President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday asked supporters of the ruling All Progressives Congress not to be disturbed by the recent gale of defections in the party.
He said, “God will continue to fish out the bad eggs among us,” as the country approaches the 2019 general elections.
According to a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, the President spoke at the commencement of the campaign rally for the Bauchi South Senatorial District bye-election and the formal presentation of the APC candidate, Gumau Yahaya, for the August 11 poll.
He assured party supporters in Bauchi that his administration would continue to work hard to surpass its campaign promises for a better Nigeria.
Buhari told the rally that the APC government had remained faithful in implementing its campaign promises of improving the economy, securing the country, and fighting against corruption.
He said, “The work we are doing is because of God, our country and you. I want to inform you that the knowledge we have garnered over the years, we won’t allow you to be cheated.
‘‘Like we promised, what will determine a good future for the country are security, strong economy and to stop corruption. We campaigned on these things, you voted for us and we will never forget.”
Endorsing Yahaya for the senatorial bye-election, the President who was accompanied by the APC National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, governors of Bauchi, Plateau, Kano and Imo states, and other party officials said, “We have confidence in him and we trust him.”
He, therefore, urged the people of Bauchi South Senatorial District to vote for Yahaya in the upcoming election.
The President also thanked the people of Bauchi for defying a downpour and coming out en masse to welcome him and show solidarity to the APC candidate in the senatorial election.
Buhari’s vacation, ploy to impeach Saraki, Ekweremadu, says PDP
However, the PDP on Thursday alleged that President Buhari’s 10-day vacation in London was designed as an alibi to exonerate him from alleged planned political illegalities, forceful invasion and mayhem which it said were about to be visited on the National Assembly.
The party said it was aware of plots which it alleged had been perfected in a meeting, on Wednesday night, between the President and some APC senators, to forcefully reconvene the Senate with protection from security agencies, with a view to impeaching the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, and his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu.
The National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, in a statement in Abuja on Thursday, also alleged that the PDP was aware of the desperation to illegally take control of the National Assembly.
He said this was part of the design to undermine the nation’s democratic institutions and completely foist a dictatorial regime on the nation.
He said, “The planned invasion is also a bid to cover the atrocious and humongous corruption of the Buhari administration, which the National Assembly is set to expose.
“The PDP has been reliably informed about how these APC senators, especially members of the Buhari Parliamentary Support Group, have been provided with huge sums of money, illegally lifted from repatriated funds, to carry out this nefarious act under the guise of urgent need to approve funds for the 2019 general elections.
“It is clear that President Buhari and the APC are hugely terrified and distressed by the gale of defections from their fold and have resorted to underhand methods, threats and intimidation, irrespective of the damage being inflicted on the polity.
“Having been demeaned by the widespread condemnation of the recent siege on the residences of the Senate President and the Deputy Senate President, in addition to the invasion of the Benue State House of Assembly in a failed attempt to impeach Governor Samuel Ortom and forcefully take over the state, President Buhari is now jetting out of the country so as to appear innocent and oblivious of the political terror about to be unleashed on the National Assembly.”
Ologbondiyan said it was the same President Buhari who, in 2014, applauded the defection of PDP members, including the then leaders of the National Assembly, into the APC, describing the movement, then, as “good for democracy.”
But today, he said that the same administration was hounding and harassing citizens for daring to defect from his party.
He also said that the PDP had earlier alerted Nigerians to alleged plot by President Buhari to enmesh the 2019 general elections in controversy by asking for virement of funds already approved in the 2018 budget for development projects instead of sending a fresh supplementary budget for the election.
He reminded Buhari and the APC that the PDP had taken over the Senate and that the party “is ready and able to protect our democracy with all instruments available in the constitution and parliamentary rule books.”
PDP’s claims on Buhari’s vacation ridiculous – Presidency
But the Presidency on Thursday said the claims by the “failing” PDP that Buhari had taken a 10-day vacation in order to leave the stage for illegal and unconstitutional actions by the administration were both ridiculous and a hollow narrative to garner cheap sympathy.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, said this in his reaction made available to News men.
Shehu said the fact that the President who he described as a sworn democrat had handed power to Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo without compulsion was itself exemplary and innovative.
He said the PDP failed to produce such a temporary handover in its 16 years of “monumental mismanagement and sadistic plunder.”
The presidential spokesman said, “For the benefit of the doubters, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, the Vice President who acts in the absence of the President is a lawyer of the highest rank and a social rights crusader who had received local and international acclaim before he took the Vice-President’s office.
“It is inconceivable that this is the team to copy the bad manners cast in stone in the PDP.
“We welcome objective criticism and take them seriously and humbly, but Nigerians must by now be tired of a party, the stock in trade of which is to cry wolf where there is none, ostensibly to spread negativity and distract the President’s attention from the cleansing operations he has been mandated to carry out.
“The President is carrying out difficult reforms for the future growth of the country, such as the implementation of the ease of doing business, the Treasury Single Account, the whistle-blower process, and hundreds of others, including the massive investment in rail, roads and power.
“If such reforms had happened in 16 years of the PDP, it would have made things much better for the country.
“Instead, they seem to be fixated with a desperate quest for power, nothing but power for its own sake because they have nothing to offer. They draw a sadistic pleasure when things appear to be going wrongly, yet they offer nothing by way of remedy or solutions.
“The whole country is fighting corruption and the ordinary citizen is happy about all that is happening. The economic parameters have changed for the better, a clear indication that the administration’s political and economic strategies are working but the opposition is not interested.
“If the PDP doesn’t have anything that would help our farmers, women, the common man and the youth, they should just keep quiet.
“In the end, one thing Nigerians should take away from the cacophonous falsehoods from the PDP and the tenants back in their tent is that they all fear one thing, that their old records will be reopened.”
We didn’t meet Buhari to remove Saraki – APC senators
Also, the Majority Leader of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan; and a former Leader, Senator Ali Ndume, have denied that the meeting between Buhari and some members of the APC caucus of the Senate on Wednesday was about breaking into the Senate chamber.
Speaking to News men on Wednesday night, Lawan challenged those who made the allegations to do so publicly.
Lawan said, “The APC senators did not meet anywhere, only a representation met with the President. As far as I know, the APC senators did not meet anywhere. The person who told you that we met somewhere…it is not true, we only met with Mr. President. We can never meet with Mr. President to discuss such a thing (removal of Saraki). The allegation is not true.”
Ndume also dismissed the allegation, saying that Buhari called the meeting to bid the lawmakers farewell ahead of his 10-day holiday in London which begins on Friday (today).
He said, “We met with the President but it had nothing to do with the activities of the National Assembly. We, the APC Caucus, met with Mr. President, which is not unusual. We agreed at the last meeting that we should be meeting regularly.”
When probed further on the meeting, Ndume said, “We met with Mr. President and it was all about his leave; that he was going on vacation, so that we should not hear about it first on television. He told us that he had written to the National Assembly that he was going on vacation. We wished him a safe journey and that was all.”
The lawmaker stated that members of the caucus had no reason to break into the chamber.
“We don’t meet to do that. The meeting was attended by select members because our people have gone on vacation. It was just like any other meeting, not all the APC senators were there but we had the representatives of all the geopolitical zones. We just managed to get those who were available,” Ndume explained.
A source had on Wednesday night claimed to be having information that more security operatives would be deployed in the National Assembly Complex over the matter.
