Senate President: CQTI congratulates Godswill Akpabio - ITREALMS

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The Citizens Quest for Truth Initiative (CQTI) has congratulated the former Governor of Akwa Ibom State and Former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, distinguished Senator Godswill Akpabio on his successful inauguration as the President of the Nigerian 10th senate, reports ITREALMS.

The National President of the accountability advocacy non-governmental organization, Chief Obiaruko Ndukwe, hailed Senator Godswill Akpabio for braving the odds to clinch the number three position in the Country and prays for wisdom and forthrightness in the discharge of his official duties.

10th NASS: Akpabio emerges Senate President, Abbas becomes Speaker - ITREALMS

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The 10th National Assembly has elected the former governor of Akwa Ibom State, Senator Godswill Akpabio as President with Senator Barai Jubril from Kano State as the Deputy Senate President, reports ITREALMS.

This is coming as the Federal House of Representatives also elected Hon. Tajudeen Abbas from Zaria Federal Constituency of Kaduna State as its Speaker and Hon. Benjamin Okezie Kalu of Bende Federal Constituency, Abia State was elected unopposed as the Deputy Speaker.

Trending #AfricaThisWeek Volume 1, No. 2 - ITREALMS

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Highlights:

1. Bank of Zambia upgrades notes with security features
2. Senate President, 3 Governors defect to opposition, PDP
3. Giant multinational SOCFIN battles local communities over palm lands
4. Ramaphosa escorts son for traditional ceremony @Uganda
5. Rural populace returns ZANU PF to Presidency
6. Chinje advocates for CAS, no miniaturization of states

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Full edition: #AfricaThisWeek Volume 1, No. 2. This edition is also available in French.

*Courtesy Remmy Nweke/ED, Ops

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Official! Senate President, Bukola Saraki, Kwara Governor, Ahmed formally dump APC - ITREALMS

ITREALMS:

The President of the Senate, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki and Governor of Kwara State, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed have formally dumped the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), reports ITRealms.

For industry observers, both moves by Saraki and Ahmed, to return to PDP was a return to home party as they jointly decamped in 2014 following a coalition that gave birth to APC.

Senate President in his resignation letter to Nigerians dated July 31, 2018 and made available to ITRealms, said this is coming after extensive consultations, “I have decided to take my leave of the All Progressives Congress (APC).”

According to him, this is not a light decision, stressing that “If anything at all, I have tarried for so long and did all that was humanly possible, even in the face of great provocation, ridicule and flagrant persecution, to give opportunity for peace, reconciliation and harmonious existence.”

Further, “Perhaps, more significantly, I am mindful of the fact that I carry on my shoulder a great responsibility for thousands of my supporters, political associates and friends, who have trusted in my leadership and have attached their political fortunes to mine. However, it is after an extensive consultation with all the important stakeholders that we have come to this difficult but inevitable decision to pitch our political tent elsewhere; where we could enjoy greater sense of belonging and where the interests of the greatest number of our Nigerians would be best served.

“While I take full responsibility for this decision, I will like to emphasise that it is a decision that has been inescapably imposed on me by certain elements and forces within the APC who have ensured that the minimum conditions for peace, cooperation, inclusion and a general sense of belonging did not exist.

“They have done everything to ensure that the basic rules of party administration, which should promote harmonious relations among the various elements within the party were blatantly disregarded.

“All governance principles which were required for a healthy functioning of the party and the government were deliberately violated or undermined. And all entreaties for justice, equity and fairness as basic precondition for peace and unity, not only within the party, but also the country at large, were simply ignored, or employed as additional pretext for further exclusion.

“The experience of my people and associates in the past three years is that they have suffered alienation and have been treated as outsiders in their own party. Thus, many have become disaffected and disenchanted. At the same time, opportunities to seek redress and correct these anomalies were deliberately blocked as a government-within-a-government had formed an impregnable wall and left in the cold, everyone else who was not recognized as “one of us”. This is why my people, like all self-respecting people would do, decided to seek accommodation elsewhere.

“I have had the privilege to lead the Nigerian legislature in the past three years as the President of the Senate and the Chairman of the National Assembly. The framers of our constitution envisage a degree of benign tension among the three arms of government if the principle of checks and balances must continue to serve as the building block of our democracy. In my role as the head of the legislature, and a leader of the party, I have ensured that this necessary tension did not escalate at any time in such a way that it could encumber Executive function or correspondingly, undermine the independence of the legislature. Over the years, I have made great efforts in the overall interest of the country, and in spite of my personal predicament, to manage situations that would otherwise have resulted in unsavoury consequences for the government and the administration. My colleagues in the Senate will bear testimony to this.

“However, what we have seen is a situation whereby every dissent from the legislature was framed as an affront on the executive or as part of an agenda to undermine the government itself. The populist notion of anti-corruption became a ready weapon for silencing any form of dissent and for framing even principled objection as “corruption fighting back”. Persistent onslaught against the legislature and open incitement of the people against their own representatives became a default argument in defence of any short-coming of the government in a manner that betrays all too easily, a certain contempt for the Constitution itself or even the democracy that it is meant to serve.

“Unfortunately, the self-serving gulf that has been created between the leadership of the two critical arms of government based on distrust and mutual suspicion has made any form of constructive engagement impossible. Therefore, anything short of a slavish surrender in a way that reduces the legislature to a mere rubber stamp would not have been sufficient in procuring the kind of rapprochement that was desired in the interest of all. But I have no doubt in my mind, that to surrender this way is to be complicit in the subversion of the institution that remains the very bastion of our democracy. I am a democrat. And I believe that anyone who lays even the most basic claim to being a democrat will not accept peace on those terms; which seeks to compromise the very basis of our existence as the parliament of the people.

“The recent weeks have witnessed a rather unusual attempts to engage with some of these most critical issues at stake. Unfortunately, the discord has been allowed to fester unaddressed for too long, with dire consequences for the ultimate objective of delivering the common good and achieving peace and unity in our country. Any hope of reconciliation at this point was therefore very slim indeed. Most of the horses had bolted from the stable.

“The emergence of a new national party executives a few weeks ago held out some hopes, however slender. The new party chairman has swung into action and did his best alongside some of the Governors of APC and His Excellency, the Vice President. I thank them for all their great efforts to save the day and achieve reconciliation. Even though I thought these efforts were coming late in the day, but seeing the genuine commitment of these gentlemen, I began to think that perhaps it was still possible to reconsider the situation.

However, as I have realized all along, there are some others in the party leadership hierarchy, who did not think dialogue was the way forward and therefore chose to play the fifth columnists. These individuals went to work and ensured that they scuttled the great efforts and the good intentions of these aforementioned leaders of the party. Perhaps, had these divisive forces not thrown the cogs in the wheel at the last minutes, and in a manner that made it impossible to sustain any trust in the process, the story today would have been different.

“For me, I leave all that behind me. Today, I start as I return to the party where I began my political journey, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

“When we left the PDP to join the then nascent coalition of All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2014, we left in a quest for justice, equity and inclusion; the fundamental principles on which the PDP was originally built but which it had deviated from. We were attracted to the APC by its promise of change. We fought hard along with others and defeated the PDP.

“In retrospect, it is now evident that the PDP has learnt more from its defeat than the APC has learnt from its victory. The PDP that we return to is now a party that has learnt its lessons the hard way and have realized that no member of the party should be taken for granted; a party that has realized that inclusion, justice and equity are basic precondition for peace; a party that has realized that never again can the people of Nigeria be taken for granted.

“I am excited by the new efforts, which seeks to build the reborn PDP on the core principles of promoting democratic values; internal democracy; accountability; inclusion and national competitiveness; genuine commitment to restructuring and devolution of powers; and an abiding belief in zoning of political and elective offices as an inevitable strategy for managing our rich diversity as a people of one great indivisible nation called Nigeria.

“What we have all agreed is that a deep commitment to these ideals were not only a demonstration of our patriotism but also a matter of enlightened self-interest, believing that our very survival as political elites of this country will depend on our ability to earn the trust of our people and in making them believe that, more than anything else, we are committed to serving the people.

“What the experience of the last three years have taught us is that the most important task that we face as a country is how to reunite our people. Never before had so many people in so many parts of our country felt so alienated from their Nigerianness. Therefore, we understand that the greatest task before us is to reunite the county and give everyone a sense of belonging regardless of region or religion.

“Every Nigerian must have an instinctive confidence that he or she will be treated with justice and equity in any part of the country regardless of the language they speak or how they worship God. This is the great task that trumps all. Unless we are able to achieve this, all other claim to progress no matter how defined, would remain unsustainable.

“This is the task that I am committing myself to and I believe that it is in this PDP, that I will have the opportunity to play my part.  It is my hope that the APC will respect the choice that I have made as my democratic right, and understand that even though we will now occupy a different political space, we do not necessarily become enemies unto one another.”

Chuks Egbune/GEe

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TSA: Group accuses Saraki, Senate of undermining Buhari's anti-corruption war

ITRealms:

The Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders (CACOL), has accused Senate President, Bukola Saraki, of undermining the efforts of President Mohammadu Buhari over the anti-corruption crusade, reports ITRealms.

The group in a letter to the Senate President, said the Nigerian Senate, under Saraki’s leaderhip is working at cross-purposes with its own campaign for the adoption of Made-in-Nigeria products by canvassing for the acquisition of foreign revenue aggregation software to replace an existing one created by a Nigerian in Nigeria. 

CACOL also accused Saraki of manipulating the Senate to frustrate the Treasury Single Account (TSA) regime currently being implemented via Remita, electronic payment platform developed by SystemSpecs Limited.

The letter dated March 2, 2016, comes on the heels of report of the  Joint Senate Committees on Finance; Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions; and Public Accounts, which had recommended the termination of the contract between Systemspecs and the Central Bank of Nigeria [CBN] on the implementation of TSA via the Remita platform.

According to the Executive Chairman, CACOL, Debo Adeniran, the Senate under Saraki is playing double standards, especially given that in one breath, the Senate Report “severally insinuates that there is no valid contract between SystemSpecs, the company that provided the Remita TSA collection platform and the CBN and in another breath, recommends that the contract should be immediately terminated.”

“Our investigations however reveal that the CBN and the OAGF independently issued at least five circulars/letters at different times where Remita is specifically mentioned. Can institutions as big and structured as the CBN and OAGF do this without any contract between it and a vendor,” queried CACOL.

The group went on to label the Senate’s recommendation for termination of the contract as “provocative, retrogressive, insensitive and suspicious.”

  +ITRealms DSA 

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Supreme Court stops CCT over Saraki

ITRealms:

The Supreme Court, Thursday, ordered the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) to suspend without delay the ongoing trial of the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, ITRealms reports.

The trial next sitting was billed for next week. However the ruling by the Supreme Court has in a way restored sanity in the judiciary after the drama at the CCT last week in which counsels to Saraki had to stage a walkout from the Tribunal after the Chairman had insisted on going ahead with the case in spite of the pendency of the appeal by Saraki at the apex court, a move Saraki’s lawyers described as ‘judicial rascality’.

At the commencement of the hearing on the appeal brought before the Court, ITRealms gathered, counsel to the federal government through, Mr. Rotimi Jacob, SAN, gave an undertaken that the Tribunal will stay action on the trial of Saraki pending the determination of his appeal by the Supreme Court. Saraki is facing a 13-count charge before theTribunal bordering on corruption and false declaration of assets when he was Kwara State Governor between 2003 and 2011.

He however approached the Court of Appeal to challenge the jurisdiction of the tribunal to try him, arguing that it was not properly constituted. But in its ruling, two of the three-man panel of Justices of the Appellate Court threw away all the five issues raised by Saraki and ruled that the Tribunal has jurisdiction to precede with the trial.

ITRealms also recalls that not satisfied with the ruling of the Appeal Court, Saraki approached the Supreme Court, praying it to grant stay of execution of the Appellate Court’s ruling as well as determine whether the Tribunal has jurisdiction.

The implication of the Supreme Court ruling is that the Tribunal would stay off Saraki’s case before it pending the determination of the appeal of Saraki by the apex court.

Cyriacus Nnaji/GEE

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Ministerial list: Fashola, Amaechi, Lai Mohammed on top

ITRealms

The Senate President, Bukola Saraki, has hours ago, unveiled the names in the ministerial list sent by President Muhammadu Buhari to the nation’s upper legislative chamber, ITRealms reports.

The former Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Raji Fashola, Rotimi Amaechi, Lai Mohammed, Abubakar Malami, Chris Ngige, Ogbonaya Onu, Kayode Fayemi, Abdulrahman Dambazzu, Kemi Adeosun, Aisha AlHassan, Sirika Hadi, Adebayo Shittu, Udo Udoma, Audu Ogbeh, Ibe Kachikwu, were in the twenty two-man list.

Others, ITRealms gathered, are Solomon Dalong, Amina Ibrahim, Abdulrahman Dambazau, Ibrahim Usman Jibrin, Samson Osagie, Musa Ibeto and Suleiman Adamu.

The Senate President, however, said the screening of the nominees would start on Tuesday, October 13, adding that the screening of ministers would no longer be business as usual as it would be more thorough and prudent.

Saraki said it would be thorough to ensure that only competent and qualified individuals occupied the positions, ITRealms learnt.

Cyriacus Nnaji/GEE

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Senate confirms new service chiefs with mandates

ITRealms

 

The Nigeria Senate, Tuesday, confirmed the appointments of the new service chiefs with the mandate to tackle insecurity and oil theft, report ITRealms.

Information from the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) says the service chiefs, were confirmed after a thorough four-and-half hour screening and were charged to undertake seriously the issue insecurity and oil theft.

President Muhammadu Buhari, July 13, 2015, ITRealms gathered, approved the appointments of the new service chiefs whose names are Maj.-Gen. Abayomi Olonishakin, Chief of Defence Staff; Maj.-Gen., Tukur Buratai, Chief of Army Staff; Rear Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas, Chief of Naval Staff and Air Vice-Marshal Sadique Abubakar, Chief of Air Staff.

The Senate President, Bukola Saraki, had urged them to root out corruption in the procurement procedure of the armed forces, saying that the prevalence of corruption in the system had negatively affected efficient security delivery over the years.

Saraki said “the appointments, as we all see, is coming at a very crucial time with a lot of challenges, particularly insurgency in the North East and some other security issues such as oil theft and others.

“We need to observe also that they were all born in the 60s, so there are lots of responsibilities as new generation officers to provide new direction and new leadership to our armed forces.

“We are all keen to restore the image and reputation of the armed forces and I believe that their confirmation is the beginning of their journey to restore the glory of the force in our great nation.”

Cyriacus Nnaji/GEE

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Saraki, Dogara emergence & role of ICT

ITRealms:

THE intrigue, brouhaha, altercations and near free-for-all fight witnessed in the two legislative chambers following the elections of the Senator Bukola Saraki (APC Kwara State) as Senate President and Hon. Yakubu Dogara (Yobe) as Speaker, House of Representatives, which took place on June 9, 2015, cannot go without mentioning of the role of Information and Communication Technology (ICT).

ITRealms reports that their emergence took the nation by storm as nobody was expecting the kind of politics which some industry observers tagged as ‘politrick’ based on the reported plans by the ruling party, the All Progressive Congress (APC) purported endorsement of some candidates for both positions, who eventually lost in all ramifications.

As if the aforementioned was not enough, both houses of the National Assembly also elected Senator Ike Ekweremadu (PDP Enugu State) as deputy senate president while Hon. Yusuf Lasun (Osun State) was elected deputy speaker of the House of Representatives. 

So far, the magnitude of rancor in the elections of the leadership of the two Houses of the National Assembly going by the fact that the All Progressives Congress is in the majority and as such should, ordinarily be in the driving seat to call the tunes, thus the change in game plan was least expected. 

Although days before this scene, there was some advertorials on national dailies and the Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) inviting the then elected NASS members both at the Senate and House for inauguration ceremony with outlined programmes, which commenced on Monday, June 8 and expected to conclude by Tuesday, June 9, 2015, with election of presiding officers.

Of course, NASS members held their various day-1 part-inauguration session with the Clerks of their respective houses led by Clerk of the Senate, Alhaji Salisu Maikasua, before the adjournment till next day for the proper election of the NASS leadership by members.

This came after it was reported that the ruling party, APC members at both houses held mock elections to pave way for a smooth election eventually, of course with some party rebels who insisted that they as members be allowed to elect their leaders without any interference from the party.

However, little did Nigerians realize the key role played by technologies in the emergence of the two House leaders in the National Assembly, but as announced at the floor of the Senate by Senator Barnabas Gemade-lead Unity group, following the arrival of President Mohammadu Buhari from the G7 Meeting in Germany it became imperative for him as the new party ‘leader’ to meet with the elected members of APC in the national assembly to ensure peaceful conduct of their elections.

But following a Short Message Service (SMS) received purportedly from the party leadership inviting elected members to a meeting at the International Conference Centre (ICC) Abuja by 9am for a meeting with Mr. President, the incident may not have happened or Saraki becoming the Senate President.

Experts at an open source encyclopedia, Wikipedia, explained that SMS is a text messaging service component of phone, web, or mobile communication systems; which uses standardized communications protocols developed by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) to facilitate phone devices to exchange short text messages across both fixed lines and mobiles.

Also, experts at the GSM Association (GSMA) disclosed that SMS has remained the most widely used data application, with an estimated 7.5 trillion SMS exchanged across all mobile phone subscribers at the end of 2012. It has since 1985 assumed its latest dimension as part of the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) series of standards as a means of sending messages of up to 160 characters to and from GSM mobile handsets.

For Senator Gemade, as loyal party members, they adhered to the SMS, not minding that NASS has scheduled its elections by 10am, which in fact commenced the previous day by 10:03am, claiming that the Clerk of NASS was duly informed to have ‘slight delay’ to enable them, as majority to attend this Presidential call and then join.

And while they were at ICC, he said, news flittered in obviously through their Global System for Mobile (GSM) communication and through the live broadcast of the NASS elections by some TV stations that an election has been held with Senator Saraki emerging as sole candidate for the Senate President, hence they rushed back in a coaster bus, abandoning their respective Sport Utility Vehicles (SUVs) that brought them to the venue in order to beat the traffic.

The rush back, afforded the APC NASS members to meet up with the election of the deputy Senate President which was contested on their behalf by Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume, but he lost to PDP Senator, Ike Ekweremadu.

Though, it was alleged in some quarters that some members of new-Peoples Democratic Party (nPDP) that joined APC coalition hatched this since none of them under the auspices of Like Mind Senators attempted to attend the Presidential meeting at ICC.

Yet, another school of thought argued that the outcome of the NASS leadership was a simple politrick and marriage of convenience, which depend largely on who is smart enough to outdo the other in this era of technology prowess. Even as the supposed ‘slight delay’ could have become a full day affair, which in other words amounts to a scheme by APC Senators to gang-up against Nigeria and indeed the PDP in the choice of Senate presidency, which many members actually kicked against. Not without mentioning the incidence and emergence of former House Speaker and now Governor Amin Tambuwal in year 2011 against the wishes of PDP leadership then, but was supported by APC members.

The LikeMind Senators while adducing reasons they did not turn up at ICC in a press statement sighted by ITRealms, said “We went to that venue on the 8th, we waited for the VP for hours; there was no VP. And the VP was not even available. So, having seen that on the 8th, then around 7am to 8am on 9th June, we got another text which said we should report. It’s no longer the Vice President; it’s now the President, having being deceived on Monday. Do you think anybody who is rational will now also go for another meeting?

“After all the President did not appear at the ICC. The Buhari that we know cannot and will not give two contrary opinions, especially one that is against the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” they said, insisting that “The Letter of Proclamation was written, duly signed, the time stated, date stated; he will not do otherwise. It is not true that we disrespected the President and if the President wants to do that, he would have called.”

A source close to Saraki attributed the loss of the office of Deputy Senate President to the PDP to absence of APC senators who were at the ICC. The source disclosed that Senator Saraki did not encourage Ekweremadu to run to be his deputy, saying that Ekweremadu’s emergence was forced on the few APC senators present by the PDP senators who at that time were in the majority.

Reacting, the National Secretary, Labour Party, Barr. Olukayode Ajulo warned that the ongoing leadership tussle within the ranks of APC, may derail and distract the Muhammadu Buhari-led administration from delivering on its many promises to Nigerians. Describing the in-fighting between power blocs of APC as borne of selfish interests, pointing out that the ominous signs being given by the leadership of the APC appears to be a confirmation of the popularly held opinion that the APC was a party of “strange bed-fellows” which was not built to last and would not stand the test of time.

Goje, those who went to ICC, were on their own:

Meanwhile, the absentee APC Senators adhered to their party directive to appear before the Senate the following morning of June 10, to be sworn-in by Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki so as to enable discharge their constitutional duties.

But the oath-taking and allegiance witnessed a mild drama as Senator Oluremi Tinubu, APC Lagos Central, held back her hands when the Senate President, in line with the tradition after administering the oath stretched out his hands to shake her.

Efforts to take the Senate back through Point of Order 15 and 43 between SenatorsSenator Kabir Garba Marafa and Gemade could not stand as Senate President in performance of his duties ruled them out of order. This much was supported by Senator Mohammed Goje (APC, Gombe Central) while standing on the constitutional provision of Section 64 and sub-section three of the Constitution, said that the President was empowered to order proclamation of this Senate as he did and “For anybody to now say this hallowed chamber should ignore that constitutional provision which is the letter from Mr President, I think that person is saying that we should disobey the Constitution of the country and disobey Mr. President. And I want to say, let it be on record, that whoever decided to go for a meeting there, is on his own.”

16 Leadership positions still in contention:

As at the time of filing this report, APC has not come out to deny its party leadership sent the trouble SMS or not, instead positioned itself for ‘war’ of which they are still at the battle ground because other 16 NASS leadership positions yet to be filled at time of this report; that is eight positions for the Senate and House of Representatives, including Majority Leader, Minority Leader, Chief Whip, Minority Whip, Deputy Majority Leader, Deputy Minority Leader, Deputy Chief Whip and Deputy Minority Whip apiece, has generated raising of voices at NASS.

The fact remains that a house divided by itself will definitely fall and by extension, if APC allows the ongoing rancor to linger, it means the prophecy of some analysts that the party was made up of strange bed fellows will not only come to bear as truth but indeed.

The earlier the party and its NASS members begin to retrace their steps, the better for the country as one hopes that the live broadcast of NASS business will not stop, because Nigerians are watching and following their moves, for democratic dividends and grow democracy in Nigeria.

Though, industry observers expect that as the 8th Senate settles down for business after a two-week break on June 23, more use of ICT is expected, because that will add a lot more advantage to the recently signed into law the Cyber Security Act alongside other related Acts like National Communication Act and National Information Technology Development Act, therefore gathering the supposed political support whenever issues in these areas of ICT sector is brought before then as to the importance.

Invariably SMS was deployed to create the scene 1 which played out at NASS whilst the scene 2 unfold, no one knows which aspect of the ICT tools will be used to deliver it. So, keep watching.

*Remmy Nweke with additional reports by Cyriacus Nnaji

 

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Saraki reveals how he emerged Senate President, says no deal with PDP on Ekweremadu

ITRealms:

The Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki opened up on plots made by some people to kidnap him and prevent him from emerging the senate president. But he outsmarted their plans by arriving the National Assembly Complex as early as 6am and stayed in a small car. He said around 10am he trekked to the Assembly hall.

ITRealms gathered speaking in Abuja, Saraki denied going into any deal with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to emerge the senate president, and blamed the outcome of the election on “combination of errors and miscalculations” according to Global Reporters.

“First of all, as regards the meeting (at ICC), on the morning of the inauguration, I didn’t finish at a meeting until 4:00am 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 chamber”.

“So, as early as 4:00am and 5:00am, I had made contingency plans that I must get into the National Assembly because the plan before was that senators-elect should go to Transcorp Hilton Hotel around 8:00clock and 9:00am to proceed to the National Assembly.

“But I was advised that it would not be safe or it would not be secure for me to do that because if some people made sure I didn’t get into the chamber, it would not be possible for me to be nominated, for the nomination to be seconded and for me to accept the nomination.

“I can tell you today that I was in the National Assembly Complex as early as 6:00 in the morning and I stayed in a car in the car park till quarter to 10:00am. That is the truth. I stayed there and I was there with no communication whatsoever.

“So, anybody who said he spoke to me to go to the ICC was not being truthful because I didn’t even know what was going on. All I was monitoring was how people were arriving the complex.

“It was just before 10:00 that I got information that the Clerk to the National Assembly had entered the chamber. So, I got out of the small car I was inside, stretched myself and put on my Babariga because I didn’t have it on before then.

“I walked from the car park into the chamber. That was why some of you would have seen that I looked very tired that morning.

“Even when I was in the chamber, I didn’t know what had transpired earlier. The only thing I observed was that it appeared that some of our senators were not in the chamber, but because the fact that my colleagues arrived in batches, I had the opinion that they were on the 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 chamber that they were relieved.”

“In my own 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 leading 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 laughed when people said I had a deal with Ekweremadu or I had a hand in the emergence of Ekweremadu.

“I didn’t need any deal to win. I had penetrated, there was no deal; I didn’t need any deal in the first place. I had worked hard such that everybody who was a Senator, I campaigned hard and canvassed for their votes and won their confidence.

“At one of the meetings held at Transcorp Hilton which Senator Godswill Akpabio co-chaired with Senator Ibrahim Gobir and a few others, which had both APC and PDP members, if you heard most of them there, the position they took was that ‘this is the Senate President they want.’

“Across party lines, that day they believed in me and that this is the Senate President that can lead us, there was no deal.

“Sometimes, I wonder how some of our colleagues found themselves at the ICC. If it had been a case that the Clerk of the National Assembly had made an announcement and the event had been postponed or it was no longer holding, plus, the invitation, I’m sure some are asking now, what really happened?

“First of all, the PDP senators had announced to the public that they were supporting me without even meeting me because, in their own meeting, majority had decided to vote for me.

“In their own interest, strategically, they decided that, `look, this is a fait accompli’ because 30 of their own senators were going to vote for this man anyway and the remaining felt it was better to join.

“It wasn’t until 2:00am that they called us to tell us their decision. With regards 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.

“After our own meeting, it was our thinking that it was after the election of the Senate President that the two groups in APC would meet and we would agree on a candidate. We never in our imagination thought they would not turn up. By the time we got there, we were only 24 while the PDP was more than 40.

“In an election, there’s no way they would not have defeated us and that was what happened? And now, when people say it was a deal, I say that if the CNA had started the procedure in the House of Representatives first, and moved to the Senate, thereafter, today, we, the APC, would have had a deputy Senate President.

“It is unfortunate that we have a PDP man as deputy Senate President. It is painful. It is painful for every APC member because when we went through the struggle, that was not what we signed for. But it has happened; but it is unfortunate and it is not fair to put the blame on one side because it is a combination of errors and miscalculations that led us to have, that morning, some Senators were at another place instead of being there.

“So, to suggest that it was out of a desperate act to emerge, is what I reject completely and those who followed the events would know that I didn’t have that deal to emerge,” said Saraki.
 
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