Former Governor of Sokoto State, Senator Aliyu Magatatakarda Wamakko, has revealed that majority of senators are in support of the President of the Senate, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki.
Wamakko dismissed reports on plots to find a replacement for the former governor of Kwara State as Senate president.
Saraki had been charged to court by the Code of Conduct Bureau over alleged false declaration of Assets in 2003.
Wamakko in a chat with National Assembly correspondents, also debunked reports on plots by the Peoples Democratic Party senators to take over the Senate leadership.
The former governor said such reports were mere imaginations of the authors.
According to him, the present reality in Senate matters never tallied with the reports.
Wamakko added that what is paramount to senators at this particular point in time is to strengthen the Senate under Saraki with a view to recovering the lost grounds on the legislative business under the All Progressives Congress government.
He said unknown to many, President Muhammadu Buhari had nothing to do with Saraki’s present ordeal, most especially his stand off with the Code of Conduct Bureau, which had dragged him before the Code of Conduct Tribunal.
President Buhari, he noted, is rather worried about the near state of inaction in the National Assembly and hence has never been opposed to moves by the senator to get the Senate back on a high octave in the interest of democracy.
He said: “I see Mr. President, Saraki and senators holding a meeting very soon on how to salvage democracy, which certain elements have been trying to subvert.
“They will find time to meet to stop our opponents from progressing with acts to sabotage of democracy.
“Once the President and the Senate leadership sit on a round table with a resolve to re-oil the wheels of democracy for national progress, the cynics, the political rabble-rousers and those who never mean well for the APC government will go to sleep.”
Wamakko said Saraki having submitted himself to the law by appearing before the Code of Conduct Tribunal had helped the case preferred against him by the Code of Conduct Bureau, appealing to critics stop pre-empting the cause of law.
He noted that those hoping to promote discord between President Buhari and Saraki, banking on excuses, would soon realise that democracy has advanced in Nigeria with more senators anxious to make it work.
Wamakko appealed to the media to show deeper understanding of the situation in the Senate by avoiding reports capable of setting the Senate on fire.
He said the removal of Saraki as being canvassed by those he described as faceless groups outside the National Assembly will end up as an ill-wind that will blow no good for the Senate, democracy and Nigeria.
He said: “Majority of Senators weeks ago passed a vote of confidence on Saraki because they were convinced that his style of leadership has been broad and progress inclined.
“Nothing has changed.
“Majority of our colleagues still believe that Saraki remains a stabilizing factor in the Senate for now.
“A change of leadership, at this point in time, as being canvassed, will certainly spark some endless sessions of rancour, suspicion, crises and uncertainty among members.
“When such begin to happen, no one will be able to predict the end.”
Wamakko told newsmen that Senate President Saraki the same ideology of ‘change’ with President Buhari, stating that every step so far taken by the Senate had been inclined towards promoting the change mantra, with national progress at the core of all considerations by senators.
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