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Some politicians opposed to Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, at the weekend intensified their plots to put pressure on the former Governor of Kwara State and compelled him to resign from office.
Sources in Kaduna and Lagos disclosed that the politicians after failing to get credible civil society organisations and organised pressure groups to spearhead an anti-Saraki protests, have now shifted focus to some ex-student union leaders who they believe can mobilise students for mass rallies and demonstrations against the Senate President.
It was gathered that the group of politicians at the weekend had a meeting with 16 ex-student union leaders where the strategy and logistics on how to successfully hold anti-Saraki rallies were discussed.
The former student union leaders were assured of adequate financial support and compensation as well as provision of other logistic support like vests, placards and vehicles to facilitate the rallies. The protest marches were scheduled to take place in Lagos, Abuja and Kaduna simultaneously.
“They were assured that police permit and security guarantee will be provided so that the ex-students could swing into action and time the commencement of the protests to Monday when the Saraki case at the Code of Conduct Tribunal will resume.
“The student leaders were instructed to anchor their messages for demanding Saraki’s exit from the Senate Presidency on many issues, including the CCT case, the Panama Papers, the delay in passage of 2016 budget and need to get the Senate to support the presidency.
“In their plan, when you load the messages, you will allow different members of the public to choose whichever message resonate with them. The plan is to bombard the Senate President and ensure that they give him a heavy push to see if he will fall”, the source said.
When contacted, Saraki’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Yusuph Olaniyonu, confirmed that he had been reliably informed that after the alarm raised by his office frustrated similar efforts last week, there are new plots to create chaos and confusion in a bid to force the Senate President out of office.
“Last week we alerted members of the public about this constant plot by those who feel they can achieve through the back door what they failed to achieve on the floor of the Senate. They are merely trying to create public disorder and short-circuit the on-going judicial process. As far as we are concerned, the Senate President has not been found guilty by any competent court of law and he enjoys overwhelming support of a large majority of the Senators. To that end, he is not going to be stampeded out of office by those who sponsored candidates for the office last year and lost”, Olaniyonu added.
