Former leader of the Reformed All Progressives Congress (R-APC) Abubakar Baraje has said he would return to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The former PDP National Chairman said he would formally declare for the party in his ward in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital.
Baraje, who addressed reporters at the sideline of the graduation ceremony of the Baraje Centre for Arabic and Islamic Studies in Ilorin, said:
“If I tell you where I belong now, I am telling you because you asked me, but my formal declaration is coming up in a few days at my own ward. It is being arranged by my people.
“That means where my leader goes is where I go. I belong to the party that has made me and a party that has given me in-road into the politics of this country.
“I belong to the PDP and I attended the PDP meeting at Yar’Adua Centre in Abuja some two months ago. There I made a statement that went viral and I think that was very indicative of where I belong. In very few days now you will hear I am in my ward declaring for PDP along with my supporters.”
On Senate President Bukola Saraki’s presidential ambition, Baraje said: “As a reminder, Senate President Bukola Saraki has been trying his luck on being the president of this country since 2011. He withdrew for the then candidate Goodluck Jonathan. In 2015, he also withdrew for the President Muhammadu Buhari. So for somebody who has been nursing that kind of ambition, is it not right for such person to come forward again?
“This present president came forward for four times before clinching it. Did anybody ask whether he was right or wrong? Totally, I am in his support. Whatever Nigeria is looking for is in him and what we are looking for is only a candidate that will unite Nigeria.
“He has the right; the fact that he is the Senate President does not stop him from aspiring to become the president.”
On the planned removal of Saraki, he said: “I am not a senator, but I am a party leader and a politician. As a politician, you don’t just sit down without educating yourself. I have read the Constitution and whenever, there is any controversy about any issue, I read the Constitution. I have gone through the relevant sections, particularly on the issue of impeachment, and the constitution makes me understand that only the senators can elect and remove their president. The Constitution also stipulates the offences he must commit to warrant removal…”