I've no deal with PDP,Ekweremadu: Says Saraki.

•Promises reconciliation with aggrieved senators, party leaders 

Senate President Bukola Saraki  claimed yesterday that he had nothing to do with the re-emergence of Ike Ekweremadu as Deputy Senate President at the June 9 controversial election at the Upper Chamber.

Saraki, whose choice as Senate President went against the wish of his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), also denied receiving any message to attend a party meeting at the International Conference Centre (ICC) on the day.

He spoke at his maiden press conference in Abuja as Senate President.

He said that contrary to the insinuation in many quarters, he had no deal with Ekweremadu or the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Ekweremadu becoming deputy senate president.

All he did, according to him, was to reach out to all Senators to support his (Saraki’s) bid to head the Senate.His words: “On the morning of the inauguration, I didn’t finish meeting until 4:00 of that day and I had got information that efforts would likely be made to make sure that I didn’t get access into the chambers.So, as early as 4:00am and 5:00am, I had made contingency plans that I must get into the National Assembly because the plan before was that Senators-elect should go to the Transcorp Hilton Hotel around 8:00clock and 9:00am to proceed to the National Assembly.

“But I was advised that it would not be safe or secure for me to do that because some people made sure that if I didn’t get into the chambers, it would not be possible for me to be nominated for the nomination to be seconded and for me to accept the nomination.

“I can tell you today that I was in the National Assembly Complex as early as 6:00 in the morning and I stayed in a car in the park from 6:00 in the morning till quarter to 10:00am.

“This is the truth. I stayed there and I was there with no communication whatsoever.

“So, anybody who said they spoke to me to go to the ICC, that is not true because I didn’t even know what was going on. All I was monitoring was how people were arriving at the complex.“It was at quarter to 10:00 that I got information that the Clerk to the National Assembly had entered the chamber.So, I got out of the small car I was inside, stretched myself and put on my babariga because I didn’t have it on before then.

“I walked from the car park into the chamber. That was why some of you would have seen that I looked very tired on that morning.Even when I was in the chamber, I didn’t know what had transpired earlier on.The only thing I observed was that it appeared that some of our Senators were not in the chamber and the fact that my colleagues arrived in batches, I had the opinion that they were on their way and by 10:00am, the programme started.

“Before I knew it, my election had come and gone. Even my people were worried. It was only when I got into the chamber that they were relieved.”On the alleged pact between him and PDP Senators to vote for him and then choose Ekwermadu as Deputy President of the Senate, Saraki said there was no such deal.

He blamed the re-election of  Ekweremadu to the position on the absence from the Senate chamber of greater majority of APC Senators.

“Never in our wildest imagination did we envisage that some Senators would not be present on the day of the inauguration,” he said.“In my own view, and in the view of some of those who worked closely with me, I worked hard for my election.

“I had direct contact with every single Senator, one on one; weeks leading to the election. I did not rely on anybody. I worked hard both in our party, the APC, and out of it.“I approached every Senator, I talked to them…we built confidence, not only in the APC, but also, in the PDP. I talked to them.“That was why I laugh when people said I had a deal with Ekweremadu or I had a hand in the emergence of Ekweremadu.I didn’t need any deal to win. I had penetrated…There was no deal; I didn’t need any deal in the first place.I had worked hard such that everybody who was a Senator, I campaigned hard and canvassed for their votes and won their confidence.

“One of the meetings held at Transcorp Hilton, which Senator Godswill Akpabio co-chaired with Senator Ibrahim Gobir and a few others had both APC and PDP members in attendance.“At that meeting, if you heard most of them there, the position they took was that ‘this is the Senate President they want.’Across party lines, they believe in me and that this is the Senate President that can lead us…there was no deal.

“Sometimes, I wonder how some of our colleagues found themselves at the ICC. If it had been a case of the Clerk of the National Assembly making an announcement that the event had been postponed or it was no longer holding… There was no invitation. I’m sure some are asking now: what really happened?”

Saraki also said that long before the June 9 election PDP Senators had made it clear that they would support him “without even meeting me because in their own meeting, majority had decided to vote for me.”

He added: “In their own interest, strategically, they decided that, look this is a fait accompli because 30 of their own Senators were going to vote for this man anyway and the remaining felt it was better to join.

“It wasn’t until 2:00am that they called us to tell us about their decision.

“With regards to the deputy, when they told us that they had a candidate, we, too, told them we had a candidate for Deputy Senate President in the person of Senator Ali Ndume.

“After our own meeting, it was our thinking that it was after the election of the Senate President that the two groups in APC would meet and we would agree on a candidate.

“We never in our imagination thought they would not turn up. By the time we got there, we were only 24 while the PDP Senators were more than 40.

“In an election, there is no way they would not have defeated us and that was what happened?

“Now, when people say it was a deal, I say that if the Clerk to the National Assembly had started the 
procedure in the House of Representatives first and moved to the Senate thereafter, today, we, the APC, would have had the  deputy Senate President.

“It is unfortunate that we have a PDP man as Deputy Senate President. It is painful. It is painful for any APC member because we went through the struggle. That was not what we signed for.

“But it has happened; but it is unfortunate and it is not fair to put the blame on one side because it is a combination of errors and miscalculations that led us to have what we have.

“So, to suggest that it was out of a desperate act to emerge is what I reject completely and those who followed the events would know that I didn’t have that deal to emerge.”

Asked about his relationship with the APC National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu he said: “he is one of the leaders of the party. We have great respect for him. Myself and him, we have worked very closely together on major issues in this party leading to this issue that were very important at different stages in the development of our party.

“In this matter, as much as I wanted to win his support, unfortunately I didn’t happen. It happens like that.

“I think at the end of the day we will look at the things we have done together that have gone well, many before now: three, four major issues.

“One is a setback but I don’t think that that in any way should be what should dictate the kind of relationship that we have. I believe that we are both responsible and committed to the project of the party and idea that we would overcome this and move forward.

“That’s our intention as part of the healing process too to be able to do that and it will happen.”

On the process of healing in the Senate, he said “The process of healing is going on. It is just two weeks after the election. It is normal after an election like this, for this kind of position that was fiercely contested, there will be sentiments, there will be emotions.

“If you can remember after the presidential primaries, for weeks there were huge sentiments and emotions. There are some people today who are now pretending that they love President Buhari more than us. They didn’t attend rallies, they sat in their houses. We were begging them.

“What I’m saying is that two weeks for me is short in a healing process. We need to give some time. Two weeks is too short.

“What I can assure you as somebody who has taken this position I will not stop until I see there is a full healing process, full reconciliation. Those that know me know that I’m a fair minded person. I will be fair to everybody because everybody too has contributed for us to get here.

“Things have happened unfortunately, it cannot be a winner takes all; everybody must be part of that process. We will get there. During this period of recess, by the time we come back, I believe that we will be able pretty much to get together as united APC family.

“I want my action to speak more than what I say. Let’s come in one month’s time. I’m confident that this will be a thing of the past. The issues before us when we were elected are greater than this.”

Saraki also said that the talk about 2019 presidential election makes him sad.

He said: “On 2019 aspiration, I hear a lot about this 2019 and honestly I feel very sad. I’m very, very sad that people are talking about 2019.

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