By DAMOLA EMMANUEL
On Wednesday, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, rose from a meeting between some APC senators and President Muhammadu Buhari at the Aso Rock Villa, Abuja, and told the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, to relinquish his exalted position in the red chamber.
Oshiomhole made the demand in a chat with State House Correspondents after the closed door meeting, which had the Senate Leader, Ahmed Lawan, in attendance.
The meeting was apparently induced by the gale of decampments rocking the ruling party, particularly the dumping of APC by Dr. Saraki on Tuesday.
Oshiomhole asked Saraki to quit his seat having left the party, and since, in his words, “the crown” belongs to the party.
The APC Chairman said there was nothing unusual in people decamping but “the only thing is that there are other consequential issues that every man or woman of honour who had taken such decisions would be expected to follow through.
“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.”
Oshiomhole then reviewed the whole situation and enthused that despite the gale of defections, the APC still remains the largest party in the Senate.
“As it stands even now,” Oshiomhole said, “APC is still the largest party in the Senate. We have 53 senators; that is much more than PDP or APGA has.”
There are 109 senators in the upper chamber.
Although Oshiomhole admitted that the party was not excited about the decampments, it was, nonetheless, not surprised by the movements as the signals were all too glaring.
“Nobody in the APC will be surprised about the development,” Oshiomhole continued. “In fact, they have stayed a little bit longer than we thought.
“Last week, the Kwara State Governor said 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 expressed happiness that at least the Senate President admitted that he (Oshiomhole), the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, and some state governors tried their level best to resolve the conflicts and engender an enduring reconciliation.
Sadly, the efforts fell flat and Saraki quit.
