Senate president Bukola Saraki is reported to have sought the assistance of emirs and traditional rulers while trying to smoothen his relationship with the presidency as it is not content with the current composition of the Senate leadership.
Senate president Bukola Saraki
According to The Punch, Saraki has visited his hometwon Ilorin, Kwara state, at the weekend and contacted Alhaji Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari, the emir of Ilorin and chairman to the state’s council of traditional rulers. An aide to the emir disclosed that Saraki requested some prominent traditional rulers in the state to intercede with President Muhammadu Buhari on his behalf.
This would not be the first time when the Senate president asked for intervention. According to the anonymous aide, on the eve of Saraki’s emergence as the Senate leader, the emir had sent a delegation to persuade the APC national leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, to soften on his stand against Saraki’s ambition to occupy the seat.
The monarchs have previously tried to arrange a meeting with President Buhari, but the latter’s scheduled state visits to the US and Cameroon have so far made any negotiations impossible.
When contacted by The Punch reporters, however, the emir’s spokesperson could not specifically confirm if Saraki reached out to Sulu-Gambari’s mediation between him and Buhari, but stressed that the emir has long been playing unifying roles for the sustenance of the nation’s democracy.
Currently, Saraki is worried about the resolution of the leadership tussle in the House of Representatives, where the Speaker, Alhaji Yakubu Dogara, after meetings with Buhari and other APC stakeholders, acceded to the party’s decision and announced Femi Gbajabiamila as the House leader.
Since the inauguration of the 8th Senate on June 9, President Buhari has reportedly been avoiding Bukola Saraki, whose emergence and that of his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu of the PDP, went against the plans of the ruling APC.
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