I dropped my presidential ambition for Buhari-Saraki

The Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, has reacted
to reports his recent moves are a calculated attempt
towards running for presidency in 2019.He said he
actually quit for president Buhari..He also denied he
is leaving the APC due to the party crises..Speaking
to journalists in Abuja, Saraki said
“I was the first person that stepped down his
political ambition, once General Buhari
announced that he was going to contest the
presidential election. And since then, prior to the
period of election, I worked tirelessly to support
his emergence.
“Even some of my friends who are not
supporting me now are doing so because I did
not support them in their presidential ambition
and that I supported President Buhari. That is
why I find it funny that the same people are
now claiming to love Buhari more than me. It is
a very funny world.
“These are people that I was begging to leave
the stage for Buhari to run since all of us are
young. They are now the one going round to say
that Saraki did not like Buhari but time will tell.”
On why he was at the senate instead of being at the
ICC with his fellow APC senators on the day he was
elected senate president, he said
“As regards the meeting, on the morning of the
inauguration, I didn’t finish meeting until 4am of
that day and I had got information that efforts
would likely be made to make sure that I didn’t
get access into the chambers
He said he got into the National Assembly Complex
as early as 6:00am and stayed in a car in the car
park from then till quarter to 10:00am. He noted
that all through the period, there was no
communication to him.
“So, anybody who said they spoke to me to go
the ICC was not true because I didn’t even
know what was going on. All I was monitoring
was how people were arriving at the complex. It
was at quarter to 10:00am that I got
information that the Clerk to the National
Assembly had entered the chamber.”Even when
I was in the chambers, I didn’t know what had
transpired earlier on. The only thing I observed
was that it appeared that some of our senators
were not in the chamber. But for the fact that
my colleagues arrived in batches, I had the
opinion that they were on their way. And by
10:00am, the programme started.
“Before I knew it, my election had come and
gone. Even, my people were worried. It was only
when I got into the chambers that they were
relieved,” Saraki added.
“Never in our wildest imagination did we
envisage that some senators would not be
present on the day of the inauguration. In my
view, and in the view of some of those who
worked closely with me, I worked hard for my
election. I had direct contact with every single
senator; one on one. Weeks to the election, I did
not rely on anybody. I worked hard, both in our
party, the APC, and out of it.
“I approached every senator, I talked to them.
We built confidence, not only in the APC, but,
also, in the PDP. I talked to them. That was
why I laugh when people said that I had a
deal with Ekweremadu or I had a hand in the
emergence of Ekweremadu.”
On a PDP senator being the deputy, Saraki said it
was painful but not his fault
“With regard to the deputy, when they told us
that they had a candidate, we, too, told them
we had a candidate for Deputy Senate President
in the person of Senator Ali Ndume.
“We never, in our imagination, thought they
(other APC senators) would not turn up. By the
time we got there, we were only 24 while the
PDP was more than 40.
“It is unfortunate that we have a PDP man as
deputy Senate President. It is painful. It is
painful for any APC member because when we
went through the struggle. That was not what
we signed for.”