By Ayeotan Shola
According to SUNDAY PUNCH, President Muhammadu Buhari has snubbed fresh moves by the the Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki to formally meet with him.
An official in the Presidency said the President and the Senate President had only met once since the latter’s emergence as the leader of the senate.
The official said all efforts by Saraki to have another meeting with the president, after the party’s National Executive Council meeting penultimate Friday, were rebuffed by Buhari.
The reliable source said the president of the Senate had at different times reached out to people to help him persuade Buhari to grant him audience.
He, Saraki had defied the APC in-house decision to contest for the position of the senate president on June and emerged victorious after a controversial election that excluded a sizeable number of senators.
The insider said, “The truth is that the President is still displeased with what transpired in the National Assembly, especially the Senate.
“Their encounter during the APC National Executive Council meeting, when they shook hands, was the first meeting between President Buhari and Saraki since he emerged as the President of the Senate.
“We are aware that Saraki has been going about begging people to assist him to plead with the President to meet with him. That was one of the reasons why he visited former President Obasanjo.
“I can tell you that the President is very pained by what happened. He felt that since he had been transparent with the party, everybody should play that way. But since Saraki took that path, the President was and he is still pained. Let us just hope that at the end of it all, they will be able to put the matter behind them.”
Another Highly Placed Party official said, that the handshake between the President and Saraki during the recent NEC meeting of the APC “was for journalists.”
He stated, “President Buhari is still upset because of what happened. If you read in-between the line his speech during our last NEC meeting, he reminded people who joined the party after it was formed not to rubbish the sacrifices made by party leaders.
“It was not for the fun of it that the President took time to go down the memory lane to trace the genesis of the APC.
“Although the President said he was prepared to work with anybody who emerged as leader in the National Assembly, he did not envisage a scenario where Saraki would emerge as the Senate President and Ike Ekweremadu, a member of the PDP, would emerge as the deputy president of the Senate.”
Asked whether or not the President might change his mind anytime soon, the source said, “Not until the governors, who were mandated by the NEC to resolve the matter in the National Assembly, bring the matter under control.”
When contacted, the Special Adviser to President Buhari on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina declined comments on the matter
