Buhari In Serious Problem, Caged By 8 Powerful Men - Amechi

Chief Mbazulike Amechi, an elder statesman and frontline nationalist has said President Muhammadu Buhari probably in serious problems as he is caged by some unnamed 8 powerful men with his cabinet and his party, All Progressives Congress, APC.

Chief Amechi in a recent interview with the DailySun Newspaper at his country home, Ukpor, Anambra State, speaks on the state of the state of the nation, insist­ing that Nigeria is at war and, therefore, should embrace a “declared or unde­clared State of Emergency” to confront the “war” headlong. 

Chief Mbazulike Amechi 

In a frank and sar­torial review of the many problems of the nation , especially under the current regime of Muhammadu Buhari, the first republic Minister of Aviation accuses the President of not showing enough capacity that he can change Nigeria; a situation, he says, has fuelled the belief of an “imminent total collapse of the na­tion.” 

The nonagenarian regrets that the setback in the fight against corruption is that “there is corruption in Buhari’s government.” 

He reveals that Buhari is shackled by eight powerful men who may do something to him if he fails to toe their way, wondering what he will tell the three founding fathers of the nation( Zik, Awo, And Ahmadu Bello) when he finally meets them. 

Below is an excerpt from the interview in relation to 8 powerfl men who have caged the President:

If you meet president Buhari today what will you tell him?

"I will tell him, my dear General, sorry Mr president, are you not worried about the state of the country, which we handed over to you on a platter of gold in May last year? What I will tell him depends on his at­titude to the situation. I am not near enough to know how free he is because you may have a president who is shackled by lieutenants and colleagues in the party. And he, being a military man more than a politi­cian may not understand the game very well. There are some people who get rich in the midst of crisis. "

"There are people who are empowering themselves by the present chaotic situation in the country. And if such people encircle a president, that president is in serious trouble. I don’t know if Buhari is in that state now. But there are some people even outside his cabinet who are very powerful. They have stolen so much money in this country that if he doesn’t take care they might even do something to him. There are such people. There are eight of them in his govern­ment; in his political party, who are so powerful in every way that if he doesn’t take their way they will do something to him."

Who are these powerful men?

You know them. You are a journalist.

I don’t know them.

He further spoke on other national burning issues. Sunday Sun met him. Read full interview from The Daily Sun Here

BOMBSHELL: Akpabio Names Dino Melaye, Others As Beneficiaries of Chibok Girls' Abduction

The former Akwa Ibom State Governor, Godswill Akpabio, has on Thursday, April 14, accused the controversial Senator Dino Melaye, and leaders within the All Progressives Congress, APC, for allegedly cashing in on the abduction of the Chibok school girls to feather their political nest.

Akpabio’s allegations came on the heels of Senator Melaye’s statements during the senate plenary saying that the Federal Government cannot have claimed to have succeeded, until the missing girls have been rescued.

On the night of 14 April 2014, more than 200 female students were kidnapped from the Government Secondary School in the town of Chibok in Borno State.

Since then hopes were raised on various occasions that the girls might be released, but two years later all attempts had failed.

Reports indicate that Boko Haram was hoping to use the girls as negotiating pawns in exchange for some of their commanders in jail.

Akpabio who is also the Senate Minority Leader, while speaking said the likes of Melaye and some top members of the APC used the Chibok girls saga to win their elections.

“I wonder why those who led protests against the government of former President Goodluck Jonathan to rescue the girls have suddenly kept mum,” Senator Akpabio questioned.

“We cannot succeed as a government until those girls are released. Getting back the over 200 Chibok school girls into the society is important and a must for our security agencies,” he said.

Other senators who supported the motion, called on the federal government to go beyond the yearly ritual of celebrating the anniversary of the abduction. They called on the government to explore every available avenue to ensure that the girls are rescued.

Adopting the prayers of the motion, the senate mandated security agencies to do “everything humanly possible to ensure the release of the girls.”

They unanimously resolved that the National Security Adviser, NSA, and all the service chiefs be invited to brief the senate in a closed door session on their efforts so far at recovering the abducted girls.

SOurce

Saraki's Warhorse Kickstarts Survival Battle (1), By 'Goke Butika

"Politics is more dangerous than war, for in war you are only killed once,"--

Winston Churchill.

Goke Butika
The Author

Modern day African politicians are special species, plenty of them are funny lot, some are ignoramuses and some are incurable utopians, but one thing that appears to be general phenomenon is self-centredness.

Unlike in the early days of African independence struggle, where African leaders were ideologues, because they were passionate about the the well being of their people, in a situation where people like Sekeou Toure of Guinea would champion socialism for his country with the people at the centre of his manifestoes; Julius Nyerere would seek African socialism as an attitude in Tanzania; Kwame Nkrumah would demand intellectual activism and socialism for Ghana and African, and our own Obafemi Awolowo would canvass for Socialism with parliamentary democracy just to define how and who to govern, the modern day politicians are controlled by their ego centrism of negative value-me, myself and I.

I read in the newspapers an interview granted by one politician from Kwara state, Mr. Kawu Baraje, who happened to be the former chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) now a chieftain of All Progressives Congress (APC) and one of the political boys of the embattled Senate President Bukola Saraki, where he predicted doom for his party, because the interest of his paymaster is being threatened by the anti-corruption drive of President Buhari as touching Saraki's trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal and I laughed out at his fallacies and old logic.

For those who have not read the interview, let me just point out three points out of Baraje gibberish and affirm his claim-that APC is floundering, because the President is being distracted by his aides; that the party and the President stand aloof in the trial of the embattled Senate President for corruption at the Code of Conduct Tribunal, making Saraki to be facing justice without influence; that the trial is designed to remove Saraki from Senate Presidency, because some party chiefs were not happy with the way he emerged as number three citizen cum chairman of the National Assembly. Therefore, APC would break like they did to the decimated PDP and new stronger party would emerge.

Those who are thinking with their anus go along with the possible worlds created by Baraje,  while any level headed person knows that the same tactics cannot be used to win election twice. I would have been convinced by the poor man's argument had it been that he detached emotion from his points, but his desperation is understood, and I would not fall into the error of argumentum ad hominem by attacking his personality.

I chose to write this piece, because I voted for President Buhari, not as an APC member, but because he was the only credible alternative to former President Goodluck Jonathan whose administration was hijacked by the wicked looters and unscrupulous politicians who succeeded in dragging the country backward for 50 years. So, I affirm my locus for speaking on the matter affecting his presidency.

In the first place, Baraje has forgotten that what attracted Nigerians to Buhari in his fourth attempt was his anti-corruption status, and his handlers deployed his sterling anti-graft posture as a campaign tool. More so, the people recognized that corruption was on its four when Jonathan was ruling, and that the nation was becoming pariah. So, for Baraje to think that the neutrality of President Buhari would spell doom for his party in the next election is false, because people are keenly following the trial, and they want to test the will of the President, and if he is seen interfering  with the trial, his anti corruption fight would be deflated and useless. So, Baraje's first and second premises are false.

Furthermore, Baraje failed to understand that Buhari did not win because a new PDP was formed and broke away from the old PDP, the President won, because the "talakawas" of the North and South West identified with the man because of his spartan lifestyle and his unblemished integrity despite the fact that he had served in all strategic positions the nation could offer including being Head of State. And for the fact that Professor Attahiru Jega, the man of history made the votes count(a feat that must be credited to Jonathan). Fact sheet had it that the last election would still have been won by Buhari without the help of any big PDP chief in the North, but the input of the south western elite was obvious anyway. So, for Baraje to claim that another party would emerge from APC like the then new PDP and shoot down Buhari suggests an inductive leap.

Now, what could make Buhari presidency to kiss the dust? It is certain that the President is concerned and is working round the clock to fix the mess this nation was put into, but the struggle of the old order with the new Sheriff has brought untold pain unto the masses. So, people are justifiably shouting under heavy pressure: economic topsy-turvy, epileptic power supply, paralysis of critical sectors, skyrocketing inflation, fuel scarcity, infrastructure decay and terrible hunger. Hence, Baraje thought this crisis brewed because the President chose not to save Saraki. What a fallacy!

If Buhari delivers on his campaign promises by deploying maximum force against the pipeline vandals and the gas flow freely to our turbines, and the power is fixed, jobs at formal and informal sectors would be created in millions, and people would be happy; if Buhari deploys funds to capital projects and turn the entire nation into a construction site, jobs would be created in thousands and there would be development along the affected corridors, and people would be happy.

Besides, if Buhari can fix the naira value just the way he sought out the currency deal with China, and use the yuan to fight dollar dominance in the country, and the commoners regain their purchasing power, and the machinery to develop agriculture is imported, and the new factory from textile to car assemblies spring up, jobs would be created in millions and the people would be happy; if Buhari can chase boko haram out the country and annihilate the terrorists, and make the country safe and secure just the way it is happening now in the North East, then there would be no vacancy in Aso Rock in 2019. Otherwise, his party will kiss the dust.

Meanwhile, Buhari seems to be reading Awolowo's mental magnitude that touches on discipline of mind on the part of leadership, because the President has made enough trips, and I have not seen him journey with his beautiful wife, suggesting that toiling for the nation matters to him than fun trip, where the wife would disembark from the Presidential aircraft before the President. Suffice to say that the world takes this President serious.

It is very difficult to have a man like Buhari, a Muslim Fulani who sticks with one wife, with no scandal or corruption profile, who had been the governor, Petroleum Minister, Chairman, Petroleum Trust Fund, Head of State without commensurate wealth. So, I pray he succeeds and there are indicators that he would succeed, and that this nation would be happier for it, because if he fails, Nigeria is doomed. Where are the honest people again? Dasukigate revealed the real identities of the so called leaders of the nation.

If Baraje likes, let him go back to his bag of tricks and unleash the known antics of breaking the APC, we are no longer bothered, because the difference between the PDP and the APC is located in the difference between the six and half of a dozen. All we want is for Buhari to deliver. After all, President Obama, the most successful President in United States came  on the slogan of 'change' and won his second term on the mantra of "forward" despite the fact that Republican (opposition) torpedoed his party, Democrats at the Congress. So, for Baraje to ascribe PDP's wining of rerun election in some southern states to what is coming is fallacious and illogical, and at best the reflection of a frustrated old horse.

Lest I forget, my gratitude to friends and family who sent their greetings for my birthday, I must say I felt the pleasure of the day through the prayer of my mother and  the inspirational acknowledgement of my wife, all the from the United States, messages from teachers, senior colleagues, colleagues, school mates, students who had passed through my tutelage, old and new friends. And it cut across the continents. I thank you all for identifying with yours sincerely.

Butika is journalist of intercontinental exposure.

The WORST Will Happen If Saraki Is Removed - APC Chieftain Threatens

A founding member of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje has warned that the worst will happen if the Senate President, Bukola Saraki is removed from office, as the All Progressives Congress, APC, may “have the PDP taking over the Senate presidency and deputy.”

The former acting National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, made this assertion in an interview with some journalists in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital. He observed that no other Senate president has suffered “dry, blatant, political tyrannical and open persecution” as Bukola Saraki, since the return of democracy in 1999.

Daily Trust further quotes Baraje as disclosing that prior to the 2015 general elections, the APC had only three states in the North Central but “with a dint of hard work, Saraki delivered the zone 100 per cent.”

He added that the APC should be proud of producing the Senate President, stressing that “The PDP episode with Tambuwal (former House of Representatives Speaker) is still fresh in history. The PDP then didn’t throw the baby away with the bath water, knowing fully well that such move will be counterproductive. It was well managed and Tambuwal remained the Speaker under the then PDP.

“Our party may loath the ways of PDP, but out of every bad situation and experience, there are atoms of goodness, and every visionary leader will separate the chaff from the corn and take what is good out of it. So, it is not as if the Senate president has gone against his party.”

Speaking on the Kwara APC leader’s trial at the CCT, he said: “the case of Saraki has not followed due process and rule of law. It was the due process that was missing in the case of Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu, and he was discharged but not acquitted. So, why is Saraki’s case different?

“So, as regards whether we are comfortable with where we are and whether we are joining other groups, every politician has aspirations about the development of his people, and if you cannot achieve it in one place, you go to another place. It doesn’t mean that I am a political prostitute. I am a principled person and will not stop until I get what I want, which in this case is good governance, equality, democratic dividends for my people. Impunity, lawlessness, lack of due process are not what formed the APC. With the intervention of some leaders like us, the party will continue to thrive, but for it not to go the way of the PDP, the president must play politics.”

While advising Buhari to be more involved with happenings in APC in order to checkmate the culture of impunity which made his group leave the PDP, Baraje said: “We must sound a note of warning to President Buhari to shine his eyes. There are people in the party, in the guise of reconciling people, who say they are working for the success of the party, while (they are) actually doing that for their own selfish interest.

“We would never romance impunity. President Buhari should be wary of them and play more politics now. He has gone into the house and has seen how bad it is; he has reorganised the house and what is left now is to consolidate on the reorganisation.”

CCT Trial: Saraki's APC Faction In 'Secret Deal' With PDP Against Buhari, APC *PMB Angry At Tinubu Over Osoba

The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) is now facing a serious political upheaval as a result of the on-going trial of the President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki, by the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) for alleged falsification of assets declaration.

Another issue that is also causing division in the party is the hustle for control of power in 2019 by some elements in the party, coupled with perceived marginalisation of the members of the New Peoples Democratic Party (nPDP) by the APC.

With the call by the Transition Monitoring Group and other organisations for the resignation of Saraki and moves to replace him, not a few politicians are said to be aligning with Senator David Mark as an option, especially as President Muhammadu Buhari has allegedly told APC leadership that he does not care about who emerges as Senate President.

Sunday Telegraph reports that the trial of the Senate boss has created cracks and divisions in the ranks of the APC both in the Senate and at the level of the leadership, thereby producing what can be described as pro and anti Saraki camps.

The pro Saraki group is made up of APC Senators and other members of the party, who are doggedly supporting Saraki in the face of his present political ordeal, occasioned by his occupation of the Senate Presidential seat, against the party’s decision. The anti Saraki elements are the members of the party, within and outside the Senate, who are against him in tandem with the position of the APC’s National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, who is yet to forgive Saraki for working against the party’s arrangement in the election of the National Assembly leadership last year and want him out of the office by all means.

Sunday Telegraph learnt that members of the New PDP in APC, where Saraki belongs, out of frustration, have started aligning with the PDP to defeat the APC in the event that Saraki is compelled to vacate office through the impending judgment of the CCT.

According to sources, the New PDP is of the view that allowing Saraki to go indicates the determination of the APC power brokers to sacrifice him, not minding how much the decision would negatively affect the political future and fortunes of the party in the country.

New Telegraph’s inquiries further revealed that Saraki’s ordeal has compelled the various political entities that fused to form the APC, to begin to question the domineering posture of the defunct Congress for Progressives Change (CPC) in the power configuration of the present administration. President Buhari contested the presidential election in 2011 on the platform of the CPC, which he failed, and told Nigerians that it would be his last attempt at aspiring to rule Nigeria; before his party teamed up with others to form the APC, which ultimately wrestled power from the PDP last year.

Sources close to the APC said that elements of the New PDP in APC were highly enraged that members of the defunct CPC in the new alliance, who are mainly the people at the centre of this administration, are on a tactical move to engulf and send them into political oblivion in the power equation in the country.

The New PDP is also angry, according to our sources, over what they considered as the continuous harassment, intimidation and humiliation of Senator Saraki, whom they described as one of the formidable forces that took power off the grip of the PDP in the last general elections.

According to Saraki loyalists, he was used to weaken the former ruling party by persuading many Senators and governors to pull out of the PDP in 2013 to join the now ruling APC. Former governors of Gombe, Zamfara and Nasarawa states, Senators Danjuma Goje, Ahmed Sani and Abdullahi Adamu, respectively, were amongst those that worked with Saraki to break away from the PDP in the Senate.

Sunday Telegraph learnt that the desperate attempt to use the CCT to humiliate Saraki out of office will definitely boomerang, as the APC might be on its way out of power soon as the ripple effects of such development will also negatively affect the fortunes of the party in future elections.

Former Governor of Kano State, Senator Musa Rabiu Kwankwaso, and others who joined the APC from the PDP, are seen to be targets for political victimisation by the Buhari led government in their respective states Our correspondent, however, learnt that they were not folding their arms, as they were said to be realigning the PDP to fashion a way out and, perhaps, engineer the downfall of the APC in 2019. Meanwhile, a chieftain of the APC closed to Senator Saraki, yesterday, revealed that the Senate President would rather go down than kowtow the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress, Senator Tinubu.

According to the political associate of Saraki, who preferred anonymity, the Senate President was the only APC chieftain who never revered Tinubu in APC and believes he has no reason to revere the APC leader. The source stated that Tinubu’s grudge against Saraki was not that he (Saraki) went against his position on the Senate Presidency, but that he (Saraki) does not accord him the respect other APC chieftains’ accord to him. According to the source, Saraki believes that he has the same political credentials if not more as Tinubu and therefore does not see any reason why he should defer to him.

The source pointed out: “Saraki was governor of Kwara State for eight years just the same way Tinubu was in Lagos and he is also a senator just the way Tinubu was. Saraki controls Kwara State politics just as Tinubu controls Lagos State”. The source further explained that Tinubu believes that if Saraki was not checked and is allowed to have his way in the party, he (Saraki) might become the rallying point in the party ahead of 2019 elections

But Tinubu’s camp may not be enjoying the support of President Buhari in all his political interest. One such political interest is the return of former Ogun State governor, Chief Segun Osoba, to APC and the alleged plan to hand over to him the headship of the party by Tinubu. This new political permutation in Ogun State according some party members is not going well with the governor, Senator Ibukunle Amosun who enjoys the supports of Buhari. President Buhari is said to be trying to build another political support in the South-West that would counter the activities and interest of Tinubu in the geo-political zone, a source at the APC National Secretariat stated.

Meanwhile, the Office of the President of the Senate, yesterday, claimed that it had uncovered plots by some politicians to sponsor anti-Saraki protests across the country. According to a statement by the Special Adviser to the President of the Senate, Yusuf Olaniyonu, the alleged protest marches and demonstrations was intended to give some hired people placards to disturb public peace. Saraki’s office stated that sponsors of the proposed protest marches were seeking to forcefully mobilise and pollute public opinion against the embattled President of the Senate.

The statement reads: “As part of their plan, they are already distributing money and other materials to some faceless civil society organisations, market men and women associations and other shadowy groups with a view to instigate demonstrations in Lagos, Abuja and Ilorin starting from Monday, April 11. “They believe that the on-going trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal provides them the opportunity to stampede Dr. Saraki out of office so that their defeated objective of getting their lackey into the office of Senate President will be realised.

This is another desperate move by these spineless politicians to achieve through the back door what they failed to realise on the floor of the Senate. “We are alerting members of the public to the antics of these desperate politicians which may result into breach of public peace, order and health. Dr. Saraki is a peace-loving and law abiding politician.

“The trial at the CCT is just beginning and while the prosecution’s witness has started giving evidence, he is yet to be crossexamined by the defence team. The defence has also not opened its own case. We urge members of the public to patiently wait for the conclusion of the case. “Since the fundamental principle of our legal system is that an accused person is presumed innocent until he is found guilty, Dr. Saraki will not allow any distraction to take him away from his responsibility as President of the Senate and Chairman of the National Assembly.”

PDP Shocks APC In Ife Central Assembly Rerun Election Held Today

The opposition Peoples Democratic Party has taken the lead ahead of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, and Accord Party in today's Ife Central House of Assembly rerun election.

Below is an official result obtained:

‪Ife Central (Osun State) House of Assembly By-election
PDP - 5,428
Accord - 4,721
APC - 4,448

Details soon

Buhari To Drop 10 Ministers By May 29th In Major Cabinet Shake Up, Those Affected Are ...

Barring last minute change, there may be a major cabinet reshuffle by President Muhammadu Buhari when he marks his first one year in office come May 29, National Weekender reports

Though his ministers would have spent barely eight months in office then, but the body language of the President according to our Aso Villa source suggests that he is not pleased with the performance of most of his ministers who came on board to settle some top politicians whose efforts ensured that the president won the 2015 elections.

According to our source, Mr. President has been toying with the idea since December and was actually going to make the changes and announcement in his New Year message early this year but he was prevailed upon by some top party chieftains and close associates who are in tune with his action. He had to shift the plan after he was advised that aside the fact that it was too early for his administration to take such action the decision could further tear the governing party All Progressives Congress apart following the problems the party encountered in its early days in office seen by many as teething problems.

“I can tell you that there may be a major cabinet reshuffle when this administration clocks one in May,” begins our source. “Mr. President is indeed not satisfied with the performances of some of his ministers since they assumed office. He was almost going to announce the changes in January but some bigwigs of our great party who also share the president’s opinion advised that it was too early as the administration was barely eight months then and it could be misinterpreted by the opposition party. 

“Again, because of the crisis the party was facing then following the elections of the leadership of the National Assembly talking about Senate President Abubakar Saraki and Speaker of the House of Representatives Yakubu Dogara , the president was advised to stay action as it could further heighten tension in the party.

“But with all this gone, the President’s body language suggests that he will have to ask the non performing ministers to go come May." 

"Those likely to be affected are the ministers who have not carried out a single project since they came on board and most of them are guilty of this offence. Some of them keep saying that they are waiting for go-ahead order from the President to carry out their functions and this excuse has always infuriated Mr. President.

“I don’t know the numbers of ministers to go but I think more than 10 may be shown the exit doors. As I speak with you some of them have not been able to speak one on one with the president on issues concerning their ministries. It is that bad. And that informs the reason why most of them are not allowed to travel with Mr. President. If you watch closely you will discover that a particular set of ministers are rotated to travel with him.”

National Weekender

APC 'Dead' At The Senate, We'll Produce The Next President - PDP Boasts As Saraki's Ouster Imminent

The relevance and the majority status of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC at the upper legislative chamber of Nigeria may be as good be described 'dead' as the minority and the opposition, the Peoples Democratic Party has boasted that come what may, it will emerge as the next President of the Senate, should the current trial of the Dr. Bukola Saraki consumes him.

Indeed, Senators and oth­er leaders of the ruling All Pro­gressives Congress (APC) have stepped up their search for a suc­cessor to the embattled Senate President, Dr Abubakar Bukola Saraki.

Their action is fuelled by star­tling revelations at the ongoing trial of Saraki for alleged false as­sets declaration by the Federal Government at the Code of Con­duct Tribunal (CCT) in Abuja.

Some APC leaders, who spoke on the development in Abuja on Wednesday, observed that from the revelations made so far by witnesses at the CCT, it was ex­pedient for the party to start the search for a new Senate President because Saraki will lack the mo­rality and credibility to remain in office.

Already, most APC Sena­tors who have been against Sara­ki from the onset met yesterday in Abuja to discuss the way for­ward for the party, especially on how to retain the Senate Presiden­cy in the event of Saraki’s resig­nation or conviction by the CCT.

It was gathered that the meeting, which was held in Asokoro area of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), was at the instance of a leading figure in the ruling APC who has mobilised his loyalists in the Senate to move for the impeachment of Saraki, as well as strategise for his immedi­ate replacement.

The meeting came even as the PDP Caucus in the Senate has in­sisted that Saraki would neither be forced to resign nor be impeached by the APC Senators. A member of the PDP Senate Caucus, Sen. Obinna Ogba, told The AUTHORITY that the op­position lawmakers were ready to protect the Senate President till the last day of the tribunal’s decision.

Ogba, who represents Eb­onyi Central District of Ebonyi State, warned that the APC may lose the leadership of the Senate if they force Saraki out.

Ogba noted that the PDP would muster the numerical strength to take over the leader­ship of the Upper House if Saraki was forced out of office. He said: “I am sure the meet­ing of APC Senators is not to re­move Senator Bukola Saraki. They may be meeting on how to patch their party that is collapsing. For your information, we are solid­ly behind him and that is why we have always accompanied him to the court. “They can only remove Sara­ki if he is convicted by the CCT or any other court. But I can as­sure you that if they remove him, we will not waste time to install a PDP Senate President because we have the numerical strength. We do not need to beg anybody.”

It was further gathered that of the 23 senators mainly from the PDP who were with Saraki at the court on Tues­day, only 19 accompanied Saraki to the CCT on Wednesday while majority of his colleagues in the APC stayed away.

A group of the APC senators who were said to have met se­cretly somewhere in the Asokoro district of FCT were said to have agreed to plead with Saraki to re­sign. A senator who attended the meeting said that they reviewed the proceedings at the court and concluded that the CCT judge might convict Saraki based on the evidence before him.

Rising from their meeting at the Abuja residence of Senator Magartarkada Wammako (Sokoto Central), the loyal Senators said for whatever it was worth, they would continue to stand firm­ly behind Saraki and ensure that his office was protected.

Addressing journalists in Abuja on Wednesday, Senator Ibrahim Abdulrafiu reiterated the lawmakers’ stance that Saraki’s tri­al was a mere persecution and an attempt to tarnish his image. “We have since discovered that the trial of the Senate Pres­ident is a mere attempt to black­mail him and make him look bad in the court of public opinion. No more, no less. A dispassion­ate analysis of the proceedings of the CCT has pointed to the fact that the APC-led Executive is still embittered against Dr. Saraki over the manner of his election as the Senate President,” he said.