Senate President Bukola Saraki has said he put his presidential ambition in abeyance for Buhari before the latter would go on to emerge the APC presidential candidate and eventual winner of the presidential ballot.
Saraki was speaking to a select group of journalists in Abuja as he tries to mend fences in the face of negative public opinion regarding his emergence as Senate President. He’s also been trying to pour cold water on rumours that he is at odds with President Buhari.
“I was the first person that stepped down his political ambition, once General Buhari announced that he was going to contest the presidential election. And since then, prior to the period of election, I worked tirelessly to support his emergence.
“Even some of my friends who are not supporting me now are doing so because I did not support them in their presidential ambition and that I supported President Buhari. That is why I find it funny that the same people are now claiming to love Buhari more than me. It is a very funny world.
“These are people that I was begging to leave the stage for Buhari to run since all of us are young. They are now the ones going round to say that Saraki did not like Buhari but time will tell,” he said.
Saraki also said he never struck a deal with the PDP for Ekweremadu to emerge as Deputy Senate President. He said Ekweremadu’s emergence was made possible because most of the APC Senators didn’t show up at the chamber for the inauguration. He also said he wasn’t invited to the now famous ICC meeting alongside other APC Senators.
“As regards the meeting, on the morning of the inauguration, I didn’t finish meeting until 4am of that day and I had got information that efforts would likely be made to make sure that I didn’t get access into the chambers”.
He said attempts were made to stop him from gaining access into the chamber in a bid to scuttle his senate president bid and that he arrived the national assembly complex as early as 6am and stayed in his car till 10am to beat that plot.
“So, anybody who said they spoke to me to go to the ICC isn’t saying the truth because I didn’t even know what was going on. All I was monitoring was how people were arriving at the complex. It was at quarter to 10:00am that I got information that the Clerk to the National Assembly had entered the chamber.
“Even when I was in the chambers, I didn’t know what had transpired earlier on. The only thing I observed was that it appeared that some of our senators were not in the chamber. But for the fact that my colleagues arrived in batches, I had the opinion that they were on their way. And by 10:00am, the programme started.
“Before I knew it, my election had come and gone. Even, my people were worried. It was only when I got into the chambers that they were relieved,” Saraki added.
Saraki said he campaigned vigorously to become senate president and reached out to everyone within and across the aisle. He denied striking a deal with the PDP.
He said, “never in our wildest imagination did we envisage that some senators would not be present on the day of the inauguration. In my view, and in the view of some of those who worked closely with me, I worked hard for my election. I had direct contact with every single senator; one on one. Weeks to the election, I did not rely on anybody. I worked hard, both in our party, the APC, and out of it.
“I approached every senator, I talked to them. We built confidence, not only in the APC, but, also, in the PDP. I talked to them. That was why I laugh when people said that I had a deal with Ekweremadu or I had a hand in the emergence of Ekweremadu.
“With regard to the deputy, when they told us that they had a candidate, we, too, told them we had a candidate for Deputy Senate President in the person of Senator Ali Ndume.
“We never, in our wildest imagination, thought they (other APC senators) would not turn up. By the time we got there, we were only 24 while the PDP was more than 40.
“It is unfortunate that we have a PDP man as deputy Senate President. It is painful. It is painful for any APC member because when we went through the struggle that was not what we signed for.
“One of the meetings was held at Transcorp Hilton and Senator Godswill Akpabio and Senator Ibrahim Gobir co-chaired it. Both the APC and the PDP members were present.
“At that meeting, if you heard most of them there, the position they took was that ‘this is the Senate President they want. Across party lines, they said that they believe in me and that this is the Senate President that can lead us. There was no deal.”
He said he has reached out to the APC and Senator Ahmed Lawan to bury the hatchet in the interest of the nation.
“I have also had an opportunity to sit down and discuss with Senator Ahmad Lawan as part of our reconciliation efforts. I am confident that this matter will soon fizzle out because we are making serious efforts.
“With regards to Asiwaju Bola Tinubu; as you all know, he is one of the leaders of the party. I have great respect for him. We have worked closely together before. Unfortunately my group did not agree with him on this issue.
“However, we are both responsible and committed to the project of the party and Nigeria that we will overcome this and move forward. It is part of our plans, as part of the healing process, to meet with him and it will happen soon,” Saraki added.
The post I Stepped Down For Buhari And No One Loves Him More Than I Do–Saraki appeared first on Ekekeee.