In his efforts to
make peace with the Presidency over its distaste on the composition of the
senate leadership, Senate President Bukola Saraki, has resorted to seeking the
assistance of emirs and traditional rulers.
In realising this
objective, the senate president, has sought the assistance of the Emir of his home
town, Ilorin, Kwara State, Alhaji Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari, an aide of the Emir Told Ashiwaju.org
.
President Buhari,
since the inauguration of the 8th Senate on June 9, has reportedly been
shunning Saraki whose emergence and that of his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu of the
Peoples Democratic Party did not go down well with the leadership of the All
Progressives Congress.
According to the
emir’s aide who spoke on condition of anonymity, the senate president has
requested some prominent traditional rulers in the state led by Sulu-Gambari,
who is also the Chairman, Kwara State Council of Traditional Rulers to
intercede on his behalf with Buhari.
It was gathered
that the monarchs had wanted to meet with Buhari but could not as a result of
the President’s visit to the United States and his recent visit to Cameroon to
seek for regional collaboration against Boko Haram.
The aide also
told Ashiwaju.org that this would not be the first time Sulu-Gambari had
interceded on behalf of Saraki concerning the senate presidency.
According to him,
the Emir of Ilorin before the emergence of Saraki as the Senate President had
sent a team of emissaries to the National Leader of the APC, Asiwaju Bola
Tinubu, with a view to getting the former Lagos State governor soften on his
stand against Saraki’s ambition to occupy the exalted position.
He said Saraki is
now more worried with the resolution of the leadership tussle in the House of
Representatives, where the Speaker, Alhaji Yakubu Dogora, after meetings with
Buhari and other APC stakeholders acceded to the party’s decision and announced
Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila as the House Leader.
The aide added
that Saraki was in Ilorin at the weekend, adding that the Senate President
would continue with his mobilisation for prominent stakeholders to smoothen the
relationship between him and Buhari.
But in a
telephone interview with our correspondent, the spokesperson for the Emir of
Ilorin, Alhaji Solihu Mohammed, said though he could not confirm Sulu-Gambari’s
mediatory role between Buhari and Saraki, the Emir had been playing unifying
roles for the sustenance of the nation’s democracy.
Mohammed said, “I
am not aware that Saraki has approached the emir to smoothen relationship with
the senate president and the president of the country.”
