The exit of the President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, from the ruling All Progressives Congress will in no way affect the party and its bid to win the 2019 presidential elections, a minister and a governor have said.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said Saraki has all along been behaving like a member of the opposition even while still a member of the APC while Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State wished him [Saraki] good luck.
Mohammed, who spoke with State House correspondents at the end of the weekly meeting of the Federal Executive Council presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, claimed that Saraki has been slowing down the progress of the government from within.
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He said,
“If Senate President Bukola Saraki were not a member of the APC, the party and the government it leads could not have suffered more than they had already done, with regards to the delay in passing the budget, approving key appointments and so on.
“In other words, Saraki has behaved all along as a member of the opposition, deliberately slowing down the progress of the APC-led Federal Government.
“It is therefore neither a surprise nor a blow that he has defected.
“Perhaps, the only surprise is that when he eventually defected, it was a mere whimper!
“If we didn’t gain by having our member as Senate President, we stand to lose nothing by losing him.”
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In the same vein, Gov. Rochas Okorocha of Imo said Saraki’s exit will not in anyway affect the party electoral victory in 2019 general elections.
Okorocha said this while speaking with newsmen at the party’s national secretariat on Tuesday in Abuja in reaction to the development.
Okorocha, who is also the chairman of the All Progressives Governor’s Forum, spoke after a closed-door meeting with Mr Adams Oshiomhole the party’s National Chairman.
“I don’t know when they joined the party and I don’t have to know when they are leaving the party.
“People are entitled to their opinions about how they see issues, a political party is just like a vehicle with which you get to your point of destination.
“And if they find out that they can no longer get what they want in APC and they want to go to other parties, it is good luck.
“But the question you should ask me is how that will affect the APC, I don’t see any way it can affect the party negatively,” Okorocha said.
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He maintained that President Muhammadu Buhari would win the 2019 presidential election even without the Senate President in the party.
Okorocha said this was especially so because Buhari was much stronger on the ground now and would do better than he did before in terms of electoral victory come 2019.
He stressed that the decision of the Senate President to leave the APC was allowed, adding that as he leaves, many more people were finding their way into the party in their thousands.
“It’s neither here nor there, so we shouldn’t make a big issue out of it.
“Saraki is entitled to his political opinion and if he wants to leave, good luck to him and if the governor of Kwara, my colleague wants to leave, good luck.
“They are all responsible men and you cannot tire them down to where they don’t want to be,” Okorocha said.
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Saraki made his decision to leave the APC known via his Facebook account on Tuesday evening.
The President of the Senate wrote:
“I wish to inform Nigerians that, after extensive consultations, I have decided to take my leave of the All Progressives Congress (APC).”
In a statement later on Tuesday, he expectedly named the PDP as his next political destination..
(NAN)
