Editor’s note: Senator Bukola Saraki has been slammed with
several damming allegations since he assumed the
leadership of the Senate, the accusations vary from siding
with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to emerge as
Senate president to forging the Senate rules. Saraki is
currently facing allegations on false and improper
declaration of assets allegedly acquired during his tenure as
governor of Kwara state from 2003 to 2011. But are these
accusations credible or baseless?
Senator Bukola Saraki before the Code of Conduct
Tribunal
No one needed a crystal ball to be told that Senator
Bukola Saraki’s tenure as a Senate president will be
stormy following the acrimonious election that saw him
emerge as president of the Senate on June 9, 2015, to the
disdain of some leaders of the All Progressives Congress
(APC).
It was an open secret then that some chieftains of the
ruling party, including its national leader, Asiwaju Bola
Tinubu, were opposed to Saraki’s emergence as Senate
president.
No sooner had Saraki assumed the leadership of the
Senate than his wife was questioned by the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for alleged graft
that surfaced from who knows where.
This was followed by calls from some quarters for Saraki
to step down on the grounds that the Senate rules used
for the election of the leadership of the 8th National
Assembly, which produced Senators Bukola Saraki and
Ike Ekweremadu as Senate president and deputy Senate
president respectively, were forged.
Following a said investigation, the police claimed the
Senate Standing Order 2015 (as amended) was forged,
but stopped short of charging Saraki and others for
forgery, thereby raising doubts if the Senate rules were
manipulated as claimed.
The battle at the tribunal
Now, Saraki is facing a renewed assault from the Office
of the Attorney General of the Federation over allegations
on false and improper declaration of assets allegedly
acquired during his tenure as governor of Kwara state
from 2003 to 2011.
The deputy director in the office of the Attorney-General
of the Federation, M.S.Hassan, filed the charges against
Saraki on September 11, before the Code of Conduct
Bureau. Justice Danladi Umar of the CCT even went as
far as issuing a bench warrant on the Senate president,
ordering the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to arrest
and produce him before it for failing to appear and
answer charges over alleged false declaration of assets.
On his part, Saraki has described the charges leveled
against him by the CCB as frivolous. On on September 22,
he was docked and pleaded not guilty to the 13
corruption charges leveled against him.
No doubt, Senator Bukola Saraki is currently facing one
of the toughest periods of his political career, but one
thing is certain, his current trial at the Code of Conduct
Tribunal, appears to be more of a political persecution
than any issue concerning the Senate president’s asset
declaration.
The case against Senator Saraki has the hall marks of a
political vendetta from opponents who are not pleased
with his reign as Senate president.
Highlighting this, an APC stalwart, Alhaji Abdulhami
hmed Adi, in a This Day report of September 21, 2015,
wondered why it took the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB)
12-year interval to unearth the allegations against Saraki.
He said: ” I see it more or less as a political persecution. It is
purely political. Maybe there are some political opponents
that are trying to get at him.”
On his part, a former minister of works, Chief Adeseye
Ogunlewe, who was a member of the Senate between
1999 and 2003, suggested that the current trial of Saraki
is shrouded in controversy.
“ Was Saraki the only person that was a governor all through
the period? Why is it that it is only Saraki that is being
targeted now?” He said it was improper for the CBC to
wait for years before investigating Sarak.
Even though the presidency has distanced itself from
Saraki’ ongoing trial, by the CCT, it is however evident
that some leaders of the APC are yet to accept Saraki as
the leader of the National Assembly and are still plotting
to remove him.
The conspiracy against Saraki
Recently, the national leader of the ruling party, Asiwaju
Bola Tinubu, reportedly barred a lawmaker representing
Ondo-Central senatorial district, Senator Tayo
Alasoadura, from attending South-West caucus meetings
for taking sides with Senate President Bukola Saraki.
“When Tinubu convened a South-West meeting in Abuja
during the height of the National Assembly crisis, Alasoadura
came. However, Tinubu walked him out of the meeting and
told his orderly to ensure that the senator was escorted off
the premises, a source within the party told The Punch.
“Tinubu also warned senators present to ensure that
sensitive issues were not discussed in the presence of
Alasoadura as he was an enemy within.”
The above occurrence suggests that the bad blood
between Tinubu and Saraki camp is still exists, and
doesn’t appear to be abating any time soon.
Saraki’s trial has all the bearings of unforeseen forces
pulling the strings for personal reasons under the cloak of
a pseudo anti-corruption war. It is an extension of the
crisis that rocked the APC shortly after the leadership of
the eight senate was inaugurated.
This is evident by recent reports that some senators who
are opposed to the emergence of Saraki as senate
president are planning to use his ongoing trial at the CCT
as a ground to institute impeachment proceedings
against the him, this is another pointer to the fact that
Saraki’s political upheavals is a master plan by
disgruntled APC members to unseat him as president of
the Senate and not a war against corruption as the public
are meant to believe.
From all indications, those behind Saraki’s travails are
from his own party, the APC, who want him to step down
as Senate president for an anointed candidate of the
party.
They were likely the ones who sponsored the hoodlums
who disrupted the Eid el-kabir prayers in Ilorin and
attacked Saraki with stones and sachet water in Ilorin on
Thursday, September 24.
They are also the invisible force fanning the flames of
investigations against Saraki, his family members and
close associates, but what they fail to understand is
Bukola Saraki is an experienced politician, a rugged
fighter who is capable of holding his ground. Those
opposed to Saraki’s Senate precedency should brace up
for a long fight because Saraki is a political survivor.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely
those of the original author. These views and opinions do
not necessarily represent those of Naij.com, its editors or
other contributors.
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