The Senate president of Nigeria and presidential aspirant on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Bukola Saraki, has explained the reason he was absent at the Independence Day Parade in Abuja.

Saraki, in a statement released by his special adviser to Saraki on Media and Publicity, Yusuph Olaniyonu, said he was out of Abuja as at the time of the parade, Vanguard reports.

Olaniyonu, in the statement, said: “The Senate President and a frontline presidential aspirant on the platform of the PDP is currently not in Abuja, he is at the moment in his home state, Kwara.

‘’The governorship primary is holding today (yesterday) in Kwara and he must be present and after that, he will be holding a meeting with Kogi State delegates to the PDP National Convention. These are two very important assignments that require his attention.”

Meanwhile, Turaki Hassan, the spokesperson of the speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, said he had no idea if his boss was invited to the event or why he was not present at the ceremony.

He said: “Actually, I am out of Abuja and I don’t know what is happening there.