Contrary to claim by the embattled Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki he struck no deal with the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP to become the President of the Senate, a national officer of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP has said that the PDP had been in alliance with the embattled President of the Senate, before, during and after his emergence as the head of the national Assembly.
Saraki in response to Dele Momodu’s position that he struck a deal to emerge, noted that, senators elected on the platform of his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) gave the PDP an opportunity produce the senate deputy president.
“I did not do any deal with the PDP. I did not have to because even before the PDP Senators as a group took the decision to support my candidature on the eve of the inauguration of the 8th Senate, 22 PDP Senators had already written a letter supporting me.”
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“What I did not envisage was a situation where some members of my party would not be in the chambers that day, especially when the clerk had already received a proclamation from the President authorizing the inauguration of the Senate.”
“Pray, if a team refuse to turn up for a scheduled match and is consequently walked over, would it be fair to blame the team that turned up and claimed victory?” he quizzed.
He then aded that: “I believe those that made it possible for PDP to claim the deputy senate president position were those who decided to hold a meeting with APC senators elsewhere at the time they ought to be in the chambers.
However, a national officer of the PDP, who asked not to be named, said the party was aware of the development and that the PDP would be happy to take over the Senate Presidency.
“We have been in alliance for long because Saraki was a PDP member. When he was in the New PDP, which later merged with other parties to form the APC, we were still with him and him with us, even at the level of his Senate Presidency. So we will be happy to take over the Senate because the APC never wanted to recognise the New PDP in its fold,” he said.
But, a national officer of the PDP, who do not want his name mentioned has revealed that the PDP and Saraki had been in alliance for a long time. The officer who was quoted by Daily Trust newspaper, in reaction to the new deal struck with 10 All Progressives Congress, APC to back Senator Ike Ekweremadu to succeed Sakaki, should the current Code of Conduct Tribunal trial consume his office.
The PDP national officer was quoted by Daily Trust saying; “We have been in alliance for long because Saraki was a PDP member. When he was in the New PDP, which later merged with other parties to form the APC, we were still with him and him with us, even at the level of his Senate Presidency. So we will be happy to take over the Senate because the APC never wanted to recognise the New PDP in its fold,” he said.
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