…Over alleged plot to remove Saraki, Ekweremadu?
All Progressives Congress (APC) Senators are billed to meet Monday night with the party’s National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole.
The agenda of the meeting, watchers of political events believe, may not be unconnected with the alleged plan to remove the Senate President, Bukola Saraki and his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu from office.
Oshiomhole had on Friday vowed that the party will work for Saraki’s impeachment “in accordance with the law”.
The meeting was reportedly called by the Senate Leader, Ahmed Lawan (APC – Yobe).
“Senator Lawan has called for a meeting of all APC senators again.
“The meeting will hold at Oshiomhole’s office on Aso Drive at 8pm on Monday.
“The agenda is the same – sack of the SP and DSP,” an unnamed source was quoted as saying.
The Aso Drive location is where the APC lawmakers converged hours after last Tuesday’s siege to the National Assembly.
Meanwhile, 49 senators of the Peoples Democratic Party have written to Saraki to inform him of their vote of confidence in his leadership of the Senate.
Saraki received the letter of support at the weekend.
A source said: “The PDP Senators expressed their support for him and Ekweremadu. They also condemned the invasion of the legislature by law enforcement agencies.”
Meanwhile, the PDP, in the face of the alleged plot, has warned the APC-led Federal government to desist from intimidating its leaders, saying further attempt to arrest the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, will plunge the nation into crisis.
The South West Chairman, Dr. Eddy Olafeso, in a statement in Akure, accused Oshiomhole of insulting elderly statesmen like former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
“Our attention has been drawn to a disingenuous plot by the Presidency and APC to arrest the Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki and the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, over trumped up charges,” Olafeso disclosed in the statement.
“We also note that the APC has of recent become very rabid since Adams Oshiomole became its chairman; it has become his regular pastime to seek to insult and assault our leaders and their legacies as if that is his term of reference as chairman.
“The PDP wishes to declare that Nigeria is our fatherland and not an exclusive preserve of the Presidency and APC, therefore the fundamental rights of all Nigerians must not be trampled upon by a few privileged people.
“Particularly of note is his constant abuses on Emeritus President Olusegun Obasanjo. This ill-mannered action continues to rob the ruling party of maturity and a decent approach to tackling political issues.
“His flippant, loquacious and uncouth language is symptomatic of unfounded aggression and unfounded grudge,” he said.
Olafeso, who cautioned “the authorities not to prosecute actions injurious to our democracy,” expressed resentment towards the actions of the ruling party and its leadership.
He stated that PDP would not condone insults on Chief Obasanjo and any other Yoruba leaders, declaring that henceforth the party was prepared to square up with the APC chairman if he persisted in abusing its leaders.
His words: “Any orchestrated arrest of both Saraki and Ekweremadu under any guise whatsoever will be viewed as a continuation of the infamous campaign of intimidation and oppression that this administration has continued to sustain against the duo for the past three years of the Buhari administration.
“Therefore their arrest will be an open invitation to a crisis of monumental dimension in the nation as all Nigerians now know that there remains no basis for such action. It is sad that a government under the Presidency of a very senior citizen will remain this petty, pedestrian and cheap in every ramification.”
According to him, Nigeria leadership should be preoccupied with developmental goals that seek to extend the frontiers of industrialization and economic development.
“We should be thinking about how to uplift the social status of the ordinary Nigerians. This pettiness must stop, Nigerians did not vote for the APC in 2015, to entrench this sordid pedestrian attitude in our national life,” Olafeso said.