Saraki’s Senate Presidency: Kinsmen attack Lai Moh’d

*Ask APC to sanction him “His actions, unpatriotic” By Tope Sunday The National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Alhaji Lai Mohammed, yesterday came under heavy attack from his kinsmen in Oro, Irepodun Local Government Area of Kwara State over his comment on the election of Dr Bukola Saraki as the Senate President of the 8th National Assembly. Mohammed had threatened party’s sanction for Saraki and the House of Representatives Speaker, Hon Yakubu Dogara following their election, which he described as high level of “indiscipline and treachery”. The Kinsmen, who spoke to National Pilot, frowned at Mohammed’s attack on Saraki, the leader of Kwara Politics, where the APC spokesman hails from, describing his actions as unpatriotic. In a telephone interview with this medium, a former National ex-officio of the Peoples Democratic Party, Hon. Lanre Mustapha, asked the Kwara State chapter of the APC to sanction Mohammed ''for working against the interest of the state chapter of the party''. ''The character exhibited by Alhaji Lai Mohammed against Dr. Bukola Saraki's emergence as the senate president is unpatriotic and uncalled for. He is on his own. He is more of a Lagosian than a Kwaran. He should be sanctioned for this singular act of being an ingrate to the generosity of Dr. Saraki, who conceded to him, the state's quota in the national executive council of the APC. ''Alhaji Lai Mohammed did not speak for the Oro community on the emergence of Dr. Saraki as the senate president because the Oloro of Oro organised a special prayer for his aspiration and likewise us. So, there is no way, Alhaji Lai Mohammed would have spoken for the community. Rather, I will say, he is doing the biddings of his paymaster. Also speaking, a member representing Irepodun Local Government in the state's House of Assembly, Hon. Matthew Babaoye, cautioned the APC's National Publicity Secretary against working against the 'state's interest.' ''On what basis would Alhaji Lai Mohammed say that the election that brought in Dr. Bukola Saraki as the senate president was faulty. Did it not meet the constitutional provisions of the law? Anyway, he doesn’t belong to us; he is a Lagosian, who doesn’t know our practice. ''Alhaji Lai Mohammed's actions against the person of Dr. Bukola Saraki are unpatriotic because, he (Saraki) had contributed immensely to the development of Oro Kingdom than him (Lai Mohammed)'', he said. Similarly, some community leaders and elders of thought in the Kingdom have cautioned the National Publicity Secretary over his continued opposition to Saraki's election. In a statement by the Asiwaju of Oro land, Isiak Bada and three others, they noted that their warning was informed by the “unjustifiable belligerence and disgraceful utterances of Alhaji Lai Mohammed in reaction to Senator Saraki’s election, even when the President of the nation, Muhammadu Buhari has acknowledged the constitutionality of the process”. They further expressed surprise that “Alhaji Lai Mohammed would so flagrantly throw decorum to the winds in his reactions to the credible and democratic process that saw the emergence of Senator Saraki, who incidentally was responsible for Mohammad’s selection as the sole candidate of Kwara State into the APC National Executive Council (NEC). ''It is therefore unconscionable for such a man to turn around to ridicule his benefactor all in a bid to satisfy some power mongers in Lagos and Abuja”. The statement reads partly: ''We therefore cannot afford to fold our arms while a son of this community, who hardly bothers about the welfare of his birthplace, runs his mouth to disparage a leader, who has done so much for Oro land as a Governor, as a Senator and even as a private citizen, with no strings attached. “Our advice to Alhaji Lai Mohammad is that he should remember that at the end of his escapade in Lagos, there is always a home to return to. We advise him to thread softly and allow his conscience and not the dictate of a godfather to be his guide.