The Special Adviser to the Senate President on Media
and Publicity, Mr. Yusuph Olaniyonu, on Sunday
clarified that his boss, Senator Bukola Saraki, never
claimed that he stepped down for President
Muhammadu Buhari, as being interpreted by the
Presidency.
Olaniyonu, who spoke with our correspondent on the
telephone on Sunday, explained that what the Senate
President said during an interactive session with
journalists in Abuja on Saturday was that he dropped
his presidential ambition, once President Buhari
announced his intention to contest the 2015
presidential election.
The Special Adviser to the President on Media and
Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, had on Saturday said
there was no truth in the claim by Saraki that he
stepped down for President Buhari in the APC
presidential race.
Adesina, had in an interview with The Punch, said the
issue of stepping down did not arise, because the
party conducted a free and fair presidential primary
which Buhari won.
But Olaniyonu explained that Saraki only stated
during the interview that he stepped down from
running for the President so as to be part of the
solution to the nation’s social and economic
problems which Buhari had prepared himself very
well to tackle.
Saraki had, during the interview, assured members
of the public of his unalloyed support and
commitment to the success of the Buhari
administration, having worked tirelessly to ensure his
emergence.
He had also alleged that those who were blackmailing
him before the President were actually his friends
and associates, who were annoyed that he chose to
support the Presidential ambition of Buhari, instead
of supporting them.
Saraki had said, “Talking about relationship with Mr.
President, I want to reassure the public that some of
us….. If you look at the time of the APC and the
period of the campaign, I was the first person that
stepped down his presidential ambition once
President Buhari announced that he was going to
contest for the election.
“Since then, and throughout the period of the
primary election, I had worked tirelessly…even some
of my own friends or those that are associates who
did not support me in the Senate. My offence was
because I did not support them for their Presidential
ambition and I supported President Buhari.
“That is why I find this world very funny. I now find
out that they are the ones now that claim that they
love President Buhari more than me. It is a very, very
funny world. These are people that we were begging.
“My offence was to tell them that, ‘Look, we are
young; let us allow President Buhari. This is the man
for today; let us allow him to contest. That is my
offence. They are now the people that are now saying
that Saraki does not like the President; they are the
ones that like him.
“But time will tell, the truth will always prevail and
that will be soon.”
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