The embattled President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki has allegedly threatened to frustrate the government of President Muhammadu Buhari if the current corruption charges against him with Code of Conduct Tribunal is not dropped, report according to Secret Reporters suggests.
The Senate President with some colleagues at the senate resolved to use the fraudulent portions discovered in the 2016 budget as bait to achieve their aim. There are indications that the budget has been used as a negotiating ground between the Senate President, Mr Bukola Saraki and the Presidency.
Our source says the only clause keeping the budget from being passed by the Senators, who are mostly loyal to Saraki is the inability of Buhari to yield into the sole condition given by Saraki.
It was gathered authoritatively that when Buhari was away on his five days vacation, the Senate President sneaked into the Presidential Villa to tell the Vice President, Yemi Osibanjo to warn the President to stop his trial at the code of conduct tribunal or risk the anger of Nigerians through the budget, Secret Reporters says.
Our sources revealed that Saraki told Osibanjo in plain term that the budget will never be passed by the Red Chambers unless the presidency is ready to accept his condition. According to sources knowledgeable with the plots of the Senate President, he has decided to leak out grey areas of fraud to the public in order to embarrass Buhari, and will never stop until his trial is stalled by the code of conduct bureau (CCB).
The source revealed that this is not the first time that a budget will be sent to the Senate, but this is the first time it has faced public scrutiny and condemnation, with clear fears that it may never be passed, except the Presidency bows to Saraki demand or remove the fraud noticed in it.
The budget we gathered was supposed to take care of the lawmakers extravagant and corrupt lifestyle, like it was in previous administrations but the introduction of the treasury single account (TSA) has put a stop to it, as every minister who want to take money from the treasury has to account for details it will be used for, and no minister wants t o risk going before the President that they need money to give as kickback to legislators before most of the budget will be approved as pass mark.
Attempts to speak to Mr Saraki New Media aide, Omisore whose phone number ends with 746 proved abortive, as he didn’t pick nor returned our calls.
In a related development, report News Punch earlier published as culled from the Punch Newspaper revealed the embattled President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki actually sent some emissaries to the Presidential Villa while President Muhammadu Buhari was away on six days vacation, to beg the President to drop the CCT corruption charges against Saraki.
The emissaries headed by reportedly led by the Senate Leader, Ali Ndume, was at the Villa to beg the President through the acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo.
Punch Newspaper reported that, said Saraki could not reach out directly to Buhari on the matter because he knew the President’s disposition to such issues.
The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, added that the Senate President resorted to sending emissaries to Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo when Buhari was on a six-day vacation and Osinbajo was the acting President.
The delegation was reportedly led by the Senate Leader, Ali Ndume.
The source said the Vice-President made his position and that of the President clear to Saraki’s emissaries.
He said, “Saraki knows the kind of person the President is and I think he won’t approach him directly on this matter.
“But yes, I can tell you that he is reaching out indirectly.
“He sent emissaries to meet with the Vice-President when the President was on vacation and the Vice-President was on the chair in acting capacity.
“The emissaries had met with the Vice-President under the cover of the developments about the 2016 budget.
“In the process, they put the issue of Saraki forward.
“Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, however, made it equivocally clear to them that the two issues could not be mixed. He told them that the issue of the budget was different from the trial of Saraki.”
Ndume had on Tuesday led some of his colleagues, including Dino Melaye, Abdullahi Adamu and Monsurat Sumonu to meet Osinbajo at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
At the end of the closed-door session, Ndume told State House correspondents that the meeting reviewed some developments in the polity, including the issue of the 2016 budget currently before the National Assembly.
While saying that it would not be a new thing if people read meanings into their visit, Ndume had claimed that his delegation did not discuss Saraki’s travails with the Vice-President.
He was however quick to rise in support of the Senate President when his opinion was sought on the calls by his colleagues in the Unity Forum that Saraki should resign.
“Are you saying that the Senate President should be convicted before the trial? In our constitution, you are considered innocent until proven guilty,” he had said..