Presidency deny Saraki's Claim That He Sacrificed His Presidential Ambition For Buhari

The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, 

Mr. Femi Adesina,on Saturday, said there was no truth in the 

claim by Saraki that he stepped down for President Buhari in 

the APC presidential race.

Adesina, in an interview with Punch correspondents, said the 

issue of stepping down did not arise because the party conducted 

a free and fair presidential primary which Buhari won.

The presidential spokesman said all Nigerians know those who 

took part in the party primary.

Adesina said, “There was no issue of stepping down during the 

presidential race in the APC. There was a presidential primary 

that was plain, transparent, free and fair.

When asked if Saraki had reached out to the President as he 

claimed, Adesina said, “The President has always maintained 

that the party is supreme. The party started a process which 

was truncated.

“The President has always maintained that those who truncated 

or aborted the process were the ones who precipitated crisis.

“The President had said in earlier statements that he would work 

with anybody who emerged the Senate President, but then, that 

did not include those who will subvert (the process).”

‘Saraki snubbed Buhari to emerge Senate president’

A leader of the APC, who spoke to SUNDAY PUNCH on the 

condition of anonymity, said Saraki was only trying to be clever 

by half.

The leader of the party, who spoke in a telephone interview with 

one of our correspondents on Saturday, said Saraki had boxed 

himself into a corner.

“Saraki is simply trying to be clever by half. He is in a fix and he 

is trying to justify his illegal actions,” the source said.

Insisting that the Senate President lied about not being invited 

to the ICC meeting, the reliable party source said Saraki was 

invited.

The source said, “He is lying if he said he was not invited to the 

ICC meeting. All National Assembly members-elect were invited 

via an SMS.

“He deliberately snubbed the President because he had already 

struck a deal with the PDP to actualise his inordinate ambition in 

defiance of his party’s position.

Punch

SARAKI'S Claim That Was Denied

The Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, has denied reports that 

he is nursing the ambition for presidency in 2019, saying he 

actually quit his presidential bid in the 2015 election for President Muhammadu Buhari.

Saraki stated that he contributed immensely to the emergence 

of Buhari as President and contributed greatly to his victory in 

the presidential election held on March 28, 2015.

The Senate President, who spoke to select journalists in an 

exclusive interview in Abuja on Saturday, also denied having 

plans to dump the All Progressives Congress due to the ongoing 

crisis in the party over his leadership of the Senate.

Rather, he said what remained paramount in his mind at the 

moment was how to support the Buhari-led administration to 

tackle the various social and economic problems confronting 

the country.

Saraki said, “I was the first person that stepped down his political 

ambition, once General Buhari announced that he was going to 

contest the presidential election. And since then, prior to the 

period of election, I worked tirelessly to support his emergence.