Sen. Abdullahi Adamu (APC – Nasarawa West) has advised his fellow party members in the National Assembly to quit the party if they must sabotage President Muhammadu Buhari.
Adamu was removed as chairman of the Northern Senators Forum last week and is one of the key opponents of reordering of the election timetable being proposed by the National Assembly.
The reordering, which is believed to be targeted at hurting the president’s reelection chances, prescribes that the National Assembly election comes first and the presidential election comes last.
However, Adamu accused some APC members in the Senate and House of Representatives of working against the president.
He added that some of the APC legislators prefer to sit on the fence during critical debates to “sabotage” the president.
He queried why a legislator would win a seat under a party and go ahead to work against the party.
Speaking on Monday while receiving APC leaders in Nasarawa in the Keffi area of the state, the former Nasarawa State Governor said, “You don’t want the party for any reason, you feel you are not part of it, get out of it. We know who we are, we can count our heads, that you stay in a party and you are grumbling, and you are doing anti-party activities, you are sabotaging the party.
“Sabotaging President Muhammadu Buhari by any APC Senator or House of Reps member or House of Assembly member or Local Government Council member is sabotage against the government. I can understand if a PDP person doesn’t want to be supporting, he should find a means of drawing that line between loyalty to the constitution of the country, and his anti-government mentality.
“Even if you are PDP and a member of the National Assembly, there are situations where you are supposed to be bipartisan, meaning there is a limit to where you can go by being anti -government because the person occupying the presidency is not from your party.
“Only those who know such limits, and are ready to abide by such limits are the ones who can answer their father’s name in the national assembly.
“If you want to oppose, go, come with your manifesto, tell us what you will do differently if you are the one there and let Nigerians decide.
“But don’t hide under the immunity, parliamentary immunity and misbehave. Some of us cannot live with it, we will fight it.
“ I was not elected in the national assembly, I was elected in my constituency, and to my constituency I will return. If you are a member of the National Assembly, the Senate or the House of Reps, the State Assembly, you are elected by a constituency and you don’t go to the National Assembly and behave like the proverbial masquerade which late Nnamdi Azikiwe talked about, that goes to the public square with a rope tied to its waist, and when he cuts the ropes off, the masquerade is on its own. That is how some of these National Assembly members are now doing.
“They are now cutting the umbilical cord between them and their party, between them and their constituencies. We do not want to be counted among them.”
He added, “What has brought the situation you have come to talk about is because we do know what our mission is and we do not want to mix our personal interest to undermine national interest. We will not do this, no matter the cost, no matter the pain.”
Adamu insisted he would not back down in his criticism of sabotage against Buhari in the legislature and urged all APC members in the 36 states to join him.
“I’m not alone, and I hope states, are observing what their members are doing in the National Assembly. I hope they can support those who are with the government, to support those are with the party.
“We are already in the election year, because the first election is just about 10 months and 15 days away. We cannot afford to be divided. We cannot afford to see sabotage and we turn away. If we see sabotage we call it sabotage. If you want to support, don’t sit on the fence, be straight on any issues, be counted among the people there. This fence sitting doesn’t do. This government, this party needs everybody’s support, particularly members of our great party.”