The All Progressives Congress,
APC, has said it will not use the criteria set by the Chairman of the Presidential
Advisory Committee Against Corruption, PACAC, Itse Sagay in dealing with its
members.
Sagay had alleged that the party
leadership is associating with and condoning corrupt members.
However, the party’s National
Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, said it will not deal with its
members based on the recommendations of the senior lawyer, while describing
Sagay’s criticism as unfair.
Abdullahi said since the PACAC
boss had already stated in his interview that he is neither a politician nor a
member of the APC, he will not be able to appreciate how the party deals with
issues that have to do with politicians.
He told Independent, “The
statement credited to Prof. Sagay accusing the party leadership of being weak
and conniving with corrupt politicians to a relatively large extent is unfair.
Prof. Sagay by his own admission said he is not a politician.
“If he is not a politician, that
means he will not be able to appreciate happenings within the political
dynamics. He has a different consideration from the considerations that we have
as managers of the party. The responsibility that he has as an adviser to the
president on anti-corruption is different from the responsibility we have to
build our party and hold it together.
“He, on his part, wants us to
exclude the people he has labeled as corrupt from the party, but the
responsibility we have is to hold the party together. Until a law court has
pronounced someone guilty of a crime, we don’t have the duty to label anyone as
corrupt.
“I will be surprised if what
Prof. Sagay is suggesting that the moment he, as chairman of PACAC, labels
someone as corrupt, then the party should accept that pronouncement as a
universal definition of that individual and severe relationship with that
person.
“I don’t think that will be
appropriate and that does not fall in line with our responsibility as a
political party.”
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