I Regret Ekweremadu’s Emergence As Deputy Senate President – Saraki

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 strategizing 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 he had prior information that he was going to be prevented from gaining access into the National Assembly complex on that day, but that he devised a means.

“As early as 4 - 5am, I had contingent plans that I must find a way, because the plan before was that they should go to Transcorp around 8-9 to proceed to the National Assembly, but I was advised that it would not be safe for me to do that, because if I didn’t get into the chamber, then it was not possible for anybody to nominate or second me, so I had to find my own way. 

“I can tell you today that I was in the National Assembly complex as early as 6.am. I stayed in a car in the car park from 6.am till quarter to 10.am. This is the gospel truth, and I stayed there with no communications. So, anybody that said he spoke to me or they contacted me; I did not even know all this was going on. All I was monitoring was how people were arriving. It was at quarter to 10 that I got information that the clerk had entered the chamber. I got out of my small car from the car park into the chambers. 

Saraki also described those eyeing 2019 from now as “irresponsible,” saying; “We have a lot of work, and I cannot understand how responsible politician, knowing the kind of challenges we have in meeting the expectations of the people. 

“Unfortunately, we’re now in a situation where there is economic recession and drop in oil price; we have challenges ahead, and we’ll be talking about 2019, I find that very irresponsible. I don’t want to be part of that; it is not on my radar. Anybody that talks about 2019 now must be very irresponsible. What we should be worried about now is how we deliver on our promises, which should be our focus. he said”