The president of the Senate, Abubakar
Bukola Saraki has described the
emergence of Senator Ike
Ekweremadu as the deputy Senate
president of the 8th Senate as painful
and regrettable, saying no true party
member would want to share his
position with a member of other
parties.
Blaming the absence of some All
Progressives Congress (APC) senators
at the inauguration session on that
fateful day for the election of
Ekweremadu, he added that all
through the period when he and his
team were strategising for his election
to the Senate president’s seat, not even
for once did they anticipate that a
Senator from the Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP) will emerge as his deputy.
Speaking with some Senate
correspondents yesterday, Saraki said
it is not true that he entered into any
pact with the PDP to sacrifice the
deputy Senate slot for PDP’s support.
“Never in our wildest imagination did
we envisage that some senators would
not be present on the day of the
inauguration.
“In my own 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 leading 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 I had a deal with
Ekweremadu or I had a hand in the
emergence of Ekweremadu.
“I didn’t need any deal to win. I had
penetrated…There was no deal; I
didn’t need any deal in the first place.
I had worked hard such that every
body who was a senator, I
campaigned hard and canvassed for
their votes and won their confidence.
“At one of the meetings held at
Transcorp Hilton which Senator
Godswill Akpabio co-chaired with
Senator Ibrahim Gobir and a few
others, which had both APC and PDP
members, 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 believed in me
that this is the Senate president that
can lead us. There was no deal.
“Sometimes, I wonder how some of
our colleagues found themselves at the
ICC. If it had been a case that the CNA
(clerk of the National Assembly) had
made an announcement that the event
had been postponed or it was no
longer holding, plus, the invitation, it
would have been different. I’m sure
some are asking now,what really
happened,” Saraki said.
Speaking further, he said “First of all,
the PDP senators had announced to
the public that they were supporting
me without even meeting me because
in their own meeting, the majority
had decided to vote for me. In their
own interest, strategically, they
decided that, look, this is a fait
accompli because 30 of their own
senators were going to vote for this
man anyway and the remaining felt it
was better to join.
It wasn’t until 2:00am that they called
us to tell us their decision. With
regards 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. After our own
meeting, it was our thinking that it
was after the election of the Senate
president that the two groups in APC
would meet and we would agree on a
candidate. We never in our
imagination thought they would not
turn up. By the time we got there, we
were only 24 while the PDP was more
than 40. In an election, there’s no way
they would not have defeated us and
that was what happened. And now,
when people say it was a deal, I say
that if the CNA had started the
procedure in the House of
Representatives first, and moved to
the Senate thereafter, today, we, the
APC, would have had a deputy Senate
president.
“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. But it has
happened; but it is unfortunate and it
is not fair to put the blame on one
side because it is a combination of
errors and miscalculations that led us
to have, it that morning; some
senators at another place instead of
being here. So, to suggest that it was
out of a desperate act to emerge is
what I reject completely and those
who followed the events would know
that I didn’t have that deal to emerge,
” he said.
The Senate president also disclosed
that he never shunned the invitation
of the party to a meeting on the
inauguration day, contrary to reports.
He explained that he got wind of plans
to abduct him and keep him away
from the National Assembly premises
so that he will not be able to stand for
election so he made plans to sneak
into the complex early and was not
with his phones till later that day.
“First of all, as regards the meeting (at
ICC), on the morning of the
inauguration, I didn’t finish meeting
until 4:00 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.
“So, as early as 4:00am and 5:00am, I
had made contingency plans that I
must get into the National Assembly
because the plan before was that
senators-elect should go to the
Transcorp Hilton Hotel around 8:00
am and 9:00am to proceed to the
National Assembly.
“But I was advised that it would not be
safe or secure for me to do that
because some people made sure…if I
didn’t get into the chambers, it would t
be possible for me too be nominated,
for the nomination to be seconded
and for me to accept the nomination.
“I can tell you today that I was in the
National Assembly Complex as early as
6:00 in the morning and I stayed in a
car in the car park, from 6:00 in the
morning till quarter to 10:00am. This
is the truth. I stayed there and I was
there with no communication
whatsoever.
“So, anybody who said they spoke to
me to go to ICC was not true because I
didn’t even know what was going on.
All I was monitoring was how people
were arriving the complex.
“It was at quarter to 10:00 that I got
information that the clerk to the
National Assembly had entered the
chamber. So, I got out of the small car
I was inside, stretched myself and put
on my Babariga because I didn’t have
it on before then.
“I walked from the car park into the
chambers…That was why some of you
would have seen that I looked very
tired on that morning,” Saraki said.
http://www.ilorin.info/fullnews.php?id=18239

Bros keep the story to yourself

story 4 the gods. ekweremadu did exactly as you... u both should shut up n eat d cake.

Story for the gods. The emergence of Ekweremadu was the only reason PDP senators voted for Saraki. He didn't have enough backing from APC.


See the problem with getting gist from a website called ilorin.info

APC should even be happy that PDP did not present a senate president candidate that day otherwise they would have won. APC shoot themselves at the foot due to miscalculation by calling a meeting at such an important moment

Yeye man don't you no that IKE also regret of you being senate president? you make him to be the first incumbent deputy senate president to be duck in court

If saraki were to be telling me this my response would be # talk to the hand,! Mofos

princemillla:
If saraki were to be telling me this my response would be # talk to the hand,! Mofos

exactly

sarrki:
Bros keep the story to yourself

that is a madness of you