The Kwara State chapter of the All Progressives Congress has called on the Lagos State chapter of the party to call to order its spokesman, Joe Igbokwe, over his comments on the National Assembly crisis.
The Kwara State chapter of the party said Igbokwe had engaged in continual warmongering over the crisis facing the party on the election of principal officers of the National Assembly.
The position of the Kwara State chapter was made known by its Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Sulyman Buhari, in a statement.
Buhari said: “I wish to draw the attention of the Lagos State chapter of All Progressives Congress to the condemnable activities and the continual warmongering remarks of its State Publicity Secretary and my colleague, Mr Joe Igbokwe, on the National Assembly crises and promptly advice Lagos APC to call Mr Igbokwe to order in the interest of peace and unity in our great party, the APC.”
The President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki, is from Kwara State, while a National Leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who is stoutly opposed to Saraki’s emergence, has the backing of the Lagos State chapter of the party.
This has largely determined the positions taken by the two chapters of the party in the face-off in the National Assembly over the filling of the positions of principal officers.
The leadership of the party at the national level had declared its support for the emergence of Senator Ahmad Lawan as the president of the Senate.
Speaking further on the position of Igbokwe on the crisis, Buhari said: “It is on record that since the inauguration of the 8th National Assembly on the 9th of June, 2015 and the attendant crises that trailed it. It is either Mr Igbokwe is making wild allegations or making unsubstantiated claims on the National Assembly crises. In fact, it has snowballed to a disturbing apogee where Mr Igbokwe’s activities suggest that, perhaps, Mr Igbokwe is a mole in the APC and/or doing the bidding of some elements outside the APC in order to destabilise the APC.
“Meanwhile, since the loquacious Igbokwe appears to have lost touch or, perhaps, in the wilderness as regards his responsibilities as Lagos APC image maker, I advice the leadership of Lagos APC to re-orientate him on his responsibilities in order to halt further embarrassment that his divisive commentary magnets to Lagos APC.
“This caution is unavoidable to arrest the dangerous trend whereby a spokesman continues to cause damage to the image of the same party he was elected to protect and promote.
“The President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and Leader of APC, President Muhammadu Buhari has embarked on troubleshooting drive to ensure peace and unity amongst APC lawmakers in the National Assembly, what is expected of all APC members is to support the reconciliation efforts of Mr President and desist from any activity or making comments that tend to ignite more confusion and crises. Why is ‘crying more than the bereaved’, the lot of Mr Joe Igbokwe? Why is Igbokwe fanning the ember of war and running his mouth to disparage our party, the APC in bad light? He should be cautioned not to weep more than the bereaved.
“Finally, I wish to state without equivocation that no matter what Mr Igbokwe says or his concerted efforts to twist history, he is not and can never be more APC than the Senate President, Bukola Saraki and Honourable Speaker, Yakubu Dogara.”
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