I stopped my presidential ambition for Buhari — Saraki

Firstclass newsline gathered that the Senate President, Dr. Bukola
Saraki, has denied reports that he is nursing the ambition for
presidency in 2019, saying he actually quit his presidential bid in
the 2015 election for President Muhammadu Buhari.
Saraki stated that he contributed immensely to the emergence of Buhari
as President and contributed greatly to his victory in the
presidential election held on March 28, 2015.
The Senate President, who spoke to select journalists in an exclusive
interview in Abuja on Saturday, also denied having plans to dump the
All Progressives Congress due to the ongoing crisis in the party over
his leadership of the Senate.
Rather, he said what remained paramount in his mind at the moment was
how to support the Buhari-led administration to tackle the various
social and economic problems confronting the country.
Saraki said, "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 one going round to say
that Saraki did not like Buhari but time will tell."
The Presidency, however, faulted Saraki's claim of stepping down for
Buhari ahead of the presidential election.
Saraki had on October 13, 2014, announced the suspension of his
presidential bid in the interest of the country and his party. He,
however, did not state which of the other aspirants he was going to
back.
Saraki's statement then partly read, "I decided to step down my
ambition because Nigeria's political outlook for 2015 is very
complicated and this is the time for every patriotic politician to
situate his personal ambition in the context of the country's overall
interest.
"I don't think our party can afford too much internal rancour going
into next year's election. I, therefore, think some of us need to make
the sacrifice and be part of the solution rather than part of the
problem of the party."
This will be Saraki's first personal response to the ongoing crisis
that is trailing his controversial emergence as the President of the
Senate on June 9.
Saraki had led a faction of APC senators, under the auspices of the
Like Minds Senators, to defy the party's choice of Ahmad Lawan as the
Senate President.
In what many have described as a 'coup', the pro-Saraki group had
allied with the opposition lawmakers in the Peoples Democratic Party
to make Saraki leader of the upper chamber of the legislature in the
absence over 50 APC senators.
A similar scenario had also played out in the House of Representatives
where Yakubu Dogara opposed Femi Gbajabiamila, the choice candidate of
his party, to emerge Speaker of the House.
Explaining what happened on the National Assembly leadership election
day, Saraki said he smuggled himself into the chamber on the day the
8th Assembly was inaugurated when he became aware of an alleged plan
to abduct and prevent him from standing for the Senate presidential
election
The Senate President also defended his absence from the International
Conference Centre venue of a proposed meeting between President Buhari
and APC lawmakers on the day of the election.
He insisted that he did not receive any invitation for the meeting.
Saraki said, "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 the plan before was that senators-elect should go to the
Transcorp Hilton Hotel around 8:00am and 9:00am to proceed to the
National Assembly.
The Senate President said he was, however, advised against going to
the chamber at the scheduled time as there were plans to stop him from
being part of the day's proceedings.
Saraki said he got into the National Assembly Complex as early as
6:00am and stayed in a car in the car park from then till quarter to
10:00am. He noted that all through the period, there was no
communication to him.
"So, anybody who said they spoke to me to go the ICC was not true
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."
The APC, however, described Saraki's non-invitation claim as a lie,
saying all senators-elect were invited to the said meeting.
Saraki, a two-term ex-Governor of Kwara State and former Chairman of
the Nigerian Governors' Forum, said it was at that point that he got
down from the "small car" in which he was hiding and 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.
The Senate President also dismissed his alleged pact with the PDP to
elect Ike Ekweremadu as Deputy Senate President.
Ekweremadu of the PDP, who occupied same position in the last Senate,
had been re-elected as Saraki's deputy in the Senate that has the APC
as majority.
The Senate President, however, insisted that that it was the absence
of the APC Senators from the chamber that caused the emergence of
Ekweremadu as his deputy.
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."
Saraki stated that he did not need any deal to win the election,
saying he had "penetrated everywhere."
Speaking further on the penetration, he said, "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."
Saraki, who described Ekweremadu's deputy Senate presidency as painful
and unfortunate, maintained that it was caused by the absence of his
APC colleagues. He recalled that the PDP senators had announced to the
public that they were supporting him.
He further said, "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 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."
Saraki said it was unfair to put the blame on "one side" because it
was a combination of errors and miscalculations that led having some
senators at another place instead of being on the floor of the Senate
on that day.
"So, to suggest that it was out of a desperate act to emerge (as
Senate President) is what I reject completely and those who followed
the events would know that I didn't have that deal to emerge," he
stated.
Saraki also disagreed with insinuations that he went against the
position of the party which had allegedly zoned the position of the
Senate president to a particular region.
"At no time was any decision taken by the party to zone the position
to any particular zone," he stated.
Saraki also said he had had personal discussions with the Lawan and
they had allegedly deliberated extensively on how to collectively move
the Senate forward in the interest of the senators, the APC and
members of the public.
He said, "I also have 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."
Saraki further said serious arrangements were already ongoing to unite
the various sides to the crisis, even as he hinted that he had reached
out to the leaders of the party, President Buhari and Asiwaju Bola
Tinubu, on how to collectively move the country forward.
"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.
Saraki did not step down for Buhari– Presidency
The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi
Adesina, on Saturday, said there was no truth in the claim by Saraki
that he stepped down for President Buhari in the APC presidential
race.
Adesina, in an interview with one of our correspondents, said the
issue of stepping down did not arise because the party conducted a
free and fair presidential primary which Buhari won.
The presidential spokesman said all Nigerians know those who took part
in the party primary.
Adesina said, "There was no issue of stepping down during the
presidential race in the APC. There was a presidential primary that
was plain, transparent, free and fair.
"We all know those who were involved in the primary; all Nigerians
know those who participated in the APC presidential primary and
President Buhari emerged the winner of that process."
When asked if Saraki had reached out to the President as he claimed,
Adesina said, "The President has always maintained that the party is
supreme. The party started a process which was truncated.
"The President has always maintained that those who truncated or
aborted the process were the ones who precipitated crisis.
"The President had said in earlier statements that he would work with
anybody who emerged the Senate President, but then, that did not
include those who will subvert (the process)."
'Saraki snubbed Buhari to emerge Senate president'
A leader of the APC, who spoke to a source on the condition of
anonymity, said Saraki was only trying to be clever by half.
The leader of the party, who spoke in a telephone interview with a
source on Saturday, said Saraki had boxed himself into a corner.
"Saraki is simply trying to be clever by half. He is in a fix and he
is trying to justify his illegal actions," the source said.
He added, "Saraki is bound by the nation's constitution to read the
party's list without any amendment. If the PDP had sent him their own
list of principal officers, will he tamper with it or won't the PDP
send their own list?"
Insisting that the Senate President lied about not being invited to
the ICC meeting, the reliable party source said Saraki was invited.
The source said, "He is lying if he said he was not invited to the ICC
meeting. All National Assembly members-elect were invited via an SMS.
"He deliberately snubbed the President because he had already struck a
deal with the PDP to actualise his inordinate ambition in defiance of
his party's position.
Firstclassnewsline.net