In spite of his recent visit to former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Senate President Bukola Saraki’s purported moves to mend fences with President Muhammadu Buhari are said to have fallen through as the President is said to still harbour some ill-feelings towards the former Kwara State Governor for ‘disrespecting’ him as regards the National Assembly (NASS) elections.
According to Punch President Buhari is far from pleased with Saraki and the new NASS leadership for defying the All Progressives Congress (APC) and forming an alliance with the the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in order to emerge as Senate President. More so, a PDP member, Ike Ekweremadu was elected as Deputy Senate President for the third time.
Saraki had disclosed that he met Obasanjo in order to facilitate a reconciliation between the warring factions in the party.
Following the meeting, Obasanjo was said to have put a call through to President Buhari, advising him to work with Saraki and allow the party discipline him, but the president was said to have remained non-committal.According to inside sources, Obasanjo had earlier took time off from attending the 22nd annual general meeting of the African Export-Import Bank in Zambia to see President Buhari, who was then in South Africa, to discuss the Saraki issue. Some senior APC members have enthused that Obasanjo might not be enthusiastic about the reconciliation moves as Saraki is backed by Obasanjo’s Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, who is not on good terms with his former boss.
One of them said: “It is not a secret that Atiku is solidly behind Saraki. How the senate president thinks Obasanjo will back any move by Atiku is what we don’t understand.
“Atiku was the first person that Saraki visited when he emerged as senate president. The ex-president will definitely not turn Saraki back but deep in his heart, he knows which camp he belongs to.
“The President believes that Saraki earned the support of the PDP because of the deputy senate presidency he conceded to the opposition party. It is a treacherous thing to do to one’s party.”
Meanwhile there is might be more proof that President Buhari has still has resentment towards Saraki in particular as his Senior Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu revealed that the Speaker of the House of Representatives, is scheduled to meet with President Buhari this week.He said: “I have just gone through the President’s activities for the week and I saw that Dogara is scheduled to meet with him (the President) during the week.”
When quizzed on Saraki, he said: “There is no truth in the claims that the President does not want to meet with any of the National Assembly leaders. He has said that he respects institutions and that strong men build institutions.”
