Founding member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and a former acting national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje is one of senate president Senator Bukola Saraki’s allies. In an interview with journalists in Ilorin, Baraje said there are clear indications that the ruling APC is creeping into the factors that led to the collapse of the PDP in 2015. In his words, Baraje said,”The case of Saraki has not followed due process and rule of law. It was the due process that was missing in the case of Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu, and he was discharged but not acquitted. So, why is Saraki’s case different? So, as regards whether we are comfortable with where we are and whether we are joining other groups, every politician has aspirations about the development of his people, and if you cannot achieve it in one place, you go to another place.
“It doesn’t mean that I am a political prostitute. I am a principled person and will not stop until I get what I want, which in this case is good governance, equality, democratic dividends for my people. Impunity, lawlessness, lack of due process are not what formed the APC. With the intervention of some leaders like us, the party will continue to thrive, but for it not to go the way of the PDP, the president must play politics. So, if some people hide under the trial of Saraki to want to destabilise this government, then we won’t sit down and watch, and that is not a threat. Nobody has called for his resignation and the senators have reaffirmed their support for him. But if they are still hell bent on removing him, the worst will happen because we may have the PDP taking over the Senate presidency and deputy. Maybe we should practice it for the first time and see how it would be.”
