sycophancy for complaining about President Mohammadu Buhari’s style of
government in the dark and praising him in the day.
Saraki stated that Tinubu’s quest to contest for the office of the
president in 2023 has blinded him from voicing out publicly the anomaly
inherent in the Buhari’s Government.
In a response to Tinubu’s weekend media attack, Saraki noted with dismay
that same Tinubu who agreed he is suffering humiliations under the
Buhari’s Government during a reconciliation meeting with him, is same who
will heap praises on same Government.
Read full statement
The Tinubu Rhetoric: My Response, by Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki
I have always restrained from joining issues in the media with Asiwaju
Bola Ahmed Tinubu and this is based on my respect for him. However, I will
not allow him to create a wrong, false and mischievous impression about
the reasons for my decision to exit the All Progressives Congress (APC)
and present his prejudice as facts for public consumption.
I have been consistent in my complaints to all leaders of the APC,
including Tinubu, that a situation where the National Assembly is not
constructively engaged or carried along in key policy decisions,
particularly those that will eventually require legislative approval, is
not in the best interest of the nation. No genuine leader of the
legislature will be comfortable that the Presidency will simply write a
terse letter to the National Assembly on key issues which the federal
legislature is expected to later deliberate upon and give its approval.
The Buhari administration consistently treats the legislature with
contempt and acts as if the lawmaking body should be an appendage of the
Executive. To me, this is unacceptable.
In the same way, I find it very objectionable that many stakeholders who
worked strenuously to get the administration into office have now been
excluded in the government and not consulted on key decisions as necessary
and expected. In fact, some of them are treated as pariahs. A party that
ignores justice, equity and inclusion as basic pre-conditions for peace,
unity and stability cannot sustain its membership and leadership.
Let me redirect the attention of the former Governor of Lagos State to the
aspect of my July 31, 2018, statement announcing my exit from APC in which
I emphasized that the decision “has been inescapably imposed on me by
certain elements and forces within the APC who have ensured that the
minimum conditions for peace, cooperation, inclusion and a general sense
of belonging did not exist”.
In that statement, I further noted that those APC elements “have done
everything to ensure that the basic rules of party administration, which
should promote harmonious relations among the various elements within the
party were blatantly disregarded. All governance principles which were
required for a healthy functioning of the party and the government were
deliberately violated or undermined. And all entreaties for justice,
equity and fairness as basic precondition for peace and unity, not only
within the party, but also the country at large, were simply ignored, or
employed as additional pretext for further exclusion. The experience of my
people and associates in the past three years is that they have suffered
alienation and have been treated as outsiders in their own party. Thus,
many have become disaffected and disenchanted. At the same time,
opportunities to seek redress and correct these anomalies were
deliberately blocked as a government-within-a-government had formed an
impregnable wall and left in the cold, everyone else who was not
recognized as “one of us”. This is why my people, like all self-respecting
people would do, decided to seek accommodation elsewhere”.
Tinubu himself will recall that during the various meetings he had with me
at the time he was pursuing reconciliation within the APC, I raised all
the above issues. I can also vividly recall that he himself always
expressed his displeasure with the style of the government and also
mentioned that he had equally suffered disrespect from the same government
which we all worked to put in office. I also made the point that whatever
travails I have gone through in the last three years belong to the past
and will not shape my decisions now and in the future.
However, during those meetings, the point of disagreement between Tinubu
and I is that while I expressed my worries that there is nothing on ground
to assure me that the administrative style and attitude would change in
the next four years in a manner that will enable us to deliver the
positive changes we promised to our people, he (Tinubu) expressed a strong
opinion that he would rather ‘support a Buhari on the hospital stretcher’
to get a second term because in 2023, power will shift to the South-west.
This viewpoint of Tinubu’s was not only expressed to me but to several of
my colleagues. So much for acting in national interest.
It is clear that while my own decision is based on protecting the
collective national interest, Tinubu will rather live with the identified
inadequacies of the government for the sake of fulfilling and preserving
his presidential ambition in 2023. This new position of Tinubu has only
demonstrated inconsistency — particularly when one reviews his antecedents
over the years.
Again, let me reiterate my position that my uncertain and complex
relationship with Tinubu has been continually defined by the event of 2014
when myself and other leaders of the APC opposed the Muslim-Muslim ticket
arrangement about to be foisted on the APC for the 2015 polls. It should
be noted that he has not forgotten the fact that I took the bull by the
horns and told him that in the interest of the country, he should accept
the need for the party to present a balanced ticket for the 2015 General
Elections in terms of religion and geo-political zones. Since that time he
has been very active; plotting at every point to undermine me, both within
and outside the National Assembly.
It is a surprise to me that Asiwaju Tinubu is still peddling the falsehood
about the fact that my defection is about automatic ticket and sharing of
resources. Members of the public will recall that when the issue of my
decision to quit APC came to the fore and many APC leaders were holding
meetings with me, a newspaper owned by the same Tinubu published a false
report about the promise of automatic tickets, oil blocks and other
benefits. I immediately rebutted their claims and categorically stated
that I never discussed any such personal and pecuniary benefits with
anybody. My challenge that anybody who has contrary facts should come
forward with them still remains open.
It should be known that Democracy is a system that allows people to freely
make their choices. It is my choice that I have decided to join others to
present a viable alternative platform for Nigerians in the coming
elections. Tinubu and leaders of the APC had better respect this decision
or lawfully deal with it. As for me, Allah gives power to whom He wishes.
Human beings can only aspire and strive to fulfill their aspirations.
Signed:
Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, CON
President of the Senate