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From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
Indication that the crisis rocking the All Progressives Congress (APC) has worsened appeared, yesterday, as the party tackled the Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee on Anti-corruption (PACAC), Prof. Itse Sagay (SAN), over his verbal attack on the party.
He had dismissed the leadership of the ruling party as weak, too compromising and a failure.
But the APC said the eminent lawyer appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari to shore up the anti-graft war of the administration, lacked the integrity to attack the party.
It reminded Sagay that he occupied his current position in governmnet because the APC won the election.
Sagay, had in his spiral attack on the ruling party in an interview he granted recently also described the APC as “the most unprincipled group of people” who are “encouraging and accepting rogues.”
The party in a press statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, lamented that Sagay, in his sheer arrogance, forgot that it was impossible for him to call the leadership of the party as “weak” and “unprincipled” without indicting the president, who is the leader of the party.
“In the said interview, Sagay described the leadership of the APC as “the most unprincipled group of people” who are “encouraging and accepting rogues” in the party. He said: “When I say ‘rogues’, I don’t mean stealing. In literature, when you say someone is a rogue elephant, it means people who are running riot and destroying the party. They’re pampering them too much, saying let’s not much, but they’re destroying the APC house. So, I think the APC leadership is weak, is too compromising and is certainly a failure as far as I’m concerned.”
Disputing Sagay’s interpretation of his rogue elephant referencing Webster dictionary, the party said: “Clearly if we have today, anyone in our government or, by extension, the party who feels accountable only to his own ego, who does not feel the need to bridle his tongue for the sake of anything that is higher than himself, who feels independent of everyone and every institution, that person is Professor Sagay.”
In his response on whether he would stop speaking if the president asked him to do so, Sagay had said: “Yes, he is my employer. If he tells me to stop talking, I’ll stop talking. But I have certain rights too that I can exercise in addition to that, because I’m not going to be in a position where I am impotent. So, I must obey him, but I can go beyond that and obey myself too. That’s it.”
However, the party in responding to it said: “Framed in another way, what Sagay is saying here is that, no matter what is at stake, he would rather resign than obey the president if the president tries to restrain him. This is the quintessential rogue elephant behaviour.
“In his sheer arrogance, he forgets that it is impossible for him to call out the leadership of the party as weak and unprincipled without indicting the president, who is the leader of the party and has the fundamental responsibility to build the party.
“If Sagay had any iota of respect for the man who dug him back from inevitable oblivion and puts him in a position in which he now feels superior to everyone, he would channel his opinions and advice to the president on how to make the party stronger and more principled.
“It appears, however, that Sagay does not have anything constructive to say about anything. He only knows how to tear down and assault everyone and everything. We want to remind Sagay and all other appointees of our government that the only reason they occupy their current position today is because the APC won the election.
“There is, therefore, a matter of honour to show decorum and respect for the party and its leadership. You cannot love the fruit and hate the tree that produced it,” APC warned.
Effort to get Sagay’s reaction last night proved futile, as he was away when Daily Sun went to his Abuja office. Attempts to reach him on phone also failed as several calls placed to his mobile line kept responding that the number was “not available.”
It is not the first time Sagay would be drawing the ire of leadership of the APC. A few months ago, his statement that the nominee for the chairmanship of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commision (EFCC), Mr. Ibrahim Magu, did not require Senate confirmation had pitted the Red Chamber against the Executive.
