A group, the Aminu Kano Roundtable, said yesterday that the alliance between Senator Bukola Saraki and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which led to the former's election as Senate president may have signalled the end of the change being expected by Nigerians.

The Aminu Kano Roundtable is a group of intellectuals, who share the political philosophy of the late Mallam Aminu Kano.

The group, in a statement after its monthly meeting, also defended Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso's position on the Senate crisis, describing the Like-Minds Senators' alliance with the PDP as "the beginning of the end of the change mantra of APC".

It added that the Like-Minds senators "by their actions and utterances, their blind political ambition, have set in motion the beginning of the end of the change mantra of APC, and by extension, the continuation of corruption, poverty and unemployment fostered on hapless Nigerians by the PDP, the party from which the Like-Minds senators crossed over to APC".

The group described as "sad that senators on the platform of Like-Minds after the monumental danger it put the nascent administration of President Muhammadu Buhari and the nation into could now claim that the words of caution from Kwankwaso are capable of destabilising the National Assembly and the nation."

The statement signed by the group's coordinator, Mohammed AbdulAziz, and its spokesman, Yahya Abdullahi, said Nigerians should not expect the Saraki-PDP alliance to support Buhari in the eradication of corruption as "the body language, political pedigree and action of members of the alliance are known to be in support of the status quo, which Nigerians are determined to replace, but which, sadly, the 'June 9 betrayal' has foisted on the nation again".

It alleged that "the Like-Mind Senators are the ones who brought into the Senate leadership, negative attributes of betrayal and treachery while throwing away morality, trust, selfness and integrity".

The group agreed with Kwankwaso that Saraki as the Senate President "is more PDP than APC as it was the PDP that made Saraki the Senate President".

The statement added: "It is clear that whoever pays the piper dictates the tune. Thus, the PDP will definitely have more influence on Saraki's Senate Presidency than any other entity.

"There is no way President Buhari can be safe let alone be safer in the hands of PDP stalwarts and their PDP colleagues on the platform of Like-Minds Senators, particularly when it comes to the eradication of corruption, because they will betray both the government and Nigerians again and again.

"We are very proud of Senator Kwankwaso's unparallel achievements while in office as the governor of Kano State, especially the monthly publications of the earnings and expenditure of his administration and he has had no cause to run to the court for protection against prosecution from corruption since leaving the office."