It was tough uprooting Saraki’s political structure in Kwara – Oshiomhole

Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Mr Adams Oshiomhole said Monday that the party faced tough hurdles before it dismantled the political structure of the former President of the Senate Dr Abubakar Bukola Saraki. 

Fielding questions from State House correspondents after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja, Oshiomhole described Saraki as a “smartest political player, seasoned smart guy.”

“Remember I was saying that Saraki must be removed, people would say how would I do it? I said okay if he resists removal, then we would uproot. We went to Kwara, we did Oto ge, we uprooted Saraki, and you cannot commend me for this? You know who Saraki is?

“If you are talking of the most smartest political player, seasoned smart guy, he is. But for every smartness he has, I have a superior smartness. At the end of the day who won? As a senate president, we uprooted him as senator, we uprooted his nominee for governor, and senators, we put our own.

“Today, he doesn’t have one senator in Kwara, he doesn’t have one House of Representatives in Kwara. Everything in Kwara is APC and you can’t commend me for that? If you don’t, then I will be like the lizard – I will praise myself if you State House Correspondents don’t praise me,” he said.

The APC chairman maintained that inauguration of Bauchi and Edo State Houses of Assembly was an aberration.

“As a Nigerian who believes in democracy, for nine persons in Bauchi to purport to inaugurate a House of 31 members is wrong. Go and read relevant sections of the constitution, it states clearly that a House cannot be less than 24 and not more than 40 members, 11 people in Bauchi where you have 31 members. It is not about me, not about you.

“I ask, can you form a quorum of something that does not exist? All my life, l have run associations, I could say, for instance, when I was leader of the NLC, we had a quorum of National Executive Council of the NLC, now when that quorum had not been formed, I could not say we had formed a quorum. So, you cannot form a quorum of the House of Assembly, when it has not been inaugurated.

“It is about the system. If I condemned Bauchi and I do so in the strongest terms, I cannot condemn less, what happened in Edo State. It just shows that truth has no political affiliation. God must give me the courage to condemn what happened in Edo. 

“In the security meeting we have had with some of the Senators, Governors and law makers, it was agreed that when it comes to proclamations, you do not only write a Proclamation letter, but you ensure that it is communicated to all those concerned and you give them ample time so that wherever they are, they can come in,” he said.

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