Prof. Itse Sagay (SAN), Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC), in this interview with TEMIDAYO AKINSUYI, spoke on the gale of defections in the country, defection of Senate President Bukola Saraki from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC ) to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the shutdown of the National Assembly. Excerpts:

What is your perspective on the gale of defections going on across the country especially the defections of Senate President, Bukola Saraki and some National Assembly members from the APC to the PDP. Do you think it is similar to what played out in 2014?

I believe President Muhammadu Buhari is their main target. It is the presidency itself that they really wanted to bring down. So, it is a strategic game, they planned it. They assumed that if they can re-enact what happened in 2014 in the movement from PDP to APC, then they will be able to come to power but they will find out that they should not just imitate without looking at the fundamentals. I regard them as moles in the APC who have created the entire crisis within the party. They have been the source of destruction, bitterness, disagreements and conflicts within the party. Their going away is like malaria fever leaving the body.

They are like malaria parasites who have made the APC such a sick party in the last three years. Now that they have gone, APC will fully recover itself and then march on to victory in 2019.

What do you think Saraki’s exit portend for the APC especially with the 2019 elections around the corner?

It is a cleansing process. To me, with Saraki’s exit, the last bad blood in the APC has been flushed out. So, the APC is strengthened and is not going to be pulled down. This man right from the beginning was the source of all the problems of APC. The way he got into the presidency of the senate by subterfuge, by selling off APC’s deputy senate presidency position in senate and then forming alliance with the opposition PDP to torture the government of his own party and betray them left, right and centre. He has been a terrible millstone on the neck of APC. So, with his exit, APC will be lighter, stronger and better positioned and be free from internal enemy.

With his defection to the PDP, do you think he can still keep his position as Senate President given the calls by the APC leadership that he should do the honourable thing by resigning?


Yes he can still keep his position as Senate President despite his defection. He can only be removed as Senate President if he is voted out by two-thirds of the majority. So, it doesn’t depend on what party you are in, any party can be there. Although, the majority party is not going to concede that post to a minority party as he (Saraki) conceded the position of Deputy Senate President to PDP. It is only when you are an arch-betrayer that you do that sort of thing”.

With the National Assembly shut down till September 25, INEC is said to be apprehensive as to how the election will be funded since the primaries is slated to begin this month. Don’t you think this will lead to a stalemate?

Whether the National Assembly likes it or not, the elections will be held. We know that Saraki and his cohorts are afraid of elections. And if they refuse to carry out their compulsory and binding duties under the constitution, there are simple solutions to that unconstitutional behaviour. Therefore, I state categorically that whether the national assembly likes it or not, the elections will be funded and it will be held on time regardless of their attitude to it. Ultimately, the very existence of Nigerian democracy depends absolutely on regular elections. So, the imperative of regular elections is non-debatable. If the National Assembly foolishly attempts to stall the 2019 elections by denying INEC the needed funding for the elections, that misconduct will constitute high treason. They will render themselves totally irrelevant and the elections will go on as an inexorable constitutional command.

There are claims by some Nigerians that Comrade Adams Oshiomhole as national chairman of APC is too forceful and combative in his approach and this has contributed to the defection crisis rocking the party. What is your take on this?

That is what we need. There was so much indiscipline. For example when Saraki defied the party and then in a deceptive and fraudulent manner made himself Senate President, and then sold the Deputy Senate President which belongs to APC to the PDP in order to consolidate his power, nothing happened to him. Oyegun, the then na tional chairman decided to look the other way and pretended as if nothing serious happened. For any serious party chairman, that is the stage he should have been expelled but Oyegun was so weak that he just allowed it to go on and the situation went from bad to worse. That was why Saraki and his cohorts became so emboldened that they were even talking about impeaching the President about two months ago just because they are allowed to misbehave and their acts of indiscipline was encouraged. With Oshiomhole now at the helm of affairs, all that has ended now. We have a very firm man handling the affairs of the party and all those who are undisciplined, causing havoc in the party are now leaving. Anyone who still wants to go, should go now. There must be discipline, there must be loyalty, there must be order and there must be obedience to party directives. Also, there must be respect for the President.

https://independent.ng/apc-needs-a-firm-forceful-leader-like-oshiomhole-sagay/amp/

At the mention of your " Oshiomhole " every traitor must run

A dirty politician like Adams is a square peg in square hole for nuisance like PDP

Oshiomhole the father before father for PDP.

I konkor.
Apc nids a troublemaker like oshiomole..Someone dat will destroy ad bury the fruitless party.

kenonze:
A dirty politician like Adams is a square peg in square hole for nuisance like PDP

Honestly you know nothing politically, Adams remain the best to portray APC political ideology to the might of oppositions eg wike, fayose, and moles like saraki, tambuwa etc. his antecedence speak boldly for him. watch out the extinction of PDP courtesy of Adams just the same way he did in edo

Hehehehehe, force and wisdom go hand in hand in polics not just the toutish kinfa of force alone..... Two failed attempts.