerged from sources close to Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, that PDP senators were not keen on reneging on an understanding with Saraki, otherwise a PDP senator would have emerged Senate president on June 9 because 49 PDP members were present while APC had only eight.
Had a PDP member nominated one of its own for the election, Saraki would have lost on two counts.
The source argued that the emergence of Saraki was well designed, noting that though some APC senators were absent, “there were sufficient indications that many of the absentee APC senators would still have voted for him since the exercise would have been done by secret ballot.”
APC makes U-turn, accepts Saraki
But in the latest twist to the saga, however, Odigie-Oyegun disclosed on Friday, June 12 that the APC has accepted Saraki as Senate President.
When asked if the APC would accept Saraki, Odigie-Oyegun said, “Of course! He has been duly elected by his colleagues. We have a reality and we must live with it.”
He spoke to reporters after joining members of the Transition Committee set up by President Muhammadu Buhari to present its report to Buhari at Defence House, Abuja