I think these are just filler sentences. Maybe they will be replaced later with more relevant ones.

I'm guessing that sagt was included there because it is often used with a dative indirect object to indicate whom you told something, e.g. er sagt seiner Mutter die Wahrheit or wir sagen deinem Vater, dass wir heute später kommen.

Example sentences are, in general, associated with the earliest lesson that includes all of the words in that sentence -- so sentences with sagen and very simple other words will end up there even if those examples aren't reinforcing "dative".