The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kwara State yesterday reacted to a statement by former Secretary-General of National Democratic Coalition (NADECO), Chief Ayo Opadokun, that President Muhammadu Buhari's anti-graft war would be a mirage with Senator Bukola Saraki as Senate president.

State chairman of APC, Ishola Balogun-Fulani, told newsmen in Ilorin that the comment was Opadokun's personal opinion which did not reflect the personality of Saraki.

He said Saraki's aversion to corruption was not in doubt as epitomised by his famous motion in the last Senate which exposed the fraud in the oil sector.

Opadokun in an interview with a national daily in response to the emergence of Saraki as the Senate president, said, "The fact that a senior member of the APC leadership, namely Dr. Bukola Saraki, for his vaunting and inordinate ambition, decided to go and sell the victory recorded by Nigerians against the PDP for him to become the president of the Senate is a major disaster and it has fundamental dimensions."

But the APC state chairman faulted the statement, saying Saraki is known for his stance against corruption.

"For we that know Saraki, we know he can fight corruption with what he has done in Kwara State. He has developed this state from a civil service to an industrial state. Every Nigerian knows he is a man that can be saddled with the responsibility," he said.

Balogun-Fulani also explained that the North-Central APC unanimously adopted the candidature of Saraki following the withdrawal of Senator George Akume and his decision to deputise Senator Ahmed Lawan, saying Akume betrayed the zone as the party's National Working Committee (NWC) had already ceded the position to the zone.

He also said Saraki is not over-ambitious as being insinuated.

"Saraki is not over-ambitious. We the APC chairmen of North-Central started it all. After we won our elections, then we took it upon ourselves that we must ask for what we think is our own benefit out of the goodies of electoral victory," he stated.