Saraki to APC, says ‘my hands are tied’

Firstclass newsline gathered that the Senate President, Dr. Bukola
Saraki, in a letter written to the All Progressives Congress, said his
hands were tied with regard to the selection of principal officers of
the upper chamber. This was contained in a Friday report on
www.thecable.ng.
The National Chairman of APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, had on June
23, written to Saraki, stating the party's choice of principal
officers of the senate.
The APC had nominated Ahmad Lawan as senate majority leader, George
Akume as deputy majority leader, Olusola Adeyeye as chief whip, and
Abu Ibrahim as deputy chief whip. However, Saraki, on Thursday,
announced Ali Ndume as majority leader, Bala Na'Allah as deputy
majority leader and Francis Alimikhena as deputy chief whip after the
various APC senate caucuses nominated them.
In his letter dated June 25, Saraki was said to have explained to the
party that the APC senate caucuses had already taken a decision on the
matter before he received Odigie-Oyegun's letter.
Saraki's letter read, "The said letter (Oyegun's letter) was received
after various APC zonal caucuses had taken their decisions to
candidates as principal officers of the senate in line with
parliamentary convention and the extant provisions of the senate
standing orders 2015 as amended."
The Senate President said, "Furthermore, whilst one is strongly
persuaded to toe party line and act in accordance with the suggested
party position, regrettably clear provisions of our extant rules and
standard parliamentary convention have not given me that leeway to act
otherwise.
"Therefore, my hands are tied in the circumstances and I seek your
understanding in this regard."
However, he added that without equivocation he remained "loyal to our
great party and its leadership and also fully committed to the change
agenda of the Mr. President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria."
Meanwhile, the APC in Ondo State has said that the party is not to
blame for the leadership crisis in the National Assembly.
The party said Saraki, and the Speaker of the House of
Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, should be blamed for the division in
the party.
The party's Publicity Secretary in Ondo State, Omo'ba Adesanya, in a
statement on Friday, stressed that the party had played its role by
giving directives and that it was left for the leadership of the
Assembly to follow such directives.
The statement partly read, "The party leadership had, after an
exhaustive meeting with governors and executive members of the
National Assembly, issued a directive, but Saraki and Dogara refused
to carry out the directives.
"Instead of doing that, they connived with the Peoples Democratic
Party members in the Assembly to realise their personal ambitions.
"As principal officers representing APC in the National Assembly, they
are expected to carry out the party's directives in terms of who
occupies the positions.
"Therefore, Nigerians should hold Saraki and Dogara responsible for
the crisis rocking the National Assembly. They are working against the
party that sponsored them by initiating an unholy alliance with the
PDP to truncate the 'change' that the people expect.
Firstclassnewsline.net