Former Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP) leaders who defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) have pulled
out of the planned meeting with the federal government over the crisis rocking
the ruling party.
Kawu Baraje, leader of the nPDP
faction, disclosed this in a statement issued on Monday.
Accusing the government of President
Muhammadu Buhari of being insincere, Baraje protested the withdrawal of some
operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) from Senate President
Bukola Saraki and Yakubu Dogara, the speaker.
TheCable had reported that half
of the DSS operatives attached to Saraki and Dogara were withdrawn “without any
reason”.
Saraki and Dogara are members of
nPDP, the faction that broke away from the PDP in 2013 to team up with APC for
the 2015 elections.
Baraje also cited the allegations
levelled against Abdulfatah Ahmed, governor of Kwara state, also a member of
the faction, and Saraki.
Some of the suspects who
participated at the robbery in five commercial banks in Offa, Kwara, in April,
were said to have alleged that they were thugs of Saraki and Ahmed.
But Baraje described this as a
blackmail, wondering why the police made the matter public instead of
consulting its members privately.
He said while members of the
faction were committed to “achieving reconciliation, harmony, truce and
cohesion” in the APC, it appeared that the presidency might have been
negotiating in bad faith.
“The public may recall that there
have been ongoing talks between members of the former Npdp, the APC and the
presidency in recent days,” the statement read.
“Nigerians may further recall
that a team from the former nPDP led by Speaker of the House of Representatives,
His Excellency Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara and four others, were to meet with the
Vice President, His Excellency Prof Yemi Osinbajo today.
“We were alarmed that immediately
after our meeting with the Vice President last week, the presidency misrepresented
what transpired at the meeting by trying to blackmail some of the principal
actors involved in the discussions in a national daily.”
Baraje added that despite the
grievances listed by some members of the faction who participated in last
month’s congresses of the APC, the leadership of the ruling party went ahead to
ratify all the congresses from ward, local governments and states.
He said the negotiations would
continue if the government show sincerity.
“The persecution of our members
using state security apparatus have continued unabated.
We recognise the powers of the
police to conduct criminal investigations but by rushing to the public with the
issue even when they have unfettered access to the leadership of the national
assembly suggests an attempt to undermine, caricature and humiliate the
institution of the legislature.
“It appears that there is a
fouled and toxic atmosphere and environment of intimidation and threat to life
in which we now find ourselves which may no longer be conducive for members of
the former nPDP to continue with the talks. Given the unfolding events in the
last 24 hours, where the President of the Senate, His Excellency, Dr. Abubakar
Bukola Saraki and His Excellency, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed, the Executive
Governor of Kwara State , both of whom attended the meeting with the Vice
President on Monday 28 May, 2018, have suddenly been accused of sponsoring
armed robbery by the Police under the directives of the presidency.
“Similarly, on Saturday, June
2nd, 2018, the Department of State of Services (DSS) also suddenly withdrew
more than half of all the security details attached to the presiding officers
of the national assembly under questionable circumstances.
“The nPDP leadership has decided
to brief our members on the unfortunate development and get a fresh mandate if
good faith returns to the discussions.”
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