Cold war brews in APC over Saraki, Dogara

We’re on the same page with Buhari, says party Senate President: I won’t dump APC

The emergence of Senator Bukola Saraki as Senate President and Hon. Yakubu Dogara as Speaker, House of Representatives is setting the national leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on a collision course with President Muhammadu Buhari, it was learnt yesterday. New Telegraph learnt that the leadership of the APC has expressed dismay over the stance of Buhari on the emergence of the leadership of the National Assembly. Saraki and Dogara, in elections held in the two chambers of the National Assembly on Tuesday, had defeated the party’s consensus candidates, Senator Ahmed Lawan and Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, in the race for the Senate presidency and House speakership. However, hours after the APC rejected the Saraki Senate presidency and Dogara’s leadership of the House for defying the party, the president expressed his willingness to work with them. It was also learnt that APC leaders, besides being angry with the president over his mild stance on Saraki and Dogara’s defiance of the party, have expressed worries in the “manner the president is side-tracking them in the choice of key appointments and the delay in the composition of his cabinet.” Some members of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the APC said Buhari was working at cross-purposes with the party. “How could a president take a stance which is at variance with that of the APC when he is abreast of every action of the party? Is he trying to be a good man and let the public see the party leaders as fall guys? This is unstatesmanlike,” a member of the NWC told New Telegraph. It was learnt that some leaders of the party were taken aback by the president’s tacit endorsement of Saraki and Dogara. “The president was properly briefed on the position of the party on what transpired in the National Assembly over the emergence of its leadership. President Buhari agreed with the decision of the party that disciplinary measure should be taken against the erring lawmakers. The president never opposed our position and the party information organ was mandated to issue a statement in that regard. “But we are surprised that after the APC issued its official statement, the president came up with a statement at variance with the position of the party. How can we ensure discipline in the party with the president’s disposition? This is why leaders of the party are not happy with Buhari on this matter,” another party leader, who craved anonymity, told New Telegraph. An APC governor also said the leaders of the party were not happy with the president on his role in the impasse over the National Assembly leadership tussle. He said: “The truth of the matter is that the leaders of the APC are not opposed to Saraki emerging as the Senate President. But President Buhari expressed reservations over Saraki’s choice on the strength that he might challenge him or his preferred candidate (if he is not running) in the 2019 presidency. Hence, he preferred Senator Ahmed Lawan to Saraki. “This is why some of the president’s men who are senators are on the side of Lawan. Bola Tinubu was only given the task of carrying out the assignment to prevail on Saraki to drop his ambition or stop him at all cost. Unfortunately, the president created an impression that he has nothing to do with who becomes the leaders of the parliament whereas he was the main actor.” An associate of former Lagos State Governor, Tinubu, told New Telegraph that the former governor was enraged because he was seen as the fall guy. “The general thinking is that Tinubu was the architect of the plot against Saraki as part of the plot to extend his area of influence to the National Assembly. That is farther from the truth. Yes, he was the promoter of Femi Gbajabiamila’s ambition as speaker of the House of Representatives. That was where it ended. “I can tell you that when Saraki began his consultation for the Senate presidency, he consulted with Tinubu in Lagos who gave him the nod. Not sure of the support, Saraki took some of his political associates to London to meet with Tinubu where he also sought his endorsement. Tinubu pointedly told Saraki that this was a concluded issue. But when the president kicked against Saraki, the game changed. So, Buhari is actually the one that plotted against Saraki,” the source added. It was further learnt that the party leaders were not happy with the president over the composition of his cabinet. Some of the APC leaders said they were not carried along in the composition of the cabinet and expressed concerns that the president was dragging his feet in making key appointments. “Nobody knows what the president is up to. It is like he is only consulting with himself. For almost two weeks, the president has not made any critical appointments outside his personal aides. By now, we expected him to have appointed the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Chief of Staff and National Security Adviser (NSA), which he has failed to do. “Sometimes the leaders of the party are kept incommunicado with the president. Well, we are just watching to see what Buhari will do,” a member of the NWC said. But the party’s spokesman, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, told New Telegraph that there was no misunderstanding between APC and the president. “The president clearly stated that he backed his party, but that a process had taken place over the choice of National Assembly leaders. So, Buhari and APC are on the same page,” he stated. Asked to interpret what the president meant that elections were constitutional, Mohammed said: “What is constitutional? He only meant that a process has taken place. “The position of the party is very simple. Party said it was disloyalty on the part of Dogara and Saraki to have abandoned the party. We did not talk about constitutionalism in our statement.” Meanwhile, the party is weighing options on how to deal with members who defied it. A member of the NWC said the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party would meet to ratify the decision of the party leadership on the matter. “If we don’t discipline the erring lawmakers, we are sunk. So, we will definitely act to teach others lesson,” the source said yesterday. Amid the threat of sanction against him and others, Saraki has assured the party that he would not defect to any other party. Saraki, in a statement yesterday by his media office, also described Buhari’s reaction to Tuesday’s elections of National Assembly leaders as a “great mark of leadership” and a demonstration of the president’s commitment to democracy. He commended Buhari for remaining steadfast in his commitment to the principle of non-interference in National Assembly politics, even in the face of great pressure on him to act otherwise. On the insinuations that he would return to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Saraki described such suggestions as “absurd and laughable.” He said: “It is just cheap blackmail by political adversaries who want to call a dog a bad name in order to hang it. And those making such desperate allegations should remember that I willingly left the PDP on matters of principles when the party was in power. Is it now that the party is out of government and in opposition that I will now return, having worked so hard for my party in the last general elections?” He pledged his loyalty to APC, saying he remains a loyal party member and a leader of the party, committed to contributing his quota to building the party and helping it to deliver its promise of change to Nigeria. http://newtelegraphonline.com/cold-war-brews-in-apc-over-saraki-dogara/