Saraki’s assistant knocks on El-Rufai for comments about restructuring

Yusuph Olaniyonu, a media aide to former Senate President Bukola Saraki, has criticized comments made by Kaduna Governor Nasir El-Rufai that his director frustrated the restructuring plan of the All Progressives Congress when he (Saraki) was in office as the president of the senate.

El-Rufai, who allowed an interview to Arise TV on Wednesday, accused the former governor of Kwara State of frustrating the APC’s restructuring plan through a constitutional amendment.

Commenting on the allegation, Olaniyonu, who is the head of the Abubakar Bukola Saraki Media Office, said in a statement that El-Rufai’s claims were not only false, but also “an indication of how much the governor of Kaduna state loves is on making excuses and trading blame to explain his and his party’s failure.”

The statement, released in the early hours of Saturday, noted that Saraki had left the office of Senate President for about 44 months, adding that “within that period, El Rufai and his party have the Senate President they want and the type senate they want, but they have done nothing to restructure Nigeria. We have not seen his committee’s so-called “excellent” report translated into bills and approved by the president. He even claimed that his committee had drafted restructuring laws.”

The statement also called on El-Rufai to “tell Nigerians if Saraki is also the one responsible for the high level of insecurity that has escalated from just the Northeast to a threat that has now engulfed all of Nigeria under the APC. “We need him to tell Nigerians whether the former Senate President is responsible for the collapsing state of the economy, rising inflation, huge cost of living, extremely low living standards across the country, endemic poverty in the country, the exchange rate that has risen from N200 in exchange for a dollar to N740 in a dollar, the high level of youth unemployment, the high rate of oil theft, the alarming rate of borrowing by the government, high levels of discord among the component units that make up the country and other ills that threaten the land under the APC administration.

It read in part: “The attention of the Abubakar Bukola Saraki Media Office has been drawn to the interview given to ARISE TV on Wednesday by Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai where, in his usual manner of throwing tantrums and making false made allegations that Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki as Senate President between 2015 and 2019 frustrated the restructuring plan of the All Progressives Congress (APC) through a constitutional amendment process.

“This statement is not only false, but also shows how much the Governor of Kaduna State is fond of making excuses and doling out blame to explain his failure and that of his party.

“El-Rufai claimed that he and his party prepared a report on restructuring and worked with the leadership of the National Assembly to amend the constitution in 2018, when the 8th National Assembly in February 2016, more than two years earlier, passed the constitutional amendment process was started by setting up committees in both chambers. Members of the committees traveled all over the country and came up with reports and bills.”

It added: “By 2018, as El Rufai pointed out, President Muhammadu Buhari had begun assent bills for constitutional amendments. Of the 32 constitutional bills considered by the National Assembly, 24 received the required number of votes on the floors of both chambers. When the 24 were sent to the state’s Houses of Assembly, only 12 bills received the required votes. This same El-Rufai was one of the governors who frustrated the passage of most bills through the state Houses of Representatives. In the end, the president agreed to five of the 12 bills presented to him in 2018 and refused to sign seven others.

“Even then, it will be interesting to ask the governor of Kaduna how his state has implemented major restructuring laws passed by the Eighth National Assembly led by Saraki and signed into law, such as the Financial Autonomy for State Legislature and Judiciary Act.

“If the APC came to power in 2015 and El Rufai and his cohorts talked about amending the constitution to implement restructuring three years later, when the government had less than a year before the end of its term, the restructuring agenda must be a sequel. thought or a minor one in the hierarchy of issues on the APC board.

“It should also be noted that it has clearly been 44 months since Saraki left office as Senate President and within that period El Rufai and his party have the Senate President they want and the type of Senate they want, but they have done nothing. to restructure Nigeria. We have not seen his committee’s so-called “excellent” report translated into bills and passed by the president. He even claimed that his committee had drafted restructuring laws.

“El Rufai should tell Nigerians if Saraki is also the one responsible for the high level of insecurity that has escalated from just the Northeast to a threat that has now engulfed all of Nigeria under the APC administration. We need him to tell Nigerians whether the former Senate President is responsible for the collapsing state of the economy, rising inflation, high cost of living, extremely low living standards across the country, endemic poverty in the country, the exchange rate moving from N200 in exchange for a dollar to N740 in a dollar, the high level of youth unemployment, the high rate of oil theft, the alarming rate of government borrowing, high levels of discord among the constituent units that make up the country and other ills plaguing the country under the APC administration.”

The statement also called on the Governor of Kaduna State to “tell us why the APC government to which he belongs has been unable to properly govern Nigerians and why the party is struggling to appeal to voters to explain their failure.” reward.”

“We can see that in addition to his job as state governor, he has now become the spokesman for a failing presidential campaign as he stumbles from one television station to the next, issuing vile threats, swear words and spewing lies. The day of reckoning will soon arrive. Nigerians will certainly not reward failure or buy cheap lies,” it concluded.