APC says disciplinary action taken against Saraki and Dogara will follow due process

ALL Progressives Congress (APC) leaders have pledged to follow due process when handing out disciplinary action against Senator Bukola Saraki and Hon Yakubu Dogara for defying the party in the recent National Assembly elections.

 

Former Kwara State governor Senator Saraki was elected and sworn-in as senate president in defiance of the party, elected unopposed by 57 of 108 senators present, with 51 senators, including his main rival Senator Ahmed Lawan, absent.  Other APC senators were at the nearby International Conference Centre (ICC) in Abuja for meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari to resolve the issue of National Assembly leadership.

 

Playing a fast one, Senator Saraki and his supporters reached a deal with the opposition People's Democratic Party (PDP) under which the PDP's Senator Ike Ekweremadu was elected his deputy with the former senate president Senator David Mark elected majority leader. Hon Dogara too was elected as the speaker of the House of Representatives against the APC's wishes as it had nominated Hon Femi Gbajabiamila as its candidate.

 

APC leaders are currently considering disciplinary action against both National Assembly leaders for what are seen as acts of indiscipline and anti-party activities. Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the APC's publicity secretary, insisted that the party had not made a U-turn on its earlier position that the errant lawmakers would be sanctioned.

 

Speaking after an emergency national working committee meeting in Abuja to discuss the crisis, Alhaji Mohammed reiterated that the election of Senator Saraki and Hon Dogara was unacceptable. He added, however, that the sanctions against both erring parliamentarians would follow due process.

 

Alhaji Mohammed said: "The APC leadership is meeting in a bid to re-establish discipline in the party and to mete out the necessary sanctions to all those involved in what is nothing but a monumental act of indiscipline and betrayal to subject the party to ridicule and create obstacles for the new administration."

 

Already, the APC membership has met with some of its House of Representatives members   as part of efforts to douse the tension in the National Assembly. A member of the team, Hon Sani Zoro, said the meeting was essentially to look for a way forward out of the situation the party had found itself in.