Why Buhari May Not Want To Meet Saraki

It is believed that President Buhari has frustrated
several attempts by the Senate President, Bukola
Saraki, to formally meet with him.
A Presidency official disclosed to Punch
newspapers that Buhari and Saraki have only met
once since he emerged Senate President last
month.
Saraki is said to have made series of moves to
have another meeting with the President, after the
party’s National Executive Council meeting, but his
efforts have so far been unsuccessful.
The official revealed that Buhari is still upset with
Saraki, who defied the All Progressives Congress
to contest and emerge victorious as Senate
President, in a controversial election that excluded
most of the APC senators.
The government official was quoted to have 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.”
Similarly, a top party official, revealed that the
handshake between the President and Saraki
during the recent NEC meeting of the APC “was for
journalists.”
He was also quoted to have said: “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.”