Don’t use President’s name to intimidate elected officials, says senator

A MEMBER of the Ad-hoc Senate Committee on Media and Publicity, Senator Ali Wakili, has frowned against the use of President Muhammadu Buhari’s name to intimidate elected officials by unserious politicians.

Wakili, representing Bauchi South at the National Assembly, stated this yesterday at his residence in Bauchi during an interview with newsmen.

Reacting to a statement made by a group called Buhari Coalition on Peace and Support for Justice who accused him and the senator representing Bauchi Central, Isa Hamma Misau, of engaging in anti-party activities for supporting Senate President Bukola Saraki, Wakili described the group as a bunch of illegal association seeking for favour.

He said: “Nobody can use the name of President Muhammadu Buhari to intimidate me. Anyone using Buhari’s name for intimidation will run a parallel life with President Buhari. President Buhari is a straightforward somebody, a good man and a man with the best of qualities. It has become a culture, especially in Bauchi that if anybody wants to run you down, he brings in the name of President Buhari. Let us not drag the name of Muhammadu Buhari into this issue because he does not know anything about it and he will never encourage it.
“I belong to APC, I am a bonafide member of APC and our party has structure of leadership from the national to the state, to the local council and to the ward level.
“It is sad to note that those people accusing me today were the same people that accused me during the electioneering campaign saying I am not competent to be a senator.”

On his alleged recall, Wakili said: “I wish them the best of luck. If they can carry it through, they should try it. I have said it times without number that I owe nobody any apology, it is within my constitutional right to choose among the candidates that want the office of the Senate President and I supported Bukola Saraki because he is the best candidate at that material time.

Meanwhile, the Chairman of the group, Alhaji Aliyu Abubakar, said that the two senators have defied the instructions of the party, especially by aligning with PDP senators and subsequent vote of confidence on the leadership of the Senate against the instructions of the APC.

He said such attitude of the two senators is contrary to the position of Bauchi people in line with APC and the Presidency, especially by taking a stand that contradicts the interest of the party, hence the decision of the group and other 80 political groups, associations to take this position against the two senators.
“The decision of the two senators is a clear case of refusing to take the instructions of our party under which they were voted and they have set the ball rolling in a bid to frustrate the President from accomplishing his mission of rebranding Nigeria for the good of Nigerians”, Abubakar said.

He stated that the forum has resolved to give the two senators 14 days ultimatum to publicly dissociate and distance themselves from all stances capable of jeopardising the interest of the party and the Presidency in general for the betterment of Nigerians.

He said refusing to adhere to the ultimatum, they would be left with no other option but to organise a peaceful statewide protest against the two senators in addition to initiating the legal process of recalling them from their positions for not representing the interest of the people.