Saraki reveals how he escaped security operatives’ siege

- Senate president, Bukola Saraki, has opened up on his experience in the hands of security operatives who laid siege to his house

- Security agencies had laid siege to the homes of Saraki and his deputy Ike Ekweremadu

- Saraki who made it to the plenary said the session would not have held if not for his preparation

The president of the Nigerian Senate, Bukola Saraki, on Tuesday, July 24, recounted his experience in the hands of security operatives, who laid siege to his house and colleague's.

Legit.ng had earlier reported that security agencies early Tuesday morning, July 24, laid siege to the homes of Saraki and his deputy Ike Ekweremadu in Abuja.

The move was reported to be a ploy to prevent them from making it to the National Assembly because of a plan by many lawmakers to decamp from the All Progressives Congress (APC).

READ ALSO: PDP reacts to defection of 15 APC senators to opposition, declares itself majority in Senate

However, Saraki made his way to the Senate chamber at about 10:40 a.m and presided over the plenary, while Ekweremadu could not make it as the siege on his home was still on at midday.

He eventually presided over the Senate and announced the defection of 15 senators from the ruling APC to the opposition party.

Saraki reacting to a motion on the siege on his home and that of his deputy, said the plenary would not have held if not for his preparation.

Watch the video below:

He said: “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.”

Saraki condemning the siege said, it was God that made him escape it.“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,” he said.

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Legit.ng previously reported that lawmakers on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the House of Representatives jubilated over the defection of some All Progressives Congress (APC) senators on Tuesday, July 24.

The deputy minority leader, Chukwuka Onyema, led other members in singing anti-APC songs in the lobby of the National Assembly building.

As the Speaker Yakubu Dogara arrived the chamber, members began to hail him as they chanted: “Dogara”; “Dogara”; “Dogara.”

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Source: Legit.ng