By Ayo Kehinde, Lagos
The crisis of confidence brewing in the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, took a dangerous turn with the Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Hon. Yekini Nabena calling for the dismissal of Senate President Bukola Saraki from the party for antiparty activities.
Nabena said this in a statement, titled “Time to Expel Saraki from APC,” which was released Wednesday in Abuja.
The statement, which followed the defection of about 15 senators and some House of Representatives members from the APC, accused Saraki of working with the defectors.
It said, “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.”
The statement said the APC leadership was not surprised by the defections, which it called the culmination of the “deserters’” anti-party activities.
It said what shocked observers was Saraki’s utterances and body language, which revealed unconcealed cooperation with the defectors.
The statement said in part: “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.
“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.”
