It has been gathered some senators opposed to Sente president Bukola Saraki that anti-Saraki Senators, all of whom are members of the Unity Forum and some of their counterparts who belong to the like-mind group have perfected plot to have him and his Deputy Ike Ekweremadu removed before the commencement of screening exercise for ministerial nominees.
President Muhammudu Buhari will transmit a list of ministerial nominees to the senate for screening before traveling to the United Nations General Assembly before the end of this month.
It was reliably gathered that some of the anti-Saraki Senators were co-opted from the Peoples Democratic Party after they were shown dossiers of corruption cases to be instituted against them. A source who did not want his name in print said some of the senators who were former governors were threatened with trials with stiffer penalties, but were promised soft-landing if they could go along with the plan.
Also, it was learnt that many groups will this week stage anti-Saraki protests in Abuja to demand his resignation, a move which the Saraki Camp had also prepared for by contracting some student union leaders to organise their own solidarity protest.
Already, one of the anti-Saraki groups, Northern Ethnic Nationalities Unity Congress, NENUC, that was not comfortable with his emergence as Senate President has called on him to resign before Tuesday or face impeachment over the 13-count charge against him by the Code of Conduct Bureau.
The CCB had on Friday ordered Sakari’s arrest following his failure to appear before it to defend charges on false and non declaration of assets, which the Senate President has dismissed as politically motivated.
National President and Convener of NENUC, Mr. Bako Benjamin, gave Saraki a three-day ultimatum to honourably resign to prevent impeachment proceedings against him.
It would be recalled that since his emergence as Senate President against the wish of APC, Saraki’s relationship with Buhari and Tinubu has remained frosty.
One of the sources said the plot to remove the Senate President before the transmission of names of ministerial nominees to the Senate for screening was informed by fear that Saraki and his remaining friends in the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, may prevent some candidates favoured by the Tinubu group from scaling through.
“Some of Bola Tinubu’s ministerial nominees and that of APC may not scale through with Saraki and his deputy in charge. This is one of the reasons why President Buhari has delayed the ministerial list till now because they don’t want Saraki to preside over the screening,” the source said.
Saraki’s Special Adviser, Media and Publicity, Mr. Yusuph Olaniyonu, had accused the Federal Government of using state institutions to fight political opponents and seeking to achieve through the backdoor what some people cannot get through democratic process.
Saraki said: “We are not unmindful of the fact that the Tribunal is acting under political influence and external pressure. This is dangerous to our democracy. We want to emphasise the fact that this is not part of any war against corruption but using state institutions to fight political opponents and seeking to achieve through the backdoor what some people cannot get through democratic process”, the senate President maintained.
