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If you don’t praise me for uprooting Saraki, I’ll praise myself  –Oshiomhole

Ezekiel Johnson
Ezekiel Johnson
If you don’t praise me for uprooting Saraki, I’ll praise myself –Oshiomhole
Oshiomhole and Saraki

If you don’t praise me for uprooting former Senate President, Bukola Saraki, from the country’s political space, I will praise myself.

These are the words of the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Adams Oshiomhole.

Oshiomhole made the boast on Monday while speaking with State House correspondents at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, shortly after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari.

He described the “uprooting” of Saraki as a great achievement for him, describing the former Senate President as one of the smartest political actors in the country.

It would be recalled that following Saraki’s defection to the leading opposition, Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, from the APC, Oshiomhole vowed to remove him as Senate President.

That was however not possible as Saraki finished his term as the head of the Senate.

Saraki on his part, later lost his bid to return to the Senate and those who he fielded in other posts lost.

Considering the “uprooting” of Saraki as a great achievement, Oshiomhole said:  “Remember I was saying that Saraki must be removed.  People would say how would I do it? I said okay if he resists removal, then we would uproot. We went to Kwara, we did ‘Otoge’, we uprooted Saraki, and you cannot commend me for this? Do you know who Saraki is? If you are talking of the smartest political player, seasoned smart guy, he is. But for every smartness he has, I have a superior smartness. Who won?

“As a Senate President, we uprooted him; as a senator, we uprooted him; he has a nominee for governor, and senators, we put our own. Today, he doesn’t have one senator in Kwara, and he doesn’t have one House of Representatives member in Kwara. Everything in Kwara is APC, and you can’t commend me for that? If you don’t then I will be like a lizard – I will praise myself if you state house correspondents don’t appreciate me.”

Oshiomhole also commented on the critics of the ministerial list submitted to the National Assembly by President Muhammadu Buhari.

He said contrary to the belief in some quarters that the appointments were based on political patronage, he said it was to enhance the formation of an all-inclusive government.

According to him, the president tried to include all geo-political zones of the country including where he did not win election.

Said he:  “How credible are some of those who are talking? The point is that I don’t know if there is a Nigerian who knows every Nigerian.

“Even as I can say that I have worked for Nigerian people at all levels, as a worker in a factory, as President of the NLC, as governor of a state and now as a national chairman of a party, there are too many Nigerians I will never be able to know.

“The screening process is meant to enable those watching, it is not for nothing that it is televised, it is to enable Nigerians see who these people are.

“But you will find that people started dismissing the list even before they saw it, just like some other things that Nigerians dismiss without knowing the meaning.

“So, what you and I should insist on is that in the President’s second term, in this next level, our party, our government at the centre, state and local government level must deliver. That is the entry point for every Nigerian.

“And when you talk of patronage, should we appoint…have you heard of Americans appointing Russians because they are experts to go and preside over their Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs)?

“Even in your newspapers do you invite me as APC chairman to come and write your editorial?”

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