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Former Kwara State Governor, Dr. Bukola Saraki has urged President Goodluck Jonathan not to stifle states controlled by the opposition.
He was reacting to a remark by Jonathan last week, when prominent Anambra State indigenes led by the outgoing Governor, Mr. Peter Obi, paid him a thank you visit at the State House, Abuja that governors in the habit of hurling abuses at him and the Federal Government should desist as they were not doing their states any good.
Saraki, who is Chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Ecology, however, expressed doubts that the president could have uttered such a statement, urging political office holders to be guided by their oath of office.
Speaking with reporters on Sunday in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, Saraki said: “The president said that? He said that? I don’t even know what to say. What I just want my own people, in Kwara and Nigerians in general, to know is that they should take sentiment out of these issues. What we are talking about in Nigeria today is not whether you are a Northerner or otherwise, Yoruba man or Ijaw, Christian or Muslim. We should not allow sentiments.
“Even if a state governor and the president are not on good terms, the nation and the constitution that we all swore to uphold should be the guiding principle. I will be surprised if he said that. I’m sure the president couldn’t have said that. Maybe he was misquoted. I hope he will deny it very soon. It is not a statement that should come from him as the president of a country like ours”.
