APC makes a volte face on Saraki as Buhari receives handover report of transition Committee

On a day President Muhammadu Buhari received the final report of its transition committee on the handover, the All Progressives Congress APC made a volte face on the election of Senator Bukola Saraki as the President of the senate as it declared that he was duly elected.

Speaking with State House Correspondents at the defence House, the National Chairman of the Party, Chief Odigie Oyegun said what happened was a family affair in the party that would be sorted out internally.

PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU BUHARI (M) WITH MEMBERS OF THE APC TRANSITION COMMITTEE AFTER THE SUBMISSION OF THEIR REPORT TO PRESIDENT BUHARI AT THE DEFENCE GUEST HOUSE IN ABUJA ON FRIDAY (12/6/15)

The election of Saraki against the advice of the APC sparked an angry reaction from the party which threaten to sanction him and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara.

But Speaking with state House correspondents, Oyegun said said that there was no cause for alarm over the emergence of Sakari as the President of the Senate since he was duly elected by his colleagues.

According to him, “We have a reality and we must live with it. what has happened is within the party as a family which can easily to settled.

“There is no next step, what has happened is within the APC family and we are sorting it out within the family. People say they are going to court which is their right, but as a party we are looking at everything and we are coming out strong.

“We have faced greater challenges before and this too shall pass away. No.. It is not the first or second time we have passed through and we came out strong. This may not even be the last time, we come out every time stronger and more determined” he said.

PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU BUHARI RECEIVING THE REPORT OF THE APC TRANSITION COMMITTEE FROM THE CHAIRMAN, MALAM AHMED JODA AT THE DEFENCE GUEST HOUSE IN ABUJA ON FRIDAY (12/6/15).

The APC chairman said Saraki’s aborted visit to the APC secretariat on Thursday was just a mix up as “nothing went wrong, there were a lot of consultations and you can’t be in two places at the same time and so it was not comfortable for us, but we have been talking . We don’t want to make a song and dance of it, everything being put in proper perspective.”.

Meanwhile, President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday received the final report of the All Progressives APC presidential transition committee at the Defence House in Abuja.

The report is a combined submission of the preliminary report by the committee and review of handover notes collected from the Anyim Pius Anyim led Federal Government transition committee under former President Goodluck Jonathan.

Speaking with state House correspondents after submitting the report, Chairman of the APC transition committee, Ahmed Joda said they had in the last five week been receiving memorandum and presentations across the country.

“For about five weeks we went through memorandum, listening to presentations from all over this country. Today we submitted about 800 pages of the report to Mr President, it is now his property and I believe in due course he will begin to act on it.

On the report that the submission of the report delayed political appointments, Joda said it was entirely at the discretion of the President.

“One of the terms of references for our committee is to receive the handover note of President Jonathan and this we did not receive until about weeks after our inauguration. We received the handover note on the 25th of May and that report was about 18,000 pages and it took time to even sort them out and to make sense from them. Read them, analyze them and come up with recommendations.

“Political appointments is entirely at the prerogative of the President . He will go through our report and understand our recommendation. I think he deserves a little bit more time.

“This is not an ordinary transfer of government from one President to the other, in this country we have never witnessed this kind of transition from one political party to another, the political party in opposition won the election.

“Previous transition from one president to the other did not require long process like this . I think this is part of the evolution of democracy.

“The country has to be a little bit more patient, it cannot be with immediate effect ” he said.