I’m APC member in ‘body and spirit’ – Saraki declares

In apparent denial of alleged dumping of the ruling All Progressives Congress and returning back to his former party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senate President Bukola Saraki, said he remained a full member of the APC and would remain there in  “body and spirit’’.

Saraki said at a NAN Forum in Abuja that the speculations were part of the mischievous activities against him and urged the public the discountenance them.

He said that those spreading such information were doing so as propaganda for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Saraki, however, blamed the development on inactivity in the APC, saying that the party’s leadership had failed to focus it properly.

He, therefore, charged the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party to wake up to its responsibility as it had remained without activities for too long.

The president of the senate said that the docility in the party was giving room for unfounded allegations against some of its members.

According to him, if the party had organised regular NEC meetings and other caucus meetings, there would have been enough activities to determine who the true members are.

“I think there is no APC member that will tell you he is happy with the state of affairs of the party; there is a lot of work that we need to do.

“The party that hasn’t met for a long time, it’s beyond comprehension and I think that we should all quickly put that in order and start to get NEC, caucus and others going.

“We need to start early to get the drive in the party back.

“Luckily, in spite of the lack of meetings here and there, if you go round the 36 states, it is in just few states, not many states, where you may see internal crisis.

“It’s not that the party, at the grassroots level, had a lot of crisis here and there; it’s just for the administrative aspect and the national executive to provide leadership.’’

Saraki also said that if there had been meetings of the party, his detractors would have seen how actively involved he was in the party “and will not have any room to spread such lies’’.

“They are just using that to do a propaganda for PDP. Where are they seeing that I am not in the party in spirit? Where is the spirit they are judging from, where are they seeing the spirit?

“That is why I am saying that the reason for all that speculation is because the party is docile, because the party is dormant.

“If the party goes back to what we all know that every month, we hold NEC meeting, you have caucus, they will stop all these `spirit’ and no `spirit’ thing.

“It is not that they have had a meeting and you didn’t see me, and then, you can say that yes, my spirit is not there.