Just about two weeks ago, I read two different statements by the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, which bordered on the trial of the President of the Senate, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, and his seat as the Chairman of the National Assembly. The Chairman of a ruling party is not just someone who should talk without adequate clarity, purpose and choice of words, but must be someone who puts to perspective the present, past and future without seemingly doing the biding of any power above.
Let me take Chief Odigie-Oyegun down memory lane if it’s blurry to him. Has he forgotten the sweet words of appreciation he showered on this same Saraki during the occasion of the birthday celebration of Her Excellency, Mrs. Toyin Saraki, just after the entrance of Saraki and his G5 Team into the APC? The Chairman in his words eulogised Saraki like a god, thanking him for taking the step to leap into APC.
And as if this wasn’t enough, Chief Odigie-Oyegun became a story teller, narrating all the good things Saraki has done for him. From the lift he gave him on his jet to personal gifts and all.
I am not blaming the position of Chief Odigie-Oyegun for quickly forgetting the magnificence of Saraki as a party member, but my question is: on whose authority did he give that interview? A party is not a party without the people in it. The same position of ‘I can do and undo’ was what led to the disgraceful exit of Alhaji Bamangar Tukur as the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party. The APC is a conglomerate of many parts and the chairman’s position is only but a product of his imagination and I want to believe that the Chairman didn’t mean those statements.
Nigeria is having a big problem at hand and the people at the top are yet to wake up to the realities of what is really happening. The chairman is not worried that with the present state of things, he is being reduced as a national chairman of a large party going by the elections APC has lost since December and won’t be the national chairman of a ruling party by 2019 if something serious is not done.
There are times to play politics and there are times to govern. If the Chairman wants attention, why can’t he criticise the president as I believe that will border on more lives than the case of the Senate President.
Is anybody in contention of what the exit of Saraki will do to the party? It’s a signal that APC is a party where dream dies, it’s a party controlled by power mongers, it’s a party where members are sacrificed for the interest of some very few.
If the APC national chairman is dying to talk, at least he could and should have chosen to talk on issues Nigerians are greatly being affected by such as the sky rocketing of prices of commodity, fuel scarcity, joblessness and what have you! We won’t always agree on things happening in the party in some quarters, but as a party man, we have the duty to carry ourselves along and protect our interests and we must always guide the future.
Leaving the party chairman alone, I would wish to step on some nails bordering around the ongoing trial of the Senate President at the Code of Conduct Tribunal. We from Kwara State are known to be law abiding and peace loving people and one very phenomenal attribute that we love displaying is our love, support and solidarity for the Saraki family, which date back to many decades. The easiest way to offend us is to malign the Saraki dynasty and this ongoing trial is evident enough to be a sort of score settling and political tussle from some quarters.
Going by the shoddy and lackadaisical way the Chairman of the CCT, Justice Danladi Umar, has been behaving, it is eminent and crystal clear that the chairman is under a bond, which is life dependent on him and the “must nail” way the government lawyer has been carrying himself around, jumping from additional count charges to amendments so far. Sanity requires us to ask why the vigorous amendments if indeed they have a tenable case against Saraki?
Another angle of though which we should look at is the fact that who is clean in Nigeria and why convict someone based on unprovable allegations and statements of some souls on leash? Nigeria won’t get better by the overbearing of politics where governance should take the centre stage. Nigeria won’t grow by politically killing our best hands solely for political score counts. Nigeria won’t heal by not making good use of those who fought for this present administration. After all, everyone has a past and no one is “Mr. Clean”.
. Maja is a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress.
