“We have to accept that once a couple, for any other reason or the other, find that they are not compatible, the only honourable thing is to go.
Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
Barely 24 hours after the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, dumped the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the ruling party has asked him to resign his position.
Speaking after holding a meeting with some APC senators, led by Senate Leader, Ahmed Lawan, spoke and President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, APC National Chairman, Adam Oshiomhole, said as a mark of honour, Saraki cannot run to another party with the crown of APC, insisting that resignation was the option available to him.
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Oshiomhole said: “I mean you should not collect a crown that belongs to a family and wear it on behalf of the family. It is just a matter of honour to leave the crown in the house that the crown belongs to. As it stands, even now, APC is still the largest party in the senate; we have 53 senators, that is much more than PDP has, or APGA has.”
Oshiomhole said, the latest defections did not come as surprise to APC members, adding that the defectors stayed longer than expected.
“These are what I might call tempting moments, because I had faced similar situations in my state, when people were also leaving. But, the beauty of democracy is that whether big or small, it is one man one vote on election day, no difference between a senator, a president, a journalist and any other person. In a sense, we have to accept that once a couple, for any other reason or the other find that they are not compatible, the only honourable thing is to go. Meanwhile, the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, has said the ruling APC government, since inception, has not shown love to his native Kwara State.
“He claimed that the state was marginalised in terms of appointments by the APC, during a chat with journalists in Ilorin.
“The Federal Government appointed over 200 persons into juicy offices without allotting any slot to me or (Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu) Dogara. Everything went to Katsina and Lagos. If not for the love I have for Nigeria, we would have scattered everything. They don’t want us in their party. They don’t like us in Kwara.
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“What I am after is for my people to enjoy dividend of democracy. I want us to be in the party that will love my people. Wherever we are, we will win elections. The governor told me he’s tired of the APC.
“We discussed this issue last week when I came home. You told me that you were tired of the APC, but, I asked you to exercise patience. I told you that I will seek God’s guidance and feed you back on my return to Ilorin.
“Those we are talking to in the PDP have understood that we need to move Nigeria forward. There is no cause for alarm. We should forget about personal ambition as we move to a new party. What should be paramount in our minds is Nigeria’s progress.
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“We will set up our committee, which will be meeting with the PDP committee. I’ve met with great stakeholders in the PDP, such as Prof. Sulaiman, Ajibola Simon and Yekini Alabi and we have all agreed to work together.
“We should cooperate with the PDP people who we are joining. But whatever is the reason, we can decamp from party, but we can’t decamp from Nigeria.”