The Kwara state chapter of the All Progressives Congress has blasted the National Chairman of the party, John Odigie-Oyegun for being complicit in an alleged plot by a cabal within the party and the ‘controversial Code of Conduct Tribunal chairman’, Danladi Umar to destroy the embattled senate president, Bukola Saraki.

Oyegun had, during an interview with Premium Times, dismissed any hope of President Muhammadu Buhari wading in to save Saraki from the travails of his trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal.

Oyegun further stated that the ruling party would rather lose the seat of the senate presidency to opposition, Peoples Democratic Party than save Saraki.

In reaction, Publicity Secretary of the Kwara state chapter of the APC, Sulyman Buhari, in a statement released on Wednesday, April 20 has accused the National Chairman of speaking for a ‘cabal’ when he had the opportunity to speak for APC as a party.

The statement further decried Oyegun’s comments as “unfortunate, shocking and regrettable.”

Kwara APC noted that since Oyegun refused to retract his comments at the interview, it was important to peruse the following observations and declarations:
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“If anyone is still in doubt about the propriety of our expressed opinion that the travails of the Senate President was orchestrated by some forces within the APC, recent outbursts by Mr Chairman has cleared such doubts. ‎

“When Mr Chairman is expected to stand forthright and firm to protest the political persecution of his party member and leader of a critical arm of government, he portrays the image of an incompetent and unreliable leader. ‎

“Obviously, those reckless outbursts were either Mr Chairman’s personal ‎views or the agenda of the cabal he belongs. However, irrespective of what he says, Mr Chairman and his cabal can not play God on the fate of the Senate President.

“Even tough, it is needless to remind Mr Chairman the unquantifiable contributions of the Senate ‎President in the transmogrification of the APC from an opposition party to a ruling party, it is shocking and beyond imagination that a party chairman who is suppose to be father to all party members could make such reckless and divisive comments. ‎

“Therefore, we were spot on when we raised alarm that desperate politicians have hijacked the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) and handed its controversial chairman, a pre-determined ‎verdict to deliver on the ongoing trial of the Senate President.” ‎

The statement also stated that seeing as Oyegun “has failed to exonerate himself from this extra-judicial and evil plot, rather he has confirmed and vindicated our expressed opinion.”

“We hereby restate our unconditional loyalty to the Senate President. ‎We are proud of the Senate President. We shall continue to stand by him. We shall continue to solidarise with him.
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“Lastly, we maintain that ‎even though, a pattern of inconsistencies and unfairness have emerged in the ongoing trial of the Senate President, we believe if the trial is conducted fairly, ‎he would be vindicated at the end of the trial.”‎

Adebayo Emuleomo