Saraki's defection won't affect APC's fortunes in 2019'' Lai Mohammed says

The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has said the defection of Senate President Bukola Saraki from the All Progressives Congress (APC) will not affect the fortunes of the party in the 2019 general elections

In a statement issued in Abuja on Wednesday, the Minister said even while the Senate President was a member of the APC, the party did not enjoy the benefit of his membership.

''If Senate President Bukola Saraki were not a member of the APC, the party and the government it leads could not have suffered more than they had already done, with regards to the delay in passing the budget, approving key appointments and so on. In other words, Saraki has behaved all along like a member of the opposition, deliberately slowing down the progress of the APC-led federal government. If we didn't gain by having our member as Senate President, we stand to lose nothing by losing him. It is therefore neither a surprise nor a blow that he has defected. Perhaps the only surprise is that when he eventually defected, it was a mere whimper!'' he said.

As far as Kwara State is concerned, Alhaji Mohammed said the APC can only be stronger in the state by not having double agents and fifth columnists as members.

He said this is why the true APC members in the state have come together to strengthen the party, open its doors to new members and reposition it for the 2019 elections, with a view to delivering Kwara to President Muhammadu Buhari.

''This was what we did this past weekend, and the whole country saw the way the people reacted. Yet, what happened at the weekend was not even a rally. It was a consultative stakeholders' meeting. And it was a defining moment for the millions of Kwarans seeking political emancipation and direction. Thankfully, the national leadership of our party has hearkened to our demands by dissolving the Kwara State Executive Committee and constituting a caretaker committee. This offers a fresh start for the APC in Kwara.  No one tree, no matter how big, can make a forest. Every Kwaran is important in the emerging political dispensation in the state, and it is the realization of this new dawn that has set the state agog for the APC,'' he said.