I stand by Senate’s rejection of Buhari’s $30bn loan

President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki, has stated that his recent meetings with President Muhammadu Buhari have nothing to do with the President’s $29.96bn external borrowing plan rejected by the Senate.

He also stated that the rejection was not personal but in the interest of the country.

In a statement on Thursday by the Special Adviser to the Senate President on Media and Publicity, Yusuph Olaniyonu, Saraki advised politicians and the media to stop “peddling empty speculations about his recent visits to the Presidential Villa and linking such visits to the request by the Buhari administration for approval of the National Assembly to get $29.9bn loan from foreign sources.”

The Senate President described the comments by some politicians on the loan issue “without any factual basis” as “unfortunate.”

Governor of Ekiti State, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, had warned the Senate President not to join the Federal Government in ruining the country by supporting Buhari’s request for the foreign loan.

The governor, in a statement by his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, specifically warned Saraki against doing so due to personal interests.

Fayose stated that, “No matter how much he (Saraki) tries to warm himself into the hearts of the Aso Rock cabal, they can never love him and accept him into their fold.”

Saraki however said, “Like I once told the media, these politically-motivated commentaries are trivialising a serious national issue and presenting it as if it is a personal matter that can be decided at meetings between Saraki and President Muhammadu Buhari.

“The National Assembly, which I head as Senate President, has taken a position on the issue as required of it by the laws of the land and legislative conventions.