The former secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje (CON) has said that the juicy offers reportedly being dangled before aggrieved members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) cannot make up for the embarrassment and horrifying experiences suffered from the leadership of the party.
He expressed shock that the Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara and other distressed members of the APC are being offered juicy positions by the APC-led government at the eve of the 2019 general elections.
Reacting to some media reports that the presidency plans to offer Saraki and others juicy positions to stop them from defecting to other political parties , Alhaji Baraje said though, he was not aware of such offer, but wondered why it would be coming after three years in office of the present administration of the APC under President Muhammadu Buhari.
“As far as I know, there is no juicy position that can replace the kind of embarrassment, debasement and horrifying experiences many of us have suffered and gone through in the hands of some few mischievous members of the APC, it’s quite unfortunate,” he added.
Alhaji Baraje disclosed that as far as he and his supporters and followers are concerned, they have taken a decision and they are about to reach the final stage of such decision.
He said, “If the Senate President feels it is fit for him to stay back, all well and good but Saraki as a leader also has his supporters and followers and if they have decided to leave the party, I don’t know what he (Saraki) is still doing behind.
“The followers of the Senate President particularly from Kwara State and across the country have already resolved to leave the APC with or without Dr Saraki, so it is now left for the Senate President to make a decision more so that he is an experienced and a seasoned politician.”
He said further that the Senate President has the right to either take such juicy position or jettison it, but he noted that what is clear is that Saraki’s supporters and followers have taken a decision.
…party warns ‘vulture’ PDP to stop feasting on its members
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has slammed the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for seeing every alternation in the ruling party as an opportunity to feast.
APC has a battle on its hands to prevent its leading members from defecting to the opposition ahead of the 2019 presidential election, and has been holding peace talks with its aggrieved members.
However, APC has now defended its actions, saying it has only been doing the same thing PDP refused to do ahead of the 2015 election when six governors walked out on the party in 2013.
“After three years in the wilderness, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is understandably excited with possibility of hiding its irredeemably bad image under the heap of a new coalition,” National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, said in a statement yesterday.
“Like the vulture, PDP sees every altercation as a potential opportunity for a feast.
“If PDP is not alleging wild conspiracies, they are threatening to boycott elections or announcing fake defections. What is clear with all these is that no matter how long a leopard lives, it cannot change its spots.
“What President Muhammadu Buhari and Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, the National Chairman of our Party are doing, persuading every aggrieved member not to leave the Party, is what responsible and sensible party leaders would do. Party politics is a game of number. And that game is addition. If the PDP had the same presence of mind in 2015, perhaps the calamity that befell them would have been averted.
“We challenge the PDP to face Nigerians on their own merit in 2019 and stop shopping around for supporters.”
