– Kwara Governor Ahmed, Nigerian envoy to South Africa, Ibeto too
By Banji Ayoola
After several weeks of speculations, the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki on Tuesday dumped the All Progressives Congress, APC, over irreconcilable differences with the leadership of that party and the Federal Government it controls.
He announced the decision on his Twitter handle saying: ‘I wish to inform Nigerians that, after extensive consultations, I have decided to take my leave of the All Progressives Congress’ (APC)’
He said: ‘in the three years since the 8th Senate was inaugurated we have advanced legislation to better our business environment, fund infrastructure development, improve healthcare and education and take care of the most vulnerable.’
Simultaneously, Kwara State Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed and Nigerian Ambassador to South Africa, Alhaji Ahmed Ibeto, also quit the party.
The Senate President’s exit from APC was an anti-climax as he had openly romanced with the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, of which he was a member until 2014.
His resignation also came amidst expectations that the party would formally expel him and House of Representatives Speaker, Mr Yakubu Dogara from the party.
The duo, Nigeria’s third and fourth foremost citizens and senior members of the ruling party had been accused of disloyalty and anti-party activities, the latest of which was the joint statement issued by them accusing President Muhammadu Buhari of masterminding the political crisis in Benue state.
The party’s National Working Committee had on Monday stripped Saraki and Governor Ahmed of the control of the party’s structure in Kwara state, by dissolving the executives from the ward to the state levels, an indication that the party was finished with them.
Instead, it appointed a caretaker committee to take control of the party affairs; hinging its action on the party’s constitution.
Later, the Senate President in a statement signed by him and emailed to media outlets by his media office, gave reasons for dumping the party for the leading opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
According to him, these include continued persecutions he has been put through in the APC.
Below is his full defection statement.
“I wish to inform Nigerians that, after extensive consultations, I have decided to take my leave of the All Progressives Congress (APC). This is not a decision that I have made lightly.
“If anything at all, I have tarried for so long and did all that was humanly possible, even in the face of great provocation, ridicule and flagrant persecution, to give opportunity for peace, reconciliation and harmonious existence.
“Perhaps, more significantly, I am mindful of the fact that I carry on my shoulder a great responsibility for thousands of my supporters, political associates and friends, who have trusted in my leadership and have attached their political fortunes to mine.
“However, it is after an extensive consultation with all the important stakeholders that we have come to this difficult but inevitable decision to pitch our political tent elsewhere; where we could enjoy greater sense of belonging and where the interests of the greatest number of our Nigerians would be best served.
“While I take full responsibility for this decision, I will like to emphasise that it is a decision that has been inescapably imposed on me by certain elements and forces within the APC who have ensured that the minimum conditions for peace, cooperation, inclusion and a general sense of belonging did not exist.
“They have done everything to ensure that the basic rules of party administration, which should promote harmonious relations among the various elements within the party were blatantly disregarded.
“All governance principles which were required for a healthy functioning of the party and the government were deliberately violated or undermined. And all entreaties for justice, equity and fairness as basic precondition for peace and unity, not only within the party, but also the country at large, were simply ignored, or employed as additional pretext for further exclusion.
“The experience of my people and associates in the past three years is that they have suffered alienation and have been treated as outsiders in their own party. Thus, many have become disaffected and disenchanted.
“At the same time, opportunities to seek redress and correct these anomalies were deliberately blocked as a government-within-a-government had formed an impregnable wall and left in the cold, everyone else who was not recognized as “one of us”.
“This is why my people, like all self-respecting people would do, decided to seek accommodation elsewhere.
“I have had the privilege to lead the Nigerian legislature in the past three years as the President of the Senate and the Chairman of the National Assembly. The framers of our constitution envisage a degree of benign tension among the three arms of government if the principle of checks and balances must continue to serve as the building block of our democracy.
“In my role as the head of the legislature, and a leader of the party, I have ensured that this necessary tension did not escalate at any time in such a way that it could encumber Executive function or correspondingly, undermine the independence of the legislature.
“Over the years, I have made great efforts in the overall interest of the country, and in spite of my personal predicament, to manage situations that would otherwise have resulted in unsavoury consequences for the government and the administration. My colleagues in the Senate will bear testimony to this.
“However, what we have seen is a situation whereby every dissent from the legislature was framed as an affront on the executive or as part of an agenda to undermine the government itself. The populist notion of anti-corruption became a ready weapon for silencing any form of dissent and for framing even principled objection as “corruption fighting back”.
“Persistent onslaught against the legislature and open incitement of the people against their own representatives became a default argument in defence of any short-coming of the government in a manner that betrays all too easily, a certain contempt for the Constitution itself or even the democracy that it is meant to serve.
“Unfortunately, the self-serving gulf that has been created between the leadership of the two critical arms of government based on distrust and mutual suspicion has made any form of constructive engagement impossible.
“Therefore, anything short of a slavish surrender in a way that reduces the legislature to a mere rubber stamp would not have been sufficient in procuring the kind of rapprochement that was desired in the interest of all. But I have no doubt in my mind, that to surrender this way is to be complicit in the subversion of the institution that remains the very bastion of our democracy.
“I am a democrat. And I believe that anyone who lays even the most basic claim to being a democrat will not accept peace on those terms; which seeks to compromise the very basis of our existence as the parliament of the people.
“The recent weeks have witnessed a rather unusual attempt to engage with some of these most critical issues at stake. Unfortunately, the discord has been allowed to fester unaddressed for too long, with dire consequences for the ultimate objective of delivering the common good and achieving peace and unity in our country.
“Any hope of reconciliation at this point was therefore very slim indeed. Most of the horses had bolted from the stable. The emergence of a new national party executives a few weeks ago held out some hopes, however slender.
“The new party chairman has swung into action and did his best alongside some of the Governors of APC and His Excellency, the Vice President. I thank them for all their great efforts to save the day and achieve reconciliation. Even though I thought these efforts were coming late in the day, but seeing the genuine commitment of these gentlemen, I began to think that perhaps it was still possible to reconsider the situation.
“However, as I have realized all along, there are some others in the party leadership hierarchy, who did not think dialogue was the way forward and therefore chose to play the fifth columnists. These individuals went to work and ensured that they scuttled the great efforts and the good intentions of these aforementioned leaders of the party.
“Perhaps, had these divisive forces not thrown the cogs in the wheel at the last minutes, and in a manner that made it impossible to sustain any trust in the process, the story today would have been different. For me, I leave all that behind me.
“Today, I start as I return to the party where I began my political journey, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). When we left the PDP to join the then nascent coalition of All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2014, we left in a quest for justice, equity and inclusion; the fundamental principles on which the PDP was originally built but which it had deviated from.
“We were attracted to the APC by its promise of change. We fought hard along with others and defeated the PDP. In retrospect, it is now evident that the PDP has learnt more from its defeat than the APC has learnt from its victory.
“The PDP that we return to is now a party that has learnt its lessons the hard way and has realized that no member of the party should be taken for granted; a party that has realized that inclusion, justice and equity are basic precondition for peace; a party that has realized that never again can the people of Nigeria be taken for granted.
“I am excited by the new efforts, which seek to build the reborn PDP on the core principles of promoting democratic values; internal democracy; accountability; inclusion and national competitiveness; genuine commitment to restructuring and devolution of powers; and an abiding belief in zoning of political and elective offices as an inevitable strategy for managing our rich diversity as a people of one great indivisible nation called Nigeria.
“What we have all agreed is that a deep commitment to these ideals were not only a demonstration of our patriotism but also a matter of enlightened self-interest, believing that our very survival as political elites of this country will depend on our ability to earn the trust of our people and in making them believe that, more than anything else, we are committed to serving the people.
“What the experience of the last three years have taught us is that the most important task that we face as a country is how to reunite our people. Never before had so many people in so many parts of our country felt so alienated from their Nigerianness. Therefore, we understand that the greatest task before us is to reunite the country and give everyone a sense of belonging regardless of region or religion.
“Every Nigerian must have an instinctive confidence that he or she will be treated with justice and equity in any part of the country regardless of the language they speak or how they worship God. This is the great task that trumps all.
“Unless we are able to achieve this, all other claim to progress no matter how defined, would remain unsustainable. This is the task that I am committing myself to and I believe that it is in this PDP, that I will have the opportunity to play my part.
“It is my hope that the APC will respect the choice that I have made as my democratic right, and understand that even though we will now occupy a different political space, we do not necessarily become enemies unto one another.
Swiftly, the PDP has welcome Saraki, Abdul Fatah and Ibeto saying their defection was timely, extended a hand of fellowship to them and assured that they would be welcomed to its fold.
The party said their coming could not have come at a better time when the nation requires the input of genuine patriots that will rescue it from “implosion.”
It said in a statement signed by the National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, that “the harassment and intimidation that the duo of Senator Saraki and Governor Ahmed had suffered from the lords in the All Progressives Congress (APC) which they helped to build and nurtured to win elections,” was strange.
“Senator Saraki, in particular, has conducted the affairs of the Senate in reflection of the wishes of the silent majority of Nigerians and had emerged a hero of democracy.
“The party has no doubts that Senator Saraki, Governor Ahmed and Alhaji Ibeto will contribute immensely to the new order that engender good governance in our nation.
“The PDP calls on all Nigerians who are desirous of rescuing our nation from the incompetent administration of President Buhari to rally with party of choice, PDP, ahead of the 2019 elections.”
Also, Bayelsa State Senator, Ben Murray-Bruce and prolific writer and former Aviation minister, Chief Femi Fani Kayode welcomed the Senate President to the party on their respective Twitter handles.
Announcing his own defection also on Tuesday, Kwara State Governor, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed said he had dumped the APC after wide consultations.
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In a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Communication, Dr. Muyideen Akorede, Ahmed said: “Following due consultations with the people and in response to calls by major stakeholder groups in the state, Kwara State Governor, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed today defected to the PDP having realized that the APC can no longer serve as a platform for achieving the aspirations and expectations of his people.”
APC: I’ve not resigned – Bolaji Abdullahi
But Malam Bolaji Abdullahi, APC National Publicity Secretary, dismissed speculations that he has resigned his membership of the party.
He told newsmen at the APC secretariat in Abuja on Tuesday that report of his resignation trending in the media was not true, adding: “there is no iota of truth in the report.”
The absence of the former Minister of Sports during the regular Monday meeting of the APC National Working Committee (NWC) fueled the speculations that he may have concluded arrangements to leave the party.
The anxiety over Abdullahi’s future with the ruling party was because of his closeness to the Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki, who announced his exit from the APC on Tuesday.
In his reaction to Saraki’s exit from the party, Abdullahi, however, said he was not considering leaving the party, stressing that “I came through the front door and will not go through the back door.”
Defending his absence at the NWC meeting, the APC spokesman said he actually notified the party’s national leadership of his absence from the meeting.
He said “it is not true that I have resigned and let me emphasise that there is no iota of truth in that report. I can understand where the speculation is coming from, perhaps because I was absent during the NWC meeting on Monday.
“However, the speculators didn’t know that I told my colleagues that I was away in Kwara State.
“I want to put it on record that I came through the front door and if I want to leave, I will leave through the front door.”
