2027: Saraki Free to Rejoin APC Whenever He Deems Fit, Says Party Chieftain, Ex-envoy

Hammed Shittu in Ilorin

Ahead of the 2027 general election, a former Nigerian Ambassador to Cameroon and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kwara State, Ambassador Femi Abodunrin, has said that the former Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, is free to rejoin the ruling party whenever he deems fit.

Earlier in the week, a former Minister of National Planning and Director-General of the Nigerian Institute of Democracy and Legislative Studies (NILDS), Prof. Olarenwaju Sulaiman, said on a radio programme in Ilorin that Saraki was a member of the APC in Abuja. At the same time, he is a leader of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kwara State.

However, some PDP leaders in the state challenged Sulaiman to provide evidence of the comments made against Saraki.The state PDP Director of Planning and Strategy, Mallam Ibrahim Olayinka Otukoko, and the Kwara Central senatorial chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Isiaka Owolabi, while speaking with journalists in Ilorin, stated that “Saraki remains a committed and recognised leader of the PDP in Kwara, nationally and beyond”.

They therefore urged PDP members across the state to ignore distractions and remain focused on grassroots mobilisation ahead of the 2027 general elections.However, in a chat with journalists yesterday in Offa, the headquarters of Offa Local Government Area (LGA) of the state, Ambassador Abodunrin said Saraki had no inhibitions about returning to the APC, either at the national or state level.“Nobody can stop him from rejoining the party.“Saraki is a founding member of the APC. We all witnessed how he was brutally chased out of the party, despite his sacrifices and investments.

“If people are now insinuating that he is on his way back to his roots,  to the house he helped to build, then he should hurry and make it quick. Nobody can stop him from rejoining the party,” Abodunrin said.

According to him, many prominent figures in the APC met Saraki at the party.

“Most of the big names in the APC today met him in the APC. There are only a few original foundation chieftains of the party, and only such people can even attempt to say otherwise,” he said.

On security, the former envoy commended the federal government and the Kwara State Government for institutionalising the Forest Guards initiative to curb the activities of non-state actors in forested areas.

He urged the authorities to prioritise the welfare and proper equipping of newly recruited forest guards to ensure the initiative’s success.