Former President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki, yesterday faulted the claim by President Muhammadu Buhari that the Eighth Senate did not assist his administration to battle insecurity by organising a summit to generate ideas on what to do.

Saraki’s media aide, Mr. Yusuph Olaniyonu, said in a statement yesterday that the immediate past president of the Senate, noted with dismay the claim contained in the seventh paragraph of a statement on Tuesday, by Buhari’s media adviser, Mr. Femi Adesina, that “he (Buhari) tried very hard to get the Eighth (National) Assembly to do the same (organise a security summit) for the sake of the country and I didn’t succeed much. But time has proved me right.”

The president was said to have made the claim while receiving the report of the National Security Summit held on May 26, 2021, by the House of Representatives from the Speaker, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila.

Saraki said: “On a matter as sensitive and important in the scale of constitutional responsibilities of the legislature like security, it will be irresponsible of us not to state the true situation concerning the claim by the presidency. We need to inform the general public that the 8th Senate, without any prompting from the presidency, organised a well-attended two-day security summit on February 8 and 12, 2018.”

He added that the summit, held in Abuja, was organised by the ad hoc committee of the Senate on the Review of the Security Infrastructure, headed by the incumbent President of the Senate, Dr. Ahmad Lawan, who was then Senate leader.

He said the summit was declared open by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo (SAN) with the leadership of the armed forces and other security agencies in attendance.

He stated that after the report of the summit was adopted by the Senate in the chamber, the 20-point recommendation was forwarded to the president for consideration and necessary action.

Saraki said he was constrained to make the clarification for posterity sake because he had noticed the recent trend in which some sources deliberately push out false narratives aimed at shifting blame and passing the buck arising from the security and other challenges confronting the country on the 8th National Assembly.

He added: “We urge discerning members of the public to always take their time to properly check the veracity of the claims contained in such narratives.

“We believe that facts are sacred and opinions are free. Therefore, we urge those in charge of representing the views of the president to the public to always check their facts very diligently and ensure that such reports are based on truth and nothing but the truth.”