Senate President Bukola Saraki, on Sunday said the federal government would have “silenced” him and forced him to resign “if he had skeleton in his cupboard”.

He said this at a reception by residents of Offa, where he led members of his party at a campaign rally in the local government, according to a statement by his Special Adviser on New Media, Olu Onemola.

Mr Saraki, who addressed community chiefs and supporters of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), said the Buhari-led government has nothing to offer Kwara State.

He also told the audience that his boldness in confronting the federal might was because he has “clean hands” otherwise he “would have been dealt with seriously”.

“Our campaign has a definite plan for Kwara State and Nigeria. Since we joined the PDP the party has honoured Kwara State, they gave us DG of Campaign, National Leader of the party and have agreed that if the party wins, Senate President is our slot in Kwara.

“But what has the other party (APC) to offer? If I have skeleton in my cupboard this government would have silenced me and forced me to drop the campaign.

“But for God and the support of the people I would not be standing today. They didn’t want to honour our agreement. We all laboured and what they couldn’t get in three times they got it and we demanded that they give to Kwara what we deserve,” he said.

The lawmaker who said he sees himself as a son of Offa, urged lovers of the state not to follow Mr Buhari.

“We need to teach our seasonal politicians a lesson on the poll date. We want community development, let everybody come and contribute their quota to our communities; when Saraki ‘do’ his own and let them too do their own. I heard that some politicians have been buying JAMB forms in 2019. The question to ask is where were they in 2016, where were they in 2017?

“APC leaders in Kwara can’t access President Buhari for anything. They will first have to go and submit their request to Lagos (APC chieftain, Bola Tinubu) and it is only when Lagos is satisfied with the request that it will be forwarded to Buhari who may or not do it.

“Anybody who loves Kwara will not follow Buhari. The Federal Civil Service Commission that was supposed to rotate to Kwara, he has refused and given it to another state,” he said.

On his part, the traditional ruler of the community, Muftau Gbadamosi, reportedly asked his subjects to vote en masse for the PDP.

He said the party’s leadership in the state has been faithful to his community in the last eight years.

“The turnout today was our own way of showing gratitude. That is our style here. Since I came on this throne, Offa has benefitted immensely from the state, even up till the last two weeks when I told them about a road and they have come to work on it.

“But the opposition will be issuing out any form of statement telling lies that this government has not done anything for us. There is no request we brought to the government that was denied.

“This is not politics; my claims are verifiable. There is no local government that has benefitted like us. I appeal to my people not to deceive us in this relationship. We should not pretend and deceive them. These ones (PDP) that we know are better than the ones we dont know,” he said.

Mr Saraki is the Director General of the Atiku Abubakar Campaign Organisation. Mr Abubakar is the presidential candidate for the PDP in next month’s general election.

The election is scheduled to hold on February 16.