Quit Now Or Face Expulsion, APC Chieftains Urge Saraki, Dogara

A founding member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Abu Ibrahim and Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the Party, Yekini Nabena said Senate President Bukola Saraki and Speaker Yakubu Dogara must quit the party now as they can no longer be trusted.

Offering what they called a friendly advice to both heads of the National Assembly, the two APC chieftains maintained that the time has come for the legislators to quit the APC if they still have honour and integrity.

According to them, failure by Saraki and Dogara to leave honourably and without further delay should attract their immediate expulsion from APC for anti-party activities.

For Senator Ibrahim, who is the Chairman of Senate Committee on Police Affairs, developments in and around the National Assembly clearly indicate both Saraki and Dogara are now moles that cannot be trusted within the APC fold.

The eviction calls came as President Buhari met last night with APC senators following Tuesday’s defection of 14 senators and 37 members of the House of Representatives from the party to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP and the African Democratic Congress (ADC).

Ibrahim, an ally of President Muhammadu Buhari, who represents Katsina South Senatorial District, said the defections were not only expected but did not come to him as a shock.

He said speculations about no fewer than 13 senators leaving the APC were rife but noted that many did not anticipate the defection by Senator Abdullahi Danbaba from Sokoto State.

“I know that those who take Saraki like god will go. This is because wherever Saraki goes they will go. But the mistake they have made is not to realise that politics is local.

“Nobody will say Isa Misau and Suleiman Nazif (two Bauchi State Senators) were voted because of Saraki. They were voted because of Buhari. They will lose their seats. Saraki will not save them. They can’t even go to their constituencies.”

According to The Nation, Abu Ibrahim, who also doubles as chairman of Buhari Support Group (BSG), spoke in Abuja, even as he maintained that; “Saraki and Dogara should resign today or the APC should send them away. They are no longer APC members.”

“The only reason Saraki and Dogara haven’t left the APC is that they know that if they leave, they will lose their seats. But we will force them to leave.

‘Left to me, I will recommend to APC to expel them. They are no longer needed in the party. We will be cured of cancer if they leave.

“As Abu Ibrahim, I am asking Saraki and Dogara to leave APC today. I will meet Oshiomhole (Adams) to expel them.”

“My position is that Saraki and Dogara should leave the APC. We can no longer trust or discuss APC issues with them again. We cannot afford to continue to harbour moles in our midst.

“Let people be courageous enough and be honest to themselves. We will not miss them”, he said

Senator Ibrahim insisted that their departure from APC will not affect the Party’s electoral fortunes in 2019, adding only Kwara and Kogi states may witness some challenges by such moves.

Also towing the same line, APC Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Yekini Nabena, said an immediate expulsion of the Senate President would restore sanity in the Party.

Nabena, who accused Saraki of colluding with the defectors, said: “Being the ring-leader, there was no justification for APC to continue to tolerate Saraki. He must go now. Or be shown the way out.”

The APC Deputy spokesperson said the party leadership and members were not surprised by the defections, rather the people were shocked by Saraki’s utterances and body language.

“The news of the 14 senators, who defected from our party, hardly came as a surprise to anyone. What, however, shocked political observers, especially democratic minds, was Senate President Bukola Saraki’s postures and expressions, which clearly communicated his unhidden complicity in the charade against his supposed party.

“Clearly, Saraki had a big hand in organising the events that transpired in the National Assembly. He has, therefore, lost the moral justification to remain in APC. The time to expel him from the party is now”, he stated