-Saraki must go – APC
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Ahead of tomorrow’s reconvening of the National Assembly, tension continues to mount over accusations and counter accusations on alleged plot to impeach the leadership of the Raising the alarm for instance, the Reformed All Progressives Congress (rAPC), is accusing the Comrade Adams Oshiomholeled All Progressives Congress (APC) of plotting to impeach Senate President Bukola Saraki as well as the Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu.
Also joining the fray is the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, which also made similar claims.
And amidst all this, the ruling APC is insistent on Saraki quitting office, even as it described the opposition as mere attention seekers.
rAPC’s claims Making the claim in a statement yesterday in Abuja, spokesman of the rAPC, Prince Kassim Afegbua, said the desperation to win at all cost and the conduct of Saturday’s bye-elections in Kogi, Katsina and Bauchi, were bad signals towards 2019 general elections.
He said: “By this statement, the National Working Committee of the R-APC wishes to alert the public that the factional leadership of the All Progressives Congress, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, has perfected plans to make the Tuesday, August 14th resumption date another kettle of fish for the illegal impeachment of the Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki.
“This time, they are hellbent on giving nebulous interpretation to the provision of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), by using the numbers of senators present to provoke an impeachment.
“To this end, they have called on all APC senators to make it a point of duty to participate at the plenary on Tuesday to pass a vote of “no confidence” on the Senate President.
This will be followed by orchestrated rancorous the plenary session from where impeachment motion would be raised and their illegality perpetrated.” The group further claimed that “there have been two meetings of the leaders and the senators in the last 48 hours to perfect this approach.
The security agencies have also been briefed, according to information reaching us.
The APC factional chairman has been boasting and insisting that the Senate President would be impeached by whatever means because he no longer deserves to wear the ‘crown.’ “It is possible that the leadership of the factional APC now sees the National Assembly as a palace, where crowns and beads are the instruments of authority.
Needless to remind them that the National Assembly is an arm of government represented by elected persons who are vested with the responsibility of making laws for the good governance of the country.
“It is neither a kingdom of princes and princesses, nor is it a sanctuary for traditional doctrinaire where crowns and beads are used to impose monarchical authority.” The rAPC, however, called on the Acting President Yemi Osinbajo to sack the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Ibrahim K.
Idris, who the APC, according to Afegbua, said, has shown a manifest incompetence in the discharge of his responsibilities.
It further said; “For example, how can an interim report of the Police on the Lawan Daura saga litter the pages of social media platforms when the investigation remains yet inconclusive? “How can the Police exonerate itself from the act when it was reported that a Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG), Habila was seen in a meeting with Senators at the Aso Drive private office of the factional chairman of APC, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole? What was he doing there as early as 10:00am on that fateful morning of Tuesday, 7th August, 2018? “We are calling for an independent Judicial Investigation Panel made of eminent jurists to investigate the immediate and remote causes of the failed political coup d’etat that clearly undermined the Legislature as an arm of government, and also the invasion of the private residences of Judges, siege on the residences of the Senate President and his Deputy.
“Getting the police to do the job is to exonerate the Police, bearing in mind their earlier siege on the residences of the Senate President and Deputy Senate President barely a week earlier.” PDP too Providing further insight into the allegation, the PDP claimed the APC-led government planned to swoop on both Saraki and Ekweremadu, causing the security agencies and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to invite arrest and detain the duo.
PDP National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, who revealed this in a statement yesterday, said, “the pressure by the Presidency for the reconvening of the Senate is out of a sinister motive and not for any emergency in the approval of the budget of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the 2019 election.
“The fresh plot to detain the two presiding officers is part of renewed design to keep them out of circulation, ahead of Senate resumption, so as to enable the heavily induced APC senators, who are now in the minority, to throw up two of their members as Senate President and Deputy Senate President respectively on the excuse that Saraki and Ekweremadu failed to show up for proceedings in the Senate.” PDP noted that “the new plot to cage Saraki and Ekweremadu, in devilish rehash of the Tuesday July 24, 2018 hostage-taking and invasion of their official residences by security agencies, is coming after the August 7, 2018 failed attempt to use security forces to take control of the leadership of the Senate.
“Apart from plots to arrest and detain Saraki and Ekweremadu, the PDP has also been made aware of plans to use the EFCC and security forces to clamp down on their family members, including their wives and siblings as well as close associates, all in the effort to weaken their resolve.
“Moreover, investigations by the PDP further confirmed that the insistence of the APCled Federal Government on the emergency reconvening of the National Assembly, ostensibly to consider INEC’s budget for the 2019 election, is part of APC’s thicker plot to execute their premeditated ‘coup’ on the leadership of the Senate.” On the INEC budget, PDP also revealed that “contrary to claims by the APC and the Presidency, INEC actually submitted the budget to the Presidency since February 2018, only for the Presidency to submit it to the National Assembly in July when the legislature was already going on recess; with a view to enmeshing it in a needless controversy.
“In all, the PDP cautions the APC and power mongers at the Presidency to know that Nigerians have seen through their evil intentions and will continue to firmly resist them by standing for democracy and the unity of our nation at all times,” Ologbondiyan added.
They are attention seekers -APC However, in a reaction, the APC described the rAPC as an attention seeking group.
APC spokesman, Yekini Nabena, in a response to our reporter’s inquiries, said the group should not be given any attention and credence.
“We are normally not given to responding to the so-called, ‘Reformed All Progressives Congress (rAPC)’ because it is neither a duly-registered political party nor a faction as it labours to sell to the public.
“The contents of their statement, particularly the request to the Senate President, Dr.
Bukola Saraki to declare the seat of Senator Godswill Akpabio vacant, is a borrowed and scripted tactic – sensationalism and comical conspiracies, typically used by unknown groups to get media attention to their normally unserious activities.
The statement should not be given any attention and credence.
“The real issue remains our clear position that the Senate President honourably steps down or be impeached.
Dr. Saraki’s ‘vote of no confidence’ which the so-called rAPC alleges has since been passed going by our party’s rejection of his leadership of the Senate.
“We reiterate that the Senate President, being a member of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in an All Progressives Congress (APC) numericallydominated Senate, cannot maintain a minority rule in the Upper House.
