Saraki's Visit to Maiduguri Not for 2019 Presidential Ambition - Sen. Dino Melaye

 

According to Daily Trust, the Senate has debunked rumours that Senate President, Bukola Saraki's visit to the camps of Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs in Maiduguri was a ploy to kickstart his presidential campaign in the 2019 presidential elections.

 

This is a direct response to a report on a national media platform alleging Saraki's plans for the presidential seat.

 

Saraki had earlier led a team of senators to Maiduguri on Monday in the course of which he met the Shehu of Borno, the state governor and some displaced persons.

 

His die-hard loyalist and the chairman of the Senate ad hoc committee on publicity, Senator Dino Melaye has debunked the rumours of the visit having a political overtone.

 

But while reacting to the report, the chairman of the Senate ad hoc committee on publicity, Senator Dino Melaye, said the visit has no connection with 2019.

“It is myopic to say the visit has a link with 2019. The visit was not the making of the Senate president but the resolution of the Senate during a plenary last week. The visit has nothing to do with the ambition of the Senate president,” he said.

He said the Senate president is working hard to find means of assisting the victims of the Boko Haram insurgency.

“The visit was as a result of the motion moved by Senator George Thompson Sekibo of Rivers East Senatorial District on the Boko Haram insurgency. It was during the debate at the floor that Senate resolved that a delegation led by the Senate president should visit the North East states,”

He ended his speech with praises on President Muhammadu Buhari who is re-shaping the Nigerian state.