Senate President Bukola Saraki has made fresh moves to plead with President Muhammadu Buhari and the National Leader of the APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, following the Supreme Court judgment that his trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal must continue.
In the 13 counts initiated by the Federal Government, Saraki was said to have made false asset declaration in his forms at the Code of Conduct Bureau as a two-term governor of Kwara State.
And now that the CCT has fixed a date – March 10 – for his trial Saraki is getting more desperate.
It was reliably gathered that since February 5, Saraki had been making moves to indirectly reach out and beg Buhari and Tinubu.
A top government source, told PUNCH that Saraki could not reach out directly to Buhari on the matter as he is very much aware that President Buhari can never cover a corrupt person.
The source added that the Senate President resorted to sending emissaries to Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo when Buhari was on a six-day vacation and Osinbajo was the acting President.
The delegation was reportedly led by the Senate Leader, Ali Ndume.
The source said the Vice-President made his position and that of the President clear to Saraki’s emissaries.
He said, “Saraki knows the kind of person the President is and I think he won’t approach him directly on this matter. But yes, I can tell you that he is reaching out indirectly.
“He sent emissaries to meet with the Vice-President when the President was on vacation and the Vice-President was on the chair in acting capacity.
“The emissaries had met with the Vice-President under the cover of the developments about the 2016 budget. In the process, they put the issue of Saraki forward.
“Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, however, made it equivocally clear to them that the two issues could not be mixed. He told them that the issue of the budget was different from the trial of Saraki.”
On the issue of Tinubu, it was gathered that Saraki had reached out to not less than 10 opinion leaders and clerics to visit the APC national leader at his home in Bourdillon, Ikoyi, Lagos.
Saraki and Tinubu fell out in June last year when he defied the directive of the APC and became the Senate President under very controversial circumstances.
Saraki further ensured that Tinubu’s preferred candidates were denied principal offices at the Senate.
The former governor of Lagos State subsequently broke all communication with Saraki, describing him in an open letter as an ‘indisciplined and disloyal man who is a member of the PDP in soul.’
A reliable source said Tinubu is not interested in Saraki’s latest moves.
He said, “Access from Saraki’s camp has been blocked. Tinubu has been disappointed in every way. It was the party that picked Ahmed Lawan. He was not Tinubu’s initial candidate but he did it all the same. So, he has decided to (wash his) hands and will not say a word again regarding Saraki.
“We have been informed that Saraki is working with a team of people in Ilorin that will storm Lagos. Top leaders there including Muslim clerics are being put together to visit Lagos and mediate on his behalf but Tinubu is not interested.”
He added, “There is no deal to be made anymore. Saraki never conceded anything. He did not give any of our people any principal position. He then went ahead to increase the number of Senate committees by fiat just to placate those that have been following him to court.
“Every concession was denied… Tinubu has moved on… Saraki should go and get good lawyers. As you can see, attempts to remove the CCT chairman did not work. Attempts to stop the trial at the Supreme Court have also failed.”