Ebun Francis|
The Senate President, Bukola Saraki, who on Tuesday presided over the defection of 15 APC Senators to the opposition PDP narrated to his colleagues how he escaped the security blockade at his residence.
In a move apparently, to abort the planned defection, Security operatives blocked the entrance to the Abuja homes of Saraki and Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu.
The Senate president did manage to make it early enough to preside over the plenary where Senators loyal to him defected to the opposition PDP.
Narrating his ordeal, Saraki said but for preparations made earlier, the plenary would not have held.
“The road leading to my place was cordoned off and all cars coming in and out as early as 6:30 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 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.”