Saraki makes move to meet Tinubu and Buhari

Senate President Bukola Saraki has made
fresh moves to reach out to President
Muhammadu Buhari and the National
Leader of the All Progressives Congress,
Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, following the
Supreme Court judgment on his trial at the
Code of Conduct Tribunal. The CCT had on Friday said Saraki’s trial would
resume on March 10.
It was reliably gathered that since February 5,
Saraki had been making moves to indirectly
reach out to Buhari and Tinubu.
A top government source, who confided in
SUNDAY PUNCH, said Saraki could not reach out
directly to Buhari on the matter because he knew
the President’s disposition to such issues.
The source, who spoke on condition of
anonymity, added that the Senate President
resorted to sending emissaries to Vice-President
Yemi Osinbajo when Buhari was on a six-day
vacation and Osinbajo was the acting President.
The delegation was reportedly led by the Senate
Leader, Ali Ndume.
The source said the Vice-President made his
position and that of the President clear to
Saraki’s emissaries.
He said, “Saraki knows the kind of person the
President is and I think he won’t approach him
directly on this matter.
“But yes, I can tell you that he is reaching out
indirectly.
“He sent emissaries to meet with the Vice-
President when the President was on vacation
and the Vice-President was on the chair in acting
capacity.
“The emissaries had met with the Vice-President
under the cover of the developments about the
2016 budget.
“In the process, they put the issue of Saraki
forward.
“Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, however, made it
equivocally clear to them that the two issues
could not be mixed. He told them that the issue
of the budget was different from the trial of
Saraki.”
Ndume had on Tuesday led some of his
colleagues, including Dino Melaye, Abdullahi
Adamu and Monsurat Sumonu to meet Osinbajo
at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
At the end of the closed-door session, Ndume
told State House correspondents that the
meeting reviewed some developments in the
polity, including the issue of the 2016 budget
currently before the National Assembly.
While saying that it would not be a new thing if
people read meanings into their visit, Ndume had
claimed that his delegation did not discuss
Saraki’s travails with the Vice-President.
He was however quick to rise in support of the
Senate President when his opinion was sought
on the calls by his colleagues in the Unity Forum
that Saraki should resign.
“Are you saying that the Senate President should
be convicted before the trial? In our constitution,
you are considered innocent until proven guilty,”
he had said.
For Tinubu, it was gathered that Saraki had
reached out to not less than 10 opinion leaders
and clerics to visit the APC leader at his home in
Bourdillon, Ikoyi, Lagos.
Saraki and Tinubu fell out in June last year when
he defied the directive of the APC and became
the Senate President under controversial
circumstances.
The Senate President further ensured that
Tinubu’s preferred candidates were denied
principal offices at the Senate.
The former governor of Lagos State
subsequently broke all communication with
Saraki, describing him in an open letter as an
‘indisciplined and disloyal man who is a member
of the Peoples Democratic Party in soul.’
Another reliable source told one of our
correspondents that Tinubu was not interested in
Saraki’s latest peace moves.
He said, “Access from Saraki’s camp has been
blocked. Tinubu has been disappointed in every
way. It was the party that picked Ahmed Lawan.
He was not Tinubu’s initial candidate but he did
it all the same.
“So, he has decided to (wash his) hands and will
not say a word again regarding Saraki.
“Efforts have intensified since Saraki’s recent
CCT trouble but Tinubu has been out of the
country. He has been in Guinea for the last five
days.
“We have been informed that Saraki is working
with a team of people in Ilorin that will storm
Lagos. Top leaders there including Muslim clerics
are being put together to visit Lagos and
mediate on his behalf but Tinubu is not
interested.”
He added, “There is no deal to be made
anymore. Saraki never conceded anything. He did
not give any of our people any principal position.
He then went ahead to increase the number of
Senate committees by fiat just to placate those
that have been following him to court.
“Every concession was denied. The approval of
ministers had nothing to do with Tinubu. It was
purely between him and President Muhammadu
Buhari.
“Tinubu has moved on. He has been visiting
African countries, supporting other democracies
in West Africa.”
“Saraki should go and get good lawyers. As you
can see, attempts to remove the CCT chairman
did not work. Attempts to stop the trial at the
Supreme Court have also failed.”
All attempts to reach the spokesperson for
Tinubu, Mr. Sunday Dare, proved abortive as he
did not respond to repeated telephone calls.