You can’t sanction Saraki, Dogara, PDP tells APC

National Publicity Secretary, Peoples Democratic Party, Mr. Olisa Metuh

The Peoples Democratic Party has dismissed threats by the All Progressives Congress against the new leaders of the National Assembly as empty boasts aimed to cover its naivety, inexperience and unpreparedness for governance.

The party was reacting to the threat made by the APC that it was considering meting out punishment to the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, and the Speaker of House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, for refusing to abide by the directive of the ruling party not to contest the leadership of the two chambers.

However, Saraki, Dogara, and other leadership of the National Assembly defied the directive of the party by colluding with the PDP members in the assembly. 

The ruling party issued a statement on Tuesday, saying those who ganged up against its directive would be punished. 

But the PDP said there was no way the APC could punish the legislators. 

It also admonished the APC to shed its arrogance, eat the humble pie and get more organised for governance adding that it lacks the capacity, capability and means to sanction duly elected leaders of the National Assembly. 

PDP National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, in a statement in Abuja on Wednesday, alleged that “the crass inexperience so far displayed by the APC is a pointer that it is not adequately equipped to handle the affairs of government at the center.”

He added that events would continue to prove the PDP right in this regard.

Metuh said, “Nothing can be more astonishing than the whining by the APC that the PDP at the last minute expressed its preference for Saraki and Dogara as Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives respectively, after it had earlier stated that it was not interested in the positions. 

“This calls to question the capacity, experience and skills of APC leaders on political matters and we have no apology whatsoever for their naivety.

“The APC is merely suffering the consequences of the greed, lust for power and inordinate ambitions of their leaders. They should note that Nigerians have since moved ahead with the new leaders in the National Assembly and stop wasting their energy on propaganda and blackmails to heat up the polity.”

Metuh further condemned Tuesday’s alleged attempts to close the National Assembly and stop lawmakers from carrying out their constitutional duties, as well as the threats to the newly elected leaders as “totally against the tenets of democracy, the principles of separation of powers and independence of the legislature as enshrined in the constitution.”