Saraki Plans To Dump PDP

Dr. Olusola Saraki

Dr. Olusola Saraki

The  Second Republic Senate Leader, Dr. Olusola Saraki announced yesterday his decision to leave the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the possibility of his joining the All Nigeria Peoples Party(ANPP).

Dr. Olusola Saraki

The elder Saraki, who disclosed this while playing host to the National Chairman of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, lamented that the door of PDP in Kwara state has been shut against him and his followers.

He said the only way for him to gain any ground in the PDP would be to ‘break down the door’.

The politician is expected to make his decision public on Sunday during an open declaration by his daughter, Senator Gbemisola whom he has endorsed for the 2011 gubernatorial race in the state.

He declared:  “We are no more in the PDP. We announced that early on Monday. We have not decided where we are going but very soon we shall do that. And the masses are waiting for us because they want us to lead them. My son was always in Abuja helping to build the government (of late President Umar Yar’Adua) and he left the party at home for people who have not done well. The people he left behind did bad and he came back to realise that.

“I want to ask all of you here to please pray with me that God will bring back my son to me. This (his hall) is where you come to get power. We are not violent, we have the masses with us. People know we don’t rig but we always win because we consult with people and they are always happy with us.

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“They have locked the PDP door and I cannot enter and by their law the door is locked you cannot enter except you to break it and I am not a law breaker. Their laws are so dry and I told the President this when we met. He said he will look into it but I told him he can’t do anything again, I just wanted to let him know we are leaving the PDP. I don’t want to break the door so there is very little for me to do than to leave. They locked the door for electing delegates so other candidates can’t get in so what is the point putting our head in it?

“As far as I am concerned there is no crisis in the party in the state; some people just sat somewhere to excuse me. but it was my absence from home that gave them the time to do this; considering how the party was taken over by us, considering how we have been managing it.  They say congress can only be run by delegates and the delegates had been determined even before the time. I have left and anyone who believes in me will follow me.”

On the possibilities of joining ANPP where Onu said the special room left behind by the elder statesman is still unoccupied, Saraki said with the former Anambra state governor at the helm of affairs at the party, he was confident sanity has finally been restored to the party he left amidst crises some years back.

Onu, who lambasted the PDP for allowing the violence, said it was time Nigerians chose another party to lead them as the 12 years of the incumbent party has not provided the kind of respite desired by the populace.

The ANPP chairman had earlier eulogised the elder Saraki for standing up at all times for the unity of Nigeria saying any genuine political leader will consider first the unity of the nation than other interests.

By Stephen Olufemi Oni, Ilorin

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