Kogi-West PDP Primaries: Leave Saraki out, says Aide

An aide to the President of the Senate, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, Olu Onemola, on Saturday, admonished aggrieved aspirants for the Kogi West Senatorial District seat in the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to leave the Senate President out of the state’s internal politics.

Responding to the allegations raised by a few of the disqualified aspirants, Onemola, Special Assistant on New Media to Senate President, stated that it was implausible for the aspirants to state that the Senate President was behind their disqualification, when the party machinery and the screening committee were responsible for their own actions.

“Let’s be clear, the allegations raised by the disqualified aspirants are far-fetched, unconvincing and entirely illogical. How, when, and why would the Senate President get involved in a Senatorial primary? The statement issued and signed by Hon. Karimi is entirely baseless.

“The Senate President has been the one championing and advocating transparency, unity and openness in the party. So, what motivation would he have to reverse his stance on these basic principles of democracy in a senatorial election where he is not even on the ballot? None whatsoever.

“There are party mechanisms and procedures that are put in place to checkmate this sort of imposition that has been suggested by the disqualified aspirants. Hence, they need to take it up with the party, using the proper mechanisms, instead of ascribing the blame to the Senate President. In fact, throughout all this, Dr. Saraki has played the role of the arbiter and peace maker. He has since left the National Secretariat of the PDP to handle the issue.

“We all need to be very careful when issuing statements that have the potential to be misconstrued and twisted for political gain by other parties and individuals that are not on our side. We need to adhere to facts, and not issue baseless and unwarranted allegations,” Onemola stated.