Politics
How I escaped security operatives’ blockage – Saraki
The President of the Senate, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, at the Senate plenary on Tuesday, narrated his encounter with security operatives, who laid siege to his residence in the early hours of the day.
Security operatives in the early hours of Tuesday mounted a blockade at the residence of the Senate President and Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu in Abuja.
The Police Action was perceived as a ploy to hinder the two Presiding Officers of the Senate from participating from Tuesday legislative proceedings of the Upper Chamber of the National Assembly of the National Assembly where 16 senators later defected from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Senate President Saraki, however, found his way to the National Assembly at about 10:40 a.m. and presided over the plenary.
Saraki emphasized that the plenary would not have held if not for his preparation.
“The road leading to my place was cordoned off and all cars coming in and out as early as 6:30am were being stopped and you have to come down.
“My convoy was stopped from moving. Given something that one was prepared for, I had my own car too. So the deputy senate president called me and said he could not come here.
“And as you are all aware, very late yesterday, at about 8.00 p.m., I received a letter asking me to report to the police on a case of this Offa robbery which had been concluded before now.
“That’s the situation why the DSP could not come here and I was already going somewhere else. If not, this plenary would not have been able to hold today. So, I had to come here.
“But as you all rightly said, if one of our colleagues cannot come out for no fault of his, I don’t see how we can continue to sit and ignore the fact that a presiding officer cannot be here.
“And if it was by the plan, I too, would not be here.
“It was just by the intervention of the almighty God that I was able to get myself here,” Saraki narrated.
The Senate President eventually presided over the Senate and announced the defection of 16 senators from the APC.
Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu did not attend the Tuesday plenary as the siege on his home was still on at midday.