Saraki claims leaked audio linking him to cash-and-carry politics was ‘doctored’

Bukola Saraki, Nigeria’s Senate President, has denied a leaked audio linking him to cash-and-carry politics. In the trending audio recording, Saraki was allegedly caught berating President Muhammadu Buhari and the All Progressives Congress (APC) for refusing to reward him materially after committing billions of Naira in support of the ruling party in the 2015 general polls.

Saraki, through one of his media aides, Olu Onemola, said the ‘audio recording being circulated online by known anti-Saraki henchmen is a doctored recording.’

Onemola speaking via his Twitter handle said, “For the record: we always restrain from responding to inconsequential issues that we can otherwise ignore. However, in order to put this issue to rest so that we can move on to real issues, these are the facts,” he tweeted.

Read also: LEAKED AUDIO: I’m ‘fighting’ Buhari because after spending over N10bn in 2015, he refused to ‘reward’ me – Saraki

“The audio recording that is being circulated online by known anti-Saraki henchmen is a doctored recording. It was probably part of the mix of manipulations that APC decided to employ for today’s election in four LGAs in Kwara south.

“Dr. Saraki, in his response to Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu in August 2018, stated emphatically that he left the APC because the minimum conditions for peace, cooperation, inclusion and a general sense of belonging did not exist”.

“Additionally, in that same response to Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Dr. Saraki emphasized that he “never discussed any such personal and pecuniary benefits with anybody.”

“Finally, we ask the public to understand that in their desperation to hang on to power, agents of the ruling party are stooping to new lows by doctoring and releasing such audio files. We expect more of such desperate moves. Fake news, remains fake news. Their lies remain lies.”

The Senate President challenged anybody who had contrary facts to come forward.

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