Chidi Samuel
The presidential aspiration of Senate President, Bukola Saraki was on Wednesday described as one a huge joke by the ruling All Progress Congress (APC).
The Senate president who recently declared his intention to seek the country’s number one job at an event in Sheraton hotel, Abuja, was until recently a member of the ruling APC.
In a statement on Wednesday by its spokesman, Yekini Nabena, APC describes Saraki’s ambition as a huge joke by a man who has nothing to show for his years as governor of Kwara state.
The statement read, “Saraki’s presidential aspiration is a huge joke and should not be taken seriously.”
“By virtue of Saraki’s antecedents, he is an abysmal failure and is totally incompetent to offer himself as a candidate for leadership of Nigeria. Saraki was a two-term Governor of Kwara State and Senate President in the last three years. What were his performance records in these two assignments? As Kwara State Governor, was his Shonga Agricultural Programme not a white elephant project in which hundreds of millions of State funds was sunk into?
“The infrastructure, particularly roads network in Kwara State in which the present administration remains under his tight grip and political machinations long after leaving office, remains deplorable while state resources is mismanaged through corrupt enrichment. A Presidential aspirant who promises to create jobs and turn around the economy at the national level, must have done so in a state he served as Governor for eight years. We challenge Saraki to give the nation his scorecard as a Kwara State.”
The statement noted that as Senate president, Saraki “superintend over budget padding, sabotage of the executive by frustrating confirmation of presidential nominees, stalling legislative approvals for election budgets and his recent shadow boxing on the Electoral Act.”
APC Scared of Saraki’s candidature- Aide
But responding to APC’s statement, the Senate president said he is yet to understand why the ruling party is uncomfortable with his presidential aspiration.
The special assistant to the Senate president Yusuf Olaniyonu, in a statement, said that Saraki would not be distracted “by the antics of an upstart who lives in Abuja”.
Olaniyan said, “The Senate president will not be distracted by the antics of an upstart who lives in Abuja but waits to sign press statements composed for him from Lagos. When his masters show their face, we will debate all the issues they have raised and the ones they may wish to even concoct.”
“One should ask, what is APC’s business with an aspirant of another party? The truth is APC is scared stiff of the possibility of a Saraki candidacy. Fortunately, they have no role in deciding that.
“Meanwhile, Mr. Yekinni Nabena should know by now that many people in the media believe he is a robot and has no face. Here is an opportunity for him to come out of his hiding and come on a national television to debate all the issues he has raised with one of the aides of the Senate president.
“We hope he will take up this challenge and stop behaving like a masquerade. He is free to choose any independent TV station of his choice.”