Defection trauma: APC plans to expel Saraki  

The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) may have begun consideration for the expulsion of Senate President Abubakar Bukola Saraki from the party over the defection of 15 senators to opposition political parties on Tuesday.

National Daily gathered that APC Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Yekini Nabena, on Wednesday advocated the expulsion of Saraki from the party for anti-party activities.

Nabena, in a statement Wednesday in Abuja, – Time to Expel Saraki from APC – noted that Saraki was in cahoots with the 42 lawmakers that defected to opposition political parties in the National Assembly on Tuesday.  “Being the ringleader, therefore, there is no justification for APC’s continued toleration of Saraki. He must go now; Or be shown the way out,” Nabena declared.

The APC Deputy National Publicity Secretary remarked that the APC leadership was not surprised by the defections, which he considered the culmination of the “deserters’” anti-party activities. He remarked that what shocked party leaders was Saraki’s statements and body language, which revealed unconcealed cooperation with the defectors.

Nabena in the statement declared:: “The news of the about 15 senators who reportedly defected from our party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), today hardly came as a surprise to anyone, not least the APC leadership. 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 organising the events that transpired in the National Assembly today. 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 anti-party 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 now. Or be shown the way out.”