THE All Progressives Congress (APC) has launched a vicious attack against the person of Senate President, Bukola Saraki, following his defection from the party to the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

In a statement issued by APC’s Acting National Publicity Secretary, Yekini Nabena, the party described Saraki as “a dismal failure” whose leadership of the Senate has been characterised by “one controversy or the other – budget padding, filibustering, legislative rascality, sabotage of matters of national interest, among other criminalities too numerous to mention”.

“Saraki will go down in our country’s history as the worst Senate President Nigeria has had the misfortune to have,” the statement read.

“Since his usurpation of the coveted seat, achieved through a wicked conspiracy with members of the opposition PDP, it has been from one controversy to another – the Code of Conduct trial for false declaration of assets; conspiracy with his deputy to fraudulently alter the rules of the Senate and links to the deadly armed robbers who wasted many lives in the Offa robbery attack.

“It is alleged that some of the robbery suspects were his political thugs used to rig elections; a common adage says: Show me your friends and I will tell you who you are.”

The APC said Saraki was never fit to be Senate President, much less now that he has defected to the PDP which remains the minority party in the Senate. The party described Saraki’s alliance with the PDP, which resulted in the emergence of Ike Ekweremadu as Deputy Senate President as “a political betrayal and treachery even the devil would be envious of”.

“Even at this time he has defected to the opposition PDP, and with APC still in the majority in the Senate, Dr. Saraki still has the impudence to present himself as the Senate President. Political ambition should be made of nobler stuff.

“One is of course not surprised as Dr. Saraki’s greed, selfishness, treachery, disregard for protocol and constituted authority is well-reported.

“A traitor will always be a traitor, however the time and place. The Senate must do everything possible to put Dr. Saraki where he rightly belongs – the back seat. He is definitely not a fit and proper person to preside over the country’s upper and revered legislative house.”

What the APC statement refused to acknowledge was that the party had benefited from Saraki’s alleged treachery as it helped them to win the 2015 general election.

Saraki’s movement from the PDP to the APC in 2014, helped Muhammadu Buhari to win in Kwara State, for the first time since he started running for the Presidency in 2003. Kwara, prior to 2015 had been a core PDP State, and the party had always won in the state in all previous presidential elections.