Former governor of Kwara state, Dr Bukola Saraki, has berated President Goodluck Jonathan for his inability to resolve the face-off between governors and senators elected on the platform of Peoples Democratic Party,(PDP).
He said Jonathan’s re-election bid has made him incapable of confronting the governors.
Saraki was reacting to the festering crisis between Jonathan and Senators elected on PDP’s platform.
He said: “But for the selfish interest of President Jonathan’s re-election he cannot look at the governors and tell them point blank what he wants. What I disagree with is that because the issue pertains to PDP it is being made very important. I sympathise with the PDP senators’ struggle, because in fairness I think it does help a bit. That again re-emphasizes that every politics is local. You cannot sit in Abuja and not play your local politics back at home.
“You say the governors are emperors, the system that gives those powers to the governors. It is something that should have been addressed, because some of us saw it coming.”
He added: “The crisis between the state governors of the Peoples Democratic Party and their senators is an internal affair of their party and it shouldn’t have been allowed to affect running of the upper chamber of the legislature.
“I sympathise with my colleagues from the PDP where they find themselves, but some of us had told many of them before now that this is going to happen. Some of us do things that people in this country don’t appreciate until after they have left the scene. I know and you can go and check the record, personally what I did to prevent this situation in 2011. It was the same situation. I was the chairman Governors Forum then.
“The PDP went for delegate election by the time they finished the exercise no senator was coming back. The late president Yar’Adua called by that time to talk to the governors and save the situation. This same problem; I moved in and summoned an emergency meeting of all the governors.
“We worked till very late practically begging some. I used my position, relationship and experience to get fine agreement with the governors at that time to see that one senator in each of the PDP states come back. One used his relationship with them and the respect they have for one and we got the deal. It was the deal that brought back some the senators then.
“It was the deal that even brought back our Senator Simon Ajibola from Kwara South here. Before that delegate Ajibola had gone. He had done two terms and as far as people here were concerned the thing should go to another part of the district. I now said how can I be the chairman of governors’ forum who had told all my colleagues to bring back at least a senator.