Segun Awofadeji in Bauchi
A group, the Arewa Youth for Peace and Security (AYPS), has commended the Senate President Bukola Saraki on his leadership of the National Assembly, which it said exemplified separation of powers and entrenched democracy in the country.
Chairman of the group, Alhaji Salisu Magaji, made the commendation yesterday in Bauchi while reacting to the remark by the national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, that Senate President Bukola Saraki’s leadership was antagonistic to President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.
Magaji also condemned the statement issued by the Buhari Media Organisation, which was signed by the Chairman, Niyi Akinsiju, and the Secretary, Cassidy Madueke respectively, supporting Tinubu’s statement.
Pro-Buhari group had stated that Saraki’s rejection by the people of Kwara State in the 2019 general election was nemesis for being unduly antagonistic of the President Buhari’s administration.
The group stated that unlike his predecessor, David Mark, who had a cordial working relationship with Late President Umar YarAdua and was returned by the people of Benue State, Saraki was on the other rejected “for his self-interested legislation on the country.”
Saraki was also described by the pro-Buhari group as a politician who had no grassroots support and lacked control of Kwara State.
However, Magaji who spoke at a press conference in Bauchi during the weekend, described the pro-Buhari group’s condemnation of Saraki as “useless,” saying Saraki is a politician with enormous grassroots base grown beyond Kwara State politics to become a nationalist.
Magaji pointed out that no amount of blackmail and campaign of calumny against the office and person of the Senate president can eradicate Saraki’s colourful place in Nigeria’s history.
The AYPS coordinator, said: “We the Arewa Youths for Peace and Security are replying the pro-Buhari group in persons of Niyi Akinsiju and Cassidy Madueke who don’t see the mature way that Saraki is leading the National Assembly.
“The way Saraki leads the National Assembly shows that he is a man of his words and core politician. If not because of what happened in Kwara State in the last election, nobody can fight Saraki because he is beyond the state level, he is a leader who has absolute support and control of the National Assembly.
“If you are talking about Tinubu as the leader of the APC, I don’t see how he became the leader of the party. They tried to relegate Saraki and the leadership of the National Assembly but they failed. They have rejected Tinubu’s candidate and the Speaker he is backing.
“So if you follow all what is happening in the National Assembly, Saraki is a nationalist, a leader that can be reckoned with, he is in absolute control of the National Assembly and a man of his word. Saraki is a grassroots politician that Nigerians should support because he has done well as governor for eight years and Senate president.”
The group then congratulated Saraki on his appointment as Ambassador at-large, by International Human Rights Commission (IHRC), saying: “Saraki deserved such appointment because he is a great person and a leader who protects the rights of citizens all over the country. This shows that he is a man of integrity.”
