Adejoke Adeleye/Abeokuta
Former Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki has denied claims that some members of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, are planning to impeach the National Chairman of the party, Uche Secondus.
Saraki said this while speaking to journalists at the end of a two-hour closed door meeting he and some chieftains of PDP from different parts of the country had with former Nigerian President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. in Abeokuta, Ogun State capital on Tuesday.
The former senate president described that the ongoing reconciliation will lead to impeachment of Secondus.
He said, “I’m not aware, may be you have more information than I do. I’m not aware of any impeachment of Uche Secondus. I think there is a lot of propaganda out there. What is happening in the party is that we want to start very early to address what we think are issues that will make us stronger and that is what we are doing.”
“As you may know. we have been meeting with different leaders, we have been meeting with different states where we think we have problems here and there, particularly the zones where we think we have such issues. We are discussing that.
Saraki added that the PDP reconciliation committee which he is leading is already recording progress in tackling some of the crises in the party.
“I think that we are making some progress, there are people who were not ready to sit on the same table to discuss. We have been able to achieve that.
“We have given more time for ourselves in trying to do that and we are hopeful that in this month of March, we will begin to see a lot of progress, that will unite the party and with that unity we will also be able to bring in more membership to our party.
On the issue of insecurity, the former senate president advised President Buhari to involve all all stakeholders , including members of the ruling and opposition parties as well as Nigeria’s international partners in finding solution to the problems.
“We can tap into a lot of resources, even on the issue of security. There are lot of people with a lot of experience that we can make use of.
“My advice to government is that this problem is a huge problem that cannot be left to just the government and the ruling party, I think this is the time the opposition, the ruling party, our international friends and the private sector must come together on the round table. The challenges before us are enormous and we need to address them.
“As we talk about lots of politicians, we talk about 2023, we still have two years before that and it is our responsibility of all of us to see that during those two years, we all work to address the problem.
“I think what is important for us now as I keep on repeating is that these issues are issues that should involve everybody. I think that when we talk about kidnapping, when we talk about sense of belonging, these are issues that cross party lines and what is required now is for government to provide leadership in bringing all stakeholders together. Let us discuss and see how we can address some of these issues.
“But the initiative must come from government. I think once government does that, then my own advice is that everybody that has something to contribute should be able to come together and see how people will have a sense of belonging. Part of that sense of belonging is to be on the table to be able to discuss way forward for this country.” He said
On the outcome of the meeting of the PDP chieftains with Obasanjo, Saraki said that the former President had declared that he is no longer in partisan politics, but that his fatherly role cannot be ruled out, since he has the interest of the country at heart
“We told him what we are trying to do, to reposition the party, we told him how important that is, the project Nigeria and he told us his commitment to Nigeria. He told us he will never shirk away from the responsibility of seeking a better Nigeria.
“Of course, like we all know that he not partisan at the moment. His focus is on Nigeria, not on any party and that he repeated to us.