The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, on Wednesday, said the Federal Government has nothing to lose with the exit of the President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, from the ruling All Progressives Congress.
He said Saraki has all along been behaving like a member of the opposition even while still a member of the APC.
Mohammed said this in an interview with State House correspondents at the end of the weekly meeting of the Federal Executive Council presided over by President Muhamamdu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The minister claimed that Saraki has been slowing down the progress of the government from within.
He said, “If Senate President Bukola Saraki were not a member of the APC, the party and the government it leads could not have suffered more than they had already done, with regards to the delay in passing the budget, approving key appointments and so on.
“In other words, Saraki has behaved all along as a member of the opposition, deliberately slowing down the progress of the APC-led Federal Government.
“It is therefore neither a surprise nor a blow that he has defected.
“Perhaps, the only surprise is that when he eventually defected, it was a mere whimper!
“If we didn’t gain by having our member as Senate President, we stand to lose nothing by losing him.”
Mohammed also claimed that the Kwara State chapter of the APC will only be stronger with Saraki’s exit.
He expressed delight at the decision of the national leadership of the party to dissolve the executives of the state chapter.
He said the step would offer the state chapter a fresh start.
He added, “The APC can only be stronger in Kwara. Realising this, the true APC members in the state have come together to strengthen the party, open its doors to new members and reposition it for the 2019 elections, with a view to delivering Kwara to President Muhammadu Buhari.
“This was what we did this past weekend, and you saw the way the people reacted.
“Yet, what happened at the weekend was not even a rally. It was a consultative stakeholders’ meeting. And it was a defining moment for the millions of Kwarans seeking political direction and emancipation.
“Thankfully, the national leadership of our party has hearkened to our demands by dissolving the executives and constituting a caretaker committee.
“That offers a fresh start for the APC in Kwara. No one tree, no matter how big, can make a forest. Every Kwaran is important in the emerging political dispensation in the state, and it is the realisation of this new dawn that has set the state agog for the APC.”
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