On the surface, it appears as if Senator Olubukola
Saraki and his co-traveller at the lower house, Hon
Yakubu Dogara, who earlier in the week emerged as
the Senate President and Speaker of the House of
Representatives, respectively, through what political
observers have come to identify as path of treachery
must have planned the coup alone and must have
acted the fast one selfsame day without any input or
actions pre-dating that day other than Saraki
promise to play by the rules.
Little did the undiscerning observers of the power
play know that some of the APC leaders,
especially, those who have succeeded in forming
a ring around President Muhammadu Buhari, were
party to the ploy. These ones have since been
shedding crocodile tears to give an impression of
their commitment to the party tenets. They did
not only support Saraki and Dogara against the
candidates of their party, they went as far as
participating in the bribery of the PDP Senators
who rallied against their candidates.
Prominent among the party leaders who
encouraged their followers to vote for Saraki at
the Senate and Dogara at the House of Reps,
sources has revealed, is the Sokoto State
Governor, Aminu Tambuwal. He was alleged to
have had a clandestine meeting with the three
senators from the state, namely Ibrahim Gobir
representing Sokoto East, Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto
North) and Ibrahim Abdullahi (Sokoto South)
specificall instructing them to cast their vote for
Saraki at the expense of the party candidate.
More revelations are beginning to emerge,
pointing to the fact that Saraki and Dogara were
not lone runners, but were actually goaded to act
against their ‘conscience’ by some forces, both
internal and external to the All Progressives
Congress (APC).
Here is a blow-by-blow account of who did what
behind the scene:
The Tinubu Angle:
At the outset, the leader of APC, Ashiwaju Ahmed
Tinubu showed his support for the candidacy of
Senator George Akume from the same North
Central geopolitical zone with Saraki as the
Senate President. Akume is a known friend of
Tinubu and the latter did not hide his preference
for the former. However, Tinubu had to withdraw
his support for George Akume at the prodding of
President Muhammadu Buhari when the latter
told him that Lawan was his preferred candidate.
It then became a moral became a moral burden
for Tinubu to communicate the decision of the
president to his friend. But he eventually did and
encouraged Akume to step down for Lawan, while
accepting to take the deputy Senate president
slot.
Initially, Akume turned down the offer, believing it
was the turn of the North Central to be the
Senate President, but later felt he had no option
than to accept it, realising that it in other not to
rock the boat of the party or tamper with the
peace of the fledgling administration.
Elements from the South west:
Curiously, but true, certain elements resolved to
work against the interest of, not only their Leader
Ashiwaju Tinubu, but also that of President
Buhari. These elements were led by the
party of Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State,
Babatunde Fasola of Lagos State and Kayode
Fayemi of Ekiti State. Facts emerged that the
three beneficiaries of Tinubu political sagacity
held clandestine meetings on different occasions
on how to outsmart both their master and the
president, while giving maximum support to the
candidacy of Saraki.
Part of their strategies was to invite some of the
moneybags with financial baggages, who would
want to curry the president’s favour to escape
investigations, disempower Tinubu by circulating
negative stories against him and thus cause a
disaffection between him, Buhari and some other
leaders in the APC. They also schemed their ways
further into the heart of the president, impressed
on him to live up to his words of to everyone and
belonging to no one as a way of further boosting
his soaring democratic credentials. They were
also able to frame up Senator Lawan, who had
been in the Senate since 2007, as a marked boy
in the Upper Chamber. Trusting these his “men,”
the President swallowed the bait.
At one of the meetings held in Abeokuta on
Thursday June 4, 2015 the day Fashola was
honoured by Babcock University, the party
invited Aliko Dangote, Femi Otedola, Tony Elemelu
and the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr.
Godwin Emefiele, to sell the Saraki candidacy to
them, with assurance that he would provide the
shield for any probe darts against them.
Well, these business and financial moguls had no
option than to key into the plan and dole out
billions for its prosecution. Consequently, Fashola,
Fayemi and Amosun expanded their frontier, got
and sought support from the party Chairman,
Chief John Oyegun and Engr. Segun Oni, to
further give “credibility” to their action as well as
convince the president of the need to stay away
from Tinubu, who according to them, was
becoming overbearing within the party. Further
support were garnered for the Saraki project
during the president’s German trip.
The PDP Angle:
Benjamin Disraeli’s saying that “There is no act
of treachery or meanness of which a political
party is not capable; for in politics there is no
honour” could not have found a better landing
space than within the People’s Democratic Party
(PDP). Capitalising on his membership of the
People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the
dwindling fortune of the party of late, Senator
Saraki, in the company of a co-sojourner in APC
from PDP and the factional chairman of the then
new PDP Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje,
approached his former allys, particularly the
former Governor Akwa Ibom State and Senator-
elect for Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District, Godswill
Akpabio, who helped perfect the strategy of
winning other PDP Senators over the for Saraki
candidacy in exchange for financial and choice
position compensations. Saraki also brought in
the embattled Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti State,
with a promise of soft-landing.
Having been sold the possibility of negotiating
with the pro-Saraki elements, the PDP elected
senators saw it as an opportunity to get its
pound of flesh from the APC. They also felt they
could make some money in the process. Former
Senate President David Mark was then saddled
with the job getting his colleagues together for a
“retreat’ in PortHarcourt, where they did not only
discuss the modalities of decimating the APC
Senators. The strategy included inviting some of
those involved in the fuel subsidy fraud to back
them financially with a promise to ensure that
President Buhari would not be able to pursue
their matter. Saraki was again on ground to give
the assurance that as the Senate President, no
such probe would see the light of day. He further
assured them that those around the president
were also with them in the game. They
PortHarcourt meeting also resolved that in order
to ward off any suspiscion, they would continue
to discuss with Tinubu and other APC excos,
selling them dummy that the PDP Senators would
support the APC candidates for both Senate and
House of Reps in order to ensure peaceful reign in
both houses.
The mafia fell for the blackmail and played ball by
releasing money running into billions for the
execution of the Saraki-for-Senate-President
project. The money, sources revealed was later
shared at the Presidential suite on the 10th floor
of the Transcorp Hilton Hotel in Abuja. In
attendance was Dino Melaye, a Saraki faithful
from APC. And in order to make it appear that
their party was carried along in the scheming, the
PDP Senators briefed their former Chairman,
Board of Trustees, Tony Anenih and enlisted his
and the entire party’s support for them to go
along with the Saraki team. Anenih however
advised them to still meet the Sunday night
before the election to put the matter to votes in
order not to betray one another. Of course the
idea received a unanimous voting both as a result
of the financial inducement and the joy of
watching the ego of the APC deflated the
following day.
Meanwhile, Tinubu later learnt of the PortHarcourt
meeting and all that transpired. He challenged
David Mark with facts, but Mark lied that it was
all rumours and that APC should take the promise
of the PDP Senators to the bank.
Well, they did and the rest is now history.

Conspiracy theorists

Snoring