The National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress, Adams Oshiomhole; and some senators elected on the platform of the party led by the Senate Leader, Ahmed Lawan, on Wednesday met behind closed doors with President Muhamamdu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The meeting came amidst the gale of defections being witnessed in the party.
Oshiomhole told State House correspondents at the end of the meeting that the right thing for the President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, is to vacate his seat, having left the party..
He said it was a matter of honour for Saraki to leave “the crown” in the family it belongs to.
Oshiomhole said, “But whatever is the reason, we can decamp from party but we can’t decamp from Nigeria.
“I mean you should not collect a crown that belongs to a family and wear it on behalf of the family if for your personal reasons which he has enumerated that he has gone to another family.
“It is just a matter of honour to leave the crown in the house that the crown belongs to.
“As it stands even now, APC is still the largest party in the Senate. We have 53 senators, that is much more than PDP has, or APGA has.”
The former Edo State Governor said nobody in the party would be surprised by the decisions of those who defected because the signs were clear before now.
He however admitted that it is a tempting moment for the party.
He added, “Nobody in the APC will be surprised about the development. In fact, they have stayed a little bit longer than we thought.
“Last week, the Kwara State Governor said d he was leaving but he didn’t say when. So, we are not surprised at all.
“But these are what I might call temping moments because I had faced similar situations in my state, when people were leaving.
“But the beauty of democracy is that whether big or small, it is one man one vote on election day. There is no difference between a senator, a president, a journalist and any other person.
“In a sense, we have to accept that once a couple for one reason or the other find out that they are not compatible, the only honourable thing is to go.”
Oshiomhole however said he was happy that Saraki admitted that he and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo as well as some state governors tried their best to resolve the matter that led to his exit.
”But he argued that those efforts came too late. But I couldn’t have started acting before I was born,” the party chairman said.
While admitting that there are lessons to be learn from the development, Oshiomhole said going forward, he would expect the system to get stronger to the extent that it is able to learn the correct lessons and take the correct steps.
The Senate Leader on his part called on his colleagues in the National Assembly to reconvene from their vacation to pass the budget of the Independent National Electoral Commission presented by the President.
He said, “As the President leaves for his vacation, I believe we are suppose to continue to be very responsible legislators, those issues that are so important to this country that we have not dealt with, we should be able to come together, come back and deal with them.
“Here I have in mind the consideration of the budget of INEC for the 2019 election.
“That is the request of Mr. President to approve some virement on the 2018 budget. I believe that we are going to do a lot of justice to the people of this country to work hard to pass those requests.”
Lawan said the legislators have pledged their commitment and loyalty to the party and the President.
He said they would remain true and genuine representatives of their people and would not do anything that is not in the interest of the people and the present administration.
“I am calling on my colleagues in the Senate and House of Representatives to come back and consider the requests of Mr. President for the virement and supplementary budget for INEC for the 2019 elections,” he concluded. (Credit: Punch)