Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki is allegedly seeking at least N10 billion in monetary compensation from President Muhammadu Buhari in a high stakes deal as part of conditions to remain in the ruling party. Saraki, who is the arrowhead of the splinter group of the APC, Reformed All Progressives Congress, R-APC, is also demanding that he returns as Senate President in 2019 should the APC emerge victorious in the 2019 general elections as part of the agreement.
The Kwara State native and his group have threatened to leave the party for the main opposition party, Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, if his terms are not met.
It was gathered authoritatively from a source privy to the negotiations that Saraki, who is still ecstatic following his victory at the Supreme Court over charges of false assets declaration, is going for the jugular of the president and the ruling party over his perceived politically motivated prosecution, which lasted about 3years.
“President Buhari, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, our National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole have been begging and urging Saraki to remain in the party because he is central to our plan to win in the North Central, where marauders masquerading as Fulani-herdsmen have killed hundreds of people and made our party look weak,” our authoritative source said.
The very influential politician amongst members of the National Assembly and his home state Kwara, who somehow managed to survive the onslaught of the presidency after defying his party to emerge Senate President via a forbidden alliance with the PDP, has been openly meeting and flirting with leaders of the PDP and is believed to be ready to dump the APC. In fact, some of his associates sympathetic to the group have already formally exited the party.
The R-APC, a group of aggrieved members of the ruling APC claim they have been sidelined by the party and have been in talks with the PDP, where most of them were before their mass defection to the APC just before the 2015 general polls.
It was also gathered authoritatively that Saraki has been negotiating with Oshiomhole via telephone all weekend on Thursday met with Buhari, Osinbajo and some APC Governors that are very close to Buhari – Aminu Bello Masari (Katsina), Abdul’ aziz Abubakar Yari (Zamfara), Ibikunle Amosun (Ogun), Abubakar Atiku Bagudu (Kebbi) and Governor-elect of Ekiti (Kayode Fayemi) at the presidential villa for about 50 minutes. Saraki declined to speak to the press after Thursday evening’s meeting. “
Nah! I have no comments,” he said as he slid into the back seat of a sleek Mercedes Benz S-500 that brought him to the President’s office. The other governors also declined to speak to state house correspondents.