We’ll Follow Due Process To Punish Saraki, Others — APC

Lai Mohammed, National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress

The All Progressives Congress has said that whatever disciplinary action it will take against the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, the Speaker, House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, and   its members for defying its directive on the election of the National Assembly leadership will follow due process.

It said this just as The Punch learnt that the Presidency had intervened in the crisis the election of Saraki and Dogara on Tuesday had generated.

The Punch reports:
The party had conducted mock elections in which Ahmed Lawan and Femi Gbajabiamila emerged as its consensus candidates for the Senate Presidency and House speakership.

After the mock polls, the APC directed its other lawmakers not to contest the positions but ensure that Lawan and Gbajabiamila became the National Assembly leaders.

But this was not to be as Saraki and Dogara did not only contest but won with the support of opposition Peoples Democratic Party lawmakers.

In the Senate, an opposition member, Ike Ekweremadu, surprisingly retained his post as Deputy Senate President.

Ekweremadu defeated an APC Senator, Ali Ndume, who also defied the party’s directive by contesting. The APC anointed candidate for the post   is Mohammed Mungono.

The APC spokesman, Lai Mohammed, who spoke with journalists after an emergency National Working Committee meeting of the APC in Abuja, insisted that the party had not made a U-turn on its earlier position   that the errant lawmakers   would be sanctioned.

The APC spokesman had in a statement on Tuesday said, that the election of   Saraki and Dogara   was unacceptable.

He had said, ‘‘The APC leadership is meeting in a bid to reestablish discipline in the party and to mete out the necessary sanctions to all those involved in what is nothing but a monumental act of indiscipline and betrayal to subject the party to ridicule and create obstacles for the new administration.’’

When asked on Thursday if the party would still   go ahead with plans to punish Saraki,Dogara and others, he replied, that the   “sanctions would follow due process.”

He added   that the errant lawmakers would be notified about their alleged offences and given an opportunity to respond.

When asked why the members of the SUF were at the NWC meeting, he said,   “They are our senators that wanted to confer with the party leadership; they came to confer on the crisis in the National Assembly.”

On the threat by the SUF   to contest Saraki’s election in court, the APC spokesman said, “I think the party made its expression clear on the matter, that it is unhappy with the outcome of the election and I think we won’t say anything beyond that.

“What the senators will do is within their capability and rights.”

It was also gathered that Saraki, who was due to pay a courtesy visit on the party leadership had a rethink on learning that the SUF members were meeting with the NWC.

However, Mohammed said he was unaware of the planned visit by Saraki.

“I’m not aware, probably if you wait you will see him,” he told the journalists, who also informed him that an advance team of security details from the Senate President’s office were sighted earlier in the day at the party’s secretariat.

Don’t Harass N’Assembly Clerk, PDP Warns APC

The PDP has asked the Presidency and the APC not to intimidate or harass the Clerk of the National Assembly,   Salisu Maikasuwa, and the National Assembly Service Commission for their roles in the controversial elections of the leadership of the National Assembly.

The PDP National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Olisa Metuh, in a statement   on Thursday, said that any attempt by the APC to transfer its frustration to Maikasuwa and the commission   would amount to   victimization.

He said the undertone of the statement by   Buhari’s spokesman, Shehu, that the Clerk was notified of a meeting between the President and the APC lawmakers  “amounts to putting undue pressure on civil servants in the National Assembly for performing their legitimate duties and sends a serious signal which should not be ignored.”

Metuh described as unfortunate, the fact that the APC displayed its “arrogance and disrespect for the dictates of the constitution” by attempting to adjust the President’s promulgation order on the National Assembly and seeking to put their interest over and above the supreme law of the land.

He added, “It is a clear mark of disrespect to the constitution for the President and his party to fix a meeting for him to address their legislators the same time he had directed the Assembly to be inaugurated in line with the constitution.

“For 16 years that PDP nurtured democracy in this country, there was never a day it attempted to arm-twist or intimidate the bureaucracy of the National Assembly to do its bidding given our recognition and respect for the independence and sanctity of the legislative arm.

“The National Assembly is the citadel of democracy and represents the collective voice of all Nigerians. The PDP, even in opposition will continue to protect its sanctity and will therefore resist any attempt by the APC to undermine its independence and those of other democratic institutions in our country.”

Metuh noted that the position of the APC and the Presidency clearly negated Buhari’s well-received and praised assertion in his inaugural speech that he belonged to everybody and not to anybody.

He said, “By the last minute attempt to shift the inauguration time for party interest, the President violates his Presidential oath to defend the constitution and serve the nation without fear or favour and irrespective of party, religion and tribe, as he did not consider the interests of other political parties and the generality of Nigerians.”

Metuh added   that emerging events have continued to justify PDP’s position that the APC was ill-equipped and unprepared for the challenge of ruling the country.

According to him, these became glaring in the way and manner the APC handled a very vital issue like the inauguration of the National Assembly.

He said, “From March 28, 2015 to June 9, the APC had about 74 days within which it was expected to put its house in order and present its leaders for the 8th National Assembly, but it could not because of the greed and selfishness of its so-called godfathers who instead chose to fix their party meeting the same time the President was scheduled to inaugurate   the National Assembly.”

Metuh advised  that rather than vilify the Clerk, the APC should commend him for his patriotic and courageous stand that had helped minimize the embarrassment the shifting the inauguration would have brought to the country internationally.

He therefore charged the Presidency and APC to apologize to Nigerians for the embarrassment their ineptitude and inexperience had been causing the nation since they came into office.