Former Senate President Bukola Saraki, has said that Nigeria needs a President with enough energy to move around the country and personally get first hand information about various challenges plaguing the country, and not one who would recline at the comfort of Aso Rock and depend only on the briefings and advise of his aide which are most times based on lies.
Saraki who made the remarks when he visited the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party PDP in Abia State to canvass support for his presidential ambition, said he had both the energy and capacity to fix Nigeria if given the opportunity.
Represented by former Senate Minority Leader, Senator Suleiman Adokwe from Nasarawa State, Saraki accused the ruling All Progressive Congress, APC of taking Nigeria 50 years backwards from the pedestal PDP placed the country in 2015.
He also accused APC of failure to fulfill its promises to the country, dismissing the ruling party as unreliable, and a gathering of strange bed fellows incapable of moving Nigeria forward.
” APC is Yahoo Yahoo party because it has not fulfilled any of its promises. It’s All Peoples Confusion.
” Before, we thought it is safe to fly but of late our airports are no longer safe. The railways PDP started building are now being bombed here and there.
” PDP needs to return to power to complete the good job it started before APC came and plunged Nigeria into darkness.”
Saraki said that PDP should not place emphasis on zoning but fielding a candidate with the competence, capacity, and national appeal to disloge APC in 2023.
” Saraki is a de- tribalised and true Nigeria. He is a moderate Muslim and his wife is a Christian. Some of his children and Muslims and some Christians. He is not a religious bigot.
” He is under 60 years and has the strength to move around the country and see things for himself not waiting for lies by his lieutenants.
” Now we have a President that cannot move round but depends on his aides. Even when he is told of the problem, he lacks the intellectual capacity to deal with it.”
Recalling his days as Senate President, Saraki said the Senate under his watch was able to put the excesses of the executive in check for the good of democracy.
He regretted that the current Senate had assumed the posture of rubber stamp, a sad development, he said had ridiculed our democracy.
” As APC Senate President, Saraki refused to approve loan requests that were not tied to any projects. Today, Nigeria has been buried in huge debt because the Senate wants to be a rubber stamp.”
He also regretted that other countries no longer take Nigeria seriously because of weak leadership.
” During the time to President Olusegun Obasanjo, if Nigeria shouted other African countries caught cold but today, under Buhari, small countries in Africa harass Nigeria. It is a sad commentary.”
Later in an interview, Sarki, while responding to a question on how he would handle the growing agitation for self determination in parts of the country, blamed the agitations on lack of good governance.
He promised to restructure the country to reduce the rising ethnic tensions.
Responding, PDP Chairman, Abia State, Dr. Asiforo Okere, described Saraki as a good and marketable product, adding that the Senate under his watch was one of the bests Nigeria has ever had.
Okere said they would consult with other party elders for a wise choice at the primaries.
