The Presidency has dismissed insinuation by Senate President Bukola Saraki that President Muhammadu Buhari was operating “a government within the government.’’

This is contained in a statement issued by the president’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina and issued to newsmen on Monday in Abuja.

The statement said that the allegation was not worth the paper on which it was written, “as anybody can wake from a troubled sleep, and say anything.”

The statement reads, “President of the Senate, Dr Abubakar Bukola Saraki, claims there is “now a government within the government of President Buhari’’ which has allegedly seized the apparatus of executive powers to pursue a nefarious agenda.

“This claim by Senator Saraki would have been more worth the while, if it had been backed with more information.

“If he had proceeded to identify those who constitute the “government within the government,” it would have taken the issue beyond the realm of fiction and mere conjecture.

“But as it stands, the allegation is not even worth the paper on which it was written, as anybody can wake from a troubled sleep, and say anything.

“The Attorney-General of the Federation is the Chief Law Officer of the state. It is within his constitutional powers to determine who has infringed upon the law, and who has not.

“Pretending to carry an imaginary cross is mere obfuscation, if, indeed, a criminal act has been committed. But we leave the courts to judge.

“To claim that President Muhammadu Buhari is anybody’s stooge is not only ridiculous, but also preposterous.

“It is not in the character of our President.’’

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Senate President after appearing at a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja over alleged forgery of Senate’s Rules book, alleged that President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration had been hijacked by a cabal.

He offered to go to jail in defence of Nigeria’s democracy.