Facts have emerged showing why
Senate President Bukola Saraki led
a delegation of Senators to meet
former President Olusegun
Obasanjo at his hilltop mansion,
Abeokuta, Ogun state on Friday.
A source close to the meeting told
PREMIUM TIMES that the Senate
President was in Abeokuta to beg
Mr. Obasanjo to reconcile him
with President Muhammadu
Buhari and his party, the All
Progressives Congress, APC.
Mr. Saraki emerged as the
president of the Senate against
the decision of APC leaders. He
was also elected when most
Senators from the APC were at the
International Conference Centre
waiting to hold a meeting with
Mr. Buhari to discuss the election
of the Senate president and
Speaker of the House of
Representatives.
Our sources said Mr. Saraki
lamented to Mr. Obasanjo that
although the party leaders have
stated that they have accepted his
emergence, there was “complete
communication breakdown
between him, the president and
the party”.
The national chairman of the APC,
John Oyegun, had abruptly
cancelled a scheduled meeting
with Mr. Saraki last week without
giving another appointment.
Likewise, we also gathered that
Mr. Saraki had tried severally to
meet with Mr. Buhari after his
emergence, but was always
denied audience.
Another source in the presidency
informed us that the President
was angry with Mr. Saraki and the
management of the national assembly for
going ahead with their election despite
adequate knowledge of an invitation for a
meeting with Mr. Saraki and his colleagues.
“The president considered it as a mark of
disrespect for his office for Saraki to ignore an
invitation to meet with him and his
colleagues,” our source said.
In his response to the Senate President’s
lamentation, Mr. Obasanjo reportedly
promised to do his best to “ensure
communication between all parties”.
However, the spokesperson for the president,
Garba Shehu, said the Senate president has
never sought a meeting meeting with Mr.
Buhari since his election.
“I am not aware of any request for a meeting,
the president would have seen him, he
represents a key institution in our
democracy,” he said.
Calls to Mr. Saraki and his aide, Bamikole
Omishore, were not answered.
Our source said the former president, in his
usual jocular self, also joked with the
delegation, saying “ you children of nowadays
only run to elders when you have finished
making the damage”.
Mr. Saraki and his entourage laughed.
A presidency official told PREMIUM TIMES
President Buhari was aware of the the senate
president’s visit to Mr. Obasanjo’s home.
The official said Messrs Buhari and Obasanjo
are constantly in touch and regularly have
telephone conversations.
The official said in one of their recent
conversations, Mr. Obasanjo informed Mr.
Buhari that Mr. Saraki was leading a
delegation of Senators to his Abeokuta home.
“I overheard President Buhari laughing and
saying to Mr. Obasanjo, “you have to see
them, are they not all your boys?”, our
presidency source said.
Among Mr. Saraki’s delegation include former
governor of Gombe state, Danjuma Goje,
Senator Andy Uba, former Zamfara governor,
Ahmed Sani, and former Osun governor,
Olagunsoye Oyinlola.
Mr. Saraki and most members of his
delegation are largely Mr. Obasanjo’s “boys”,
a term loosely used in describing the former
president’s staunch loyalists. http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/185359-exclusive-what-saraki-told-obasanjo-at-closed-door-meeting.html

Nigerian paper and insinuations.