Senator Dino Melaye has criticised the current state of the All Progressives Congress (APC), noting that the party is sick and “suffering from a dreadful continental abnormality.”
The lawmaker representing Kogi West Senatorial District said this on Friday, on Channels Television Programme, Politics Today.
Melaye said further that he does not have a problem with the APC, “but my party may have a problem with Nigerians because of the way it is presently being run.
“I will not run away from the fact that the APC is sick. And
it’s not only sick but is equally suffering from what I call a dreadful
continental abnormality,” he said.
In reaction to the question on which platform and the political
party he would be contesting to retain his seat in 2019, Melaye said, “When we get to that bridge, we shall cross it.”
“Definitely I would be contesting on the platform of a
political party since the issue of independent candidature has not been
signed by the President. But to tell you if it is APC or any other
political party, for now, I can’t say.”
Speaking on the relationship between the executive arm of
government and the legislature, Melaye said it is normal in a democratic
government for friction to occur between both arms of government.
“If you expect a romance between the executive and the
legislature, then you are no longer in democracy. We can partner to make
Nigeria progress but there is not supposed to be any romance,” he said,
adding that the role of the national assembly to check the excesses of
the executive.
“When you see two friends going into the same room and they come out laughing, then they are deceiving themselves.”
“What is happening is not abnormal, what is happening in the
constitutional duty of the legislature to check the roles of the
executive,” Melaye added.
This is not the first time Senator Melaye will be criticising his party, APC, openly.
He had earlier said he is not comfortable sitting with his fellow APC lawmakers at the Senate House of Assembly.
Upon resumption of plenary on Wednesday, May 30, after battling
with police and being on admission in the hospital, he had opted to sit
with Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) lawmakers, a decision which resulted
in rowdy at the Red Chambers.