Saraki Reacts As Thugs Disrupt Kwara PDP Primary

Senate President Bukola Saraki has reacted to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) primary which was held on Sunday but was disrupted by some thugs.

Saraki’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Yusuph Olaniyonu, in a statement on Sunday clarified that Saraki had no preferred candidate for the party primaries.

“First, as stated at various fora, and as expressed to the gubernatorial aspirants at a meeting held in the early hours of September 25th, 2018,

“The President of the Senate, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, had no preferred candidate for the party primaries that held today.

“Saraki believes that competence, popularity and acceptability, must be the deciding factors in the selection of the party’s gubernatorial candidate, as such, due to the fact that many of the aspirants in question meet all three criteria,  Dr. Saraki has stated that a level-playing field must be provided for all the aspirants to vie for the gubernatorial ticket of the PDP in Kwara,” the statement read in part.

The statement explained further that the accreditation had already taken place, and delegates from two Local Government Areas had already voted. before a few people from that LGA raised certain observations about the process.

“The organisers of the primaries then suggested that the LGA in question should either conclude voting while the observations were addressed or allow another LGA to vote — pending the resolution of the observations that were raised.

“It was at this point that hired thugs then forced their way into the venue of the primaries to disrupt the process.”

The statement added further that despite Saraki’s influence in the politics of the state, Saraki had always worked to ensure that the democratic process is followed to the letter.

“That was why he stayed back in Abuja while the primariy election in Ilorin was on-going. He just left Abuja for Ilorin at 9.10pm following the news of the disruption.”