Buhari Should Stop Saraki’s Trial At CCT To Have Peace; Senators Tell APC

The All Progressives Congress caucus at the Senate on Tuesday expressed its grievances against the executive at a meeting with the party’s National Working Committee led by its chairman.

At the closed-door meeting, which started at 2.45pm and ended at 5.25pm, APC senators absolved themselves of blame over the non-confirmation of Acting Chairman EFCC, Mr. Ibrahim Magu.

Senators loyal to Senate President Bukola Saraki were said to have demanded the withdrawal of the corruption case against him at the Code of Conduct Tribunal by the Presidency.

The meeting began shortly after Saraki and APC Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, led others to the venue at 2.30pm before journalists were sent out at 2.45pm.

In his opening remarks, Majority Leader of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, said the event was historic as it was the first time the leadership of the party would be meeting with the senators.

Oyegun calls for ceasefireSpeaking to journalists after the meeting, Odigie-Oyegun called on party stakeholders to “cease fire.”

He said, “My appeal is that as we start now the process of reconstructing relationships and consultations, there should be what I will call a ceasefire in terms of the kind of abuse that is used all round on one institution of government or the other, even principal parties of these institutions.”

Saraki pointed out that whether there were issues or not, regular consultations between the caucus and the party were important.

He stated, “Despite all the noise you heard last week, we still passed an amendment to the INEC law that had been there for over six or seven years. By this time next week, our Committee on Petroleum will lay the PIB, which has never been done.

“It’s unfortunate but the most important thing is that a lot of stakeholders must respect these institutions. These institutions are there now and they are going to be there after, and we should not allow our selfish interests to enable us to try and ridicule the institutions.”

Saraki’s men demand withdrawal of CCT caseA other source at the meeting told Punch that, “The APC leaders said we were too confrontational against the President. They said the Presidency was not supposed to be finding things difficult with us since we belonged to the same party.

“However, several senators explained that they were not happy with the President’s style. They complained that the President was not giving them due consideration especially. They said most of the people the President was appointing were unknown to them.

“Some of the senators also asked the party leadership to ensure that Saraki’s trial at the CCT was stopped as this would be the perfect way to reconcile the two arms of government.”