After many queries and
concerns expressed by some colleagues, friends and associates on the absence of
my principal, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, President of the
Senate, at Monday night’s National Caucus and Tuesday morning’s
National Executive Council meeting of the All Progressives Congress (APC), I
would like to make the following clarifications:
1. On Monday, the
Senate President was in Benin from morning till 6.15pm, attending the
Senate Roundtable on Migration and Human Trafficking, one of the interventions
by the lawmaking body to source for legislative and policy solutions to one of
the major problems plaguing the youth in our country today. The event was
attended by Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State, his Deputy, Hon. Phillip
Shuaib, representatives of the Governor of Delta State and Oba of Benin,
international partners and many stakeholders.
Dr. Saraki and his
delegation, including Senators, returned to his Abuja home at 7.45 pm,
while the APC National Caucus meeting was scheduled to begin by 8.00 pm on
the same night. Clearly, there was no way he could have arrived at the venue on
time, especially as it would be a breach of protocol to do so at a meeting
presided over by the President.
2. On Tuesday when
the NEC meeting was holding at the APC secretariat, the Senate President was at
the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) where he was fighting to clear his name as
the defendant in an ongoing case. Dr. Saraki did not fix the date of the
adoption of briefs by prosecution and defence lawyers. The Tribunal did, and by
law, Saraki must be physically present at the Tribunal as the defendant.
It stands to reason
that he cannot be in two places at once, and so he was unavoidably absent at
the NEC meeting.
3. Let me also state
clearly here that Dr. Saraki is not one to sneak into a room via the window. He
would rather enter through the front door so that his entry is well noted and
acknowledged. Nigerians know that when he joined the APC, he did not sneak in.
Therefore, no one should attach any mischievous or inaccurate interpretation to
his absence at the two meetings held at times when his whereabouts were a
matter of public record.
4. Sponsors of
misinformation as to why Saraki was not present at the Caucus and NEC meetings
should be clear that there is no special reason behind the absence. The Senate
President is not a coward. When he left the PDP in 2014, he was bold enough to
inform the then President of his decision and left openly with his supporters.
He therefore has no reason to be sneaking or hiding now.
5. It is
incontrovertible that he is a leader, major stakeholder and founding father of
the APC. Nothing has changed with regard to all these. I hope this
clarification will halt the speculations, misinformation, misinterpretation,
mischief and Fake News about the 'Why' and 'What' of his absence at the APC
National Caucus and NEC meetings.
6. I appreciate the
fact that the nation is gradually inching towards the electioneering period and
permutations will be rife. I plead with analysts, commentators and forecasters
to always get their facts right and not impute frivolous meanings to otherwise
innocent events and occurrences.
Thank you.
Signed
Yusuph Olaniyonu
Special Adviser to the
President of the Senate on Media and Publicity
No comments:
Post a Comment