The surprise visit of the Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki, in company of some Senators, to the hilltop mansion of former President, Olusegun Obasanjo, on Friday, may not be unconnected with his quest to have the former leader help in reconciling him with President Muhammadu Buhari and his party, PREMIUM TIMES reports.

Quoting a source that was part of the meeting, the Senate President, who was said to be in Abeokuta to beg Mr. Obasanjo to reconcile him with President Muhammadu Buhari and his party, the All Progressives Congress, APC, also lamented that although the party leaders have stated that they have accepted his emergence, there was “complete communication breakdown between him, the president and the party”.

In his response, Mr. Obasanjo reportedly promised to do his best to “ensure communication between all parties”.

The report also quoted the former President as joking with the delegation, saying: “you children of nowadays only run to elders when you have finished making the damage”.

According to the report, Obasanjo was said to have called President Buhari immediately he was informed of the visit, with the President simply retorting: “You have to see them now, are they not your boys?”

It will be recalled that the emergence of Senator Bukola Saraki and Hon. Yakubu Dogara as Senate President and Speaker respectively did not go down well with the leadership of the party, who branded them as undisciplined party men.

The relationship between Saraki and the leadership has remained frosty since then, with the national chairman of the party, John Odigie-Oyegun, abruptly cancelling a scheduled meeting with Saraki last week without giving another appointment.

The Senate has also reportedly made several attempts at having audience with President Buhari after his emergence, but was always denied audience.

A source in the presidency, quoted by the report also said that the President was angry with Mr. Saraki and the management of the National Assembly for going ahead with their election despite adequate knowledge of an invitation for a meeting with Mr. Saraki and his colleagues.

“The president considered it as a mark of disrespect for his office for Saraki to ignore an invitation to meet with him and his colleagues,” the source said.

However, Saraki, after his three hours – long closed door meeting with Obasanjo told reporters that solutions are being worked out on the crisis thrown up by his emergence and that the issue would also be put behind.

He also gave a hint that the National Assembly may look into how to cut the cost of governance at the legislative arm of the government as a way of assisting in the nation’s recovery, adding that the peculiar circumstance Nigeria has found itself, made it compelling that every citizen should make the necessary sacrifice to put the country back on the path of sound economic health.