Buhari group backs Tinubu, slams Saraki for ‘opposing’ APC govt

The Buhari Media Organisation (BMO) has accused Senate President, Bukola Saraki, of being antagonistic to the All Progressives Congress, APC-led federal government.

The organisation in a statement issued in Abuja on Thursday, said it agreed with the National Leader of All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, that the outgoing National Assembly leadership was antagonistic to President Muhammadu Buhari

The statement signed by its Chairman, Niyi Akinsiju and Secretary Cassidy Madueke, reads: “We agree with the APC’s national leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, that the outgoing National Assembly leadership was antagonistic to President Buhari for the better part of its tenure.

“In an apparent bid to paint the Executive bad, Saraki, through his media aide, had argued that President Buhari sent only 11 bills to the National Assembly in four years.

“But he also shot himself in the foot, nay,7 feet, by admitting that only two of the bills had been passed as at April 22! Two Executive bills passed in almost 4 years while more than 200 private members bills were passed within the same period.

“At least 26 bills passed by the Senate were of course rejected by the President for several reasons. These include the Peace Corps Bill which several senators including the leadership were believed to have backed for selfish reasons

“We also know that the president initially rejected the Electoral Act (amendment bill) because the lawmakers left out the Smart Card Reader, aside from the very many errors and the ‘landmines’, including electronic transmission of results so close to election date.”

BMO added that all these happened because the National Assembly in general and the Senate, in particular, did not have the benefit of a self-less leadership.

“Aside from indulging in subterfuge, the Senate had the misfortune of having a President who would readily abandon his duty post or shut down the upper chamber at his whims and caprices.

“At other times, he would prefer to play the role of a bagman to a failed presidential candidate as they gallivant around the world cooking up what is now famously known as the Dubai strategy which ultimately collapsed and cost him his only claim to fame.

“So there was really no time for the Senate President to concentrate on the job, to the extent that under his watch, National Assembly staff shut down the Legislative complex on more than one occasion, and also threatened to prevent the presentation of the 2019 budget in December last year if their demands were not met.

“And when it was time for what turned out to be a referendum on the tenure of Saraki and his co-travellers in the Senate, the ever-discerning Nigerian voting public ensured that only one out of the multitude of senators who joined him to move to the PDP was re-elected.”