Saraki: There was a plan to abduct me on 9 June

Senate President, Bukola Saraki still reeling under accusations of anti party activities, has responded that he did not plan what looked like a coup on the Senate floor on 9 June: the day he was elected unopposed as the Senate president when the party fully endorsed Senator Ahmed Lawan for the position.

In an interaction with journalists Saturday in Abuja, Saraki said he had smuggled himself into the National Assembly on the day, as he learnt there were plans to abduct him and prevent him from being part of the day’s proceedings and standing for the presidential election.

He claimed he did not receive any invitation to the meeting at the International Conference Centre, billed to be addressed by President Muhammadu Buhari before the inauguration of the National Assembly.

“As regards the meeting, on the morning of the inauguration, I didn’t finish meeting until 4 a.m 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 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.”

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.

Read more in http://www.punchng.com/news/i-dropped-my-presidential-ambition-for-buhari-saraki/make the sacrifice and be part of the solution rather than part of the problem of the party.”