Senate President Bukola Saraki, has resorted to seeking the assistance
of emirs and traditional rulers, to make peace with President Buhari. He
has solicited help from the Emir of his home town, Ilorin, Kwara State,
Alhaji Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari, an aide of the emir says.
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 said 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.
However, 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.”
Punch
