It is believed that President Buhari has frustrated several attempts by the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, to formally meet with him.
A Presidency official disclosed to Punch newspapers that Buhari and Saraki have only met once since he emerged Senate President last month.
Saraki is said to have made series of moves to have another meeting with the President, after the party’s National Executive Council meeting, but his efforts have so far been unsuccessful.
The official revealed that Buhari is still upset with Saraki, who defied the All Progressives Congress to contest and emerge victorious as Senate President, in a controversial election that excluded most of the APC senators.
The government official was quoted to have said: “The truth is that the President is still displeased with what transpired in the National Assembly, especially the Senate.
“Their encounter during the APC National Executive Council meeting, when they shook hands, was the first meeting between President Buhari and Saraki since he emerged as the President of the Senate.
“We are aware that Saraki has been going about begging people to assist him to plead with the President to meet with him. That was one of the reasons why he visited former President Obasanjo.
“I can tell you that the President is very pained by what happened. He felt that since he had been transparent with the party, everybody should play that way. But since Saraki took that path, the President was and he is still pained. Let us just hope that at the end of it all, they will be able to put the matter behind them.”
Similarly, a top party official, revealed that the handshake between the President and Saraki during the recent NEC meeting of the APC “was for journalists.”
He was also quoted to have said: “President Buhari is still upset because of what happened. If you read in-between the line his speech during our last NEC meeting, he reminded people who joined the party after it was formed not to rubbish the sacrifices made by party leaders.
“It was not for the fun of it that the President took time to go down the memory lane to trace the genesis of the APC. Although the President said he was prepared to work with anybody who emerged as leader in the National Assembly, he did not envisage a scenario where Saraki would emerge as the Senate President and Ike Ekweremadu, a member of the PDP, would emerge as the deputy president of the Senate.”
