From Francis Sadhere, Warri
…Says Oshiomhole suffering from Tramadol overdose
A chieftain of the People’s Democratic Party, Delta state, Chief Sunny Onuesoke on Wednesday told the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Adams Oshiomhole that APC cannot impeach the Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki.
Comrade Adams Oshiomhole had earlier said that APC was resolved to explore every legal means to ensure that the President of the Senate , Bukola Saraki , is impeached and replaced with a loyal party member.
But in swift reaction, Onuesoke, a former PDP governorship aspirant in the 2007 general election, told news men in Warri that even if all the 36 states in the country were controlled by APC, they will still not have what it takes to impeach Saraki.
He therefore, adviced Oshiomhole to stop meddling with what goes on the National Assembly and concentrate on how to run his party affairs, stressing that it was only the Senators in the House that have the right to impeach Saraki.
He said, “Let me give you a shocker. Among the 52 APC Senators in the House, there are 22 APC members who are yet to defect to PDP. You can qoute me anywhere. Saraki still has 22 APC members who will vote for him in any impeachment move. So what are we saying. Even if Saraki decides to go and sleep till 2019, there is no figure in the house that can be used to impeach him.
“What Oshiomhole is doing today can be likened to someone who is suffering from Codiene and Tramadol overdose. He needs to do a background check on himself. He is being carried away with the position. This how he ran the Nigerian Labour Congress aground during his days in the NLC. In his days as the NLC President, Oshiomhole will deceive workers to go to the streets to protest while he goes back to the same government to collect money.”
The Delta PDP chieftain added that, “For crying out loud, Oshiomhole was part of the APC who promised to take back the price of fuel to 44 naira per litre. He is not talking about the wrongs he has done. He is busy comparing himself with Saraki. What he is doing is like comparing apples with oranges. Oshiomhole is just a party chairman and a private individual while. Saraki is a distinguished member of the national Assembly and a public figure.
“Oshiomhole has no right to speak on behalf of those senators because they were elected by Nigerians. No matter what party they belong to, they are now senators of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. They are not senators of APC or PDP. So I think Oshiomhole should be tested for tramodol overdose. This was what he did when he was the leader of the NLC. Today he is doing it again.”
On whether the National Assembly should reconvene and deliberate on the INEC budget, which is considered by many as a matter of urgency, Onuesoke lambasted President Muhammadu Buhari for submitting such a budget, saying the budget is over-inflated and therefore cannot be seen to be of any importance.
He said, “I will not call on the Senate to reconvene just to talk about that padded INEC budget. The last election was about 110 billion naira, but today you are talking about over 242 billion naira. So I will not call on the Senate to reconvene because of that padded budget. That matter is not something we should lose sleep over.”
“If you decide to share that money among all Nigerians, every person will get up to two million. If the house is going to reconvene, they should reconvene and share two million to all Nigerians and forget about election.
Onuesoke also condemned the figurres released by INEC about the number of elligable voters in the country, noting that there was no way the number of eligible voters can be equal or more than the number of those that are not eligible to vote.
He said, “The number of voters INEC said they have registered is fictitous. I am doubting that figure released by INEC. INEC said it has registered over 72 million eligible voters in the country. Are you telling me that the age of eligible voters in the country is more than those below 18 years. That figure is not correct because there is no where in the world were the age of those above 18 is more than those below the age of 18. That figure is fabricated by INEC to suit some section of the country. So INEC should be probed.
“Let me give you an example. The population of Delta State is six million and you cannot tell me that the population of eligible voters will be three million. That is not possible.
“So there is something wrong with the figures of registered voters which is said to be about 77 million according to INEC. We all know that according to our past population census, Nigeria has about 130 million people.
On 2019 elections, Onuesoke said he is not concerned about what is going to happen in that election, rather government at all level should be talking about development, science and technology, discipline, agriculture, latest technology and their likes.
“I am not concerned about the next election. All I am concerned about is development. Nobody discuss science and technology in the Senate. Nobody discuss discipline, agriculture, latest technology and so on and so forth. They are all fighting because of the oil that is coming out of somebody’s backyard.
“Ask Oshiomhole what the current status of the Nigerian GDP is. What does Oshiomhole know about the economy. Is it about jumping around like a child like what we see on video clips. That is an embarrassment on the part of APC. How can graduates gather and be jumping and dancing like children as if they are high on Tramadol. It’s an embarrassment to the country,” Onuesoke said.
He however, warned the PDP against the imposition of candidates in the upcoming general elections saying that PDP will lose all their seats if they dared to impose unpopular candidates on the people.
He said, “I have been against imposition of candidates in any election. I will want all the PDP leaders to be neutral when it comes to the presidential primaries. The PDP governors need to be neutral because if they are not,it will be counter productive to their positions. The problem of the PDP is imposition and that was why we lost it in 2015. The PDP leadership,the House of Assembly members both NASS should abstain from imposition during the presidential primaries, if not they will all lose their seats if they make the wrong choice.
My advice to PDP, because I do not know whether there is APC in the country, is that there should be fair play in all the primaries. They should not impose candidates on the people this time around because the people are ready to give either a protest or a resentment vote. If you toy with imposition then 92% of PDP will give you a resenemt vote.”
