The clock is gradually ticking against
the embattled president of the Senate,
Bukola Saraki as some of his loyalists
cutting across the ruling All
Progressives Congress and the
opposition Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP) have begun withdrawing their
support for him for the fear of being
perceived by the public as advocates of
lawlessness and impunity.
It was also learnt that the senators are
also of the view that as distinguished
lawmakers elected to represent their
senatorial districts, their integrity,
national interest and strict adherence
to the provisions of the statue books
must be paramount and above any
personal interest.
It would be recalled that Saraki is
currently facing charges of false
declaration of assets amongst other
charges and was docked by the Code
of Conduct Tribunal, becoming the first
sitting presiding officer in the history of
the National Assembly to stand trial by
a competent court.
All former presiding officers of the
National Assembly, who were faced
with similar charges, first resigned their
positions in order to protect the
integrity and sanctity of the highest
lawmaking body in the country, and
biggest in Africa.
LEADERSHIP Sunday gathered that the
ranks of the ‘Like Minds Senators’, a
group of senators that worked for the
emergence of Saraki as President of
Senate, has come falling naturally, a
fall anchored on the need to defend
and protect their individual names as
well as the institution of National
Assembly, “not the interest of Saraki or
any other individual”, our source
declared.
Our source, an APC member and
Senator from one of the North Central
state, who preferred anonymity, in view
of the critical role he played in Saraki’s
emergence, told LEADERSHIP Sunday
that, “I am personally not surprised at
what is happening because I knew that
Saraki will have problems but I was not
expecting it soon. Secondly, I did not
honestly look in the direction of any
cases of alleged corruption when I was
supporting him.
“My fear was how he will manage his
colleagues because of his seeming and
perceived arrogance, because I
remember that the President did say he
will work with anybody, provided the
person is not corrupt. So I became
involved in his project because I
believed he could use his experience
and complement the president,
particularly in the fight against
corruption. But seriously, I am
ashamed of myself to see these
charges, yes it is an allegation but you
can see that they are solid and appear
true as far as a layman can see. And
then his efforts to stop that process
were just admittance of guilt as far as
I’m concerned.”
Continuing, the Senator said, “I don’t
see myself being viewed on national
television defending that kind of thing.
What will my constituents think about
me? I cannot do that so I believe he
should just step aside and clear his
name, which is the most honourable
thing to do. You journalists have put
the matter out in the public and the
public reaction is not favourable and if
we are not careful, we will be
overwhelmed by the public and further
lose respect in the eyes of the public.
“I’m not alone, many will back out and
many have spoken to me about their
displeasure. Maybe we should support
Senator George Akume or Barnabas
Gemade for the position. Gemade for
instance is a perfect choice if you ask
me.”
On the possibility of the emergence of
a Senate president from the PDP, the
source said, “that cannot happen, it is
not possible. This time, you will see
that we have a president who will be
interested and will be right, it was
because he refused to intervene that it
led to emergence of Saraki and even
Ekweremadu. That will not happen
again I assure you. PDP senators
cannot emerge Senate President, no
way,” he said.
Meanwhile, following the arraignment
of Saraki before the CCT last week,
Senators elected on the platform of the
opposition PDP appear to have
perfected plans to replace him with one
of their own in case of his eventual
removal from office.
An impeccable source within the PDP
last night confided in LEADERSHIP
Sunday that the permutation of the
PDP lawmakers is that if the governing
APC of which Saraki is a member, uses
the court or other means to remove
him, the PDP should reach out to the
Senate President’s core supporters in
the APC, who are already endangered
and aggrieved with the way and
manner Saraki was last week
humiliated by being dragged to the
tribunal without previous invitation.
He stated that if this is achieved, the
PDP will then try to get the needed
number to make the balance and
present either former Senate President
David Mark or the incumbent Deputy
Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, as
new Senate President.
Indications at the weekend revealed
that PDP senators have also realised
that they need to stay together as a
united team to be able to assert
themselves and get what they need,
hence their recent meetings in different
parts of Abuja to be able to present a
common front when the need arises.
The source added that “one of the
problems Buhari and others have with
Saraki is the emergence of
Ekweremadu as Deputy Senate
President and that if Saraki is removed,
the APC will not be satisfied until
Ekweremadu is also removed. So, if it
is David Mark that emerges, the job is
easier. He is still respected among
ranking Senators.”
Meanwhile, it was gathered that
President Muhammadu Buhari in his
ongoing visit to New York for the UN
General Assembly got the clear
impression that the international
community is not seeing Saraki’s trial
as an anti-corruption issue.
A US diplomat was said to have told
members of the Nigerian delegation
that the US respects separation of
powers as an inherent part of its
presidential system of government and
that politicizing the campaign against
corruption will not help Nigeria.


http://www.leadership.ng/news/463449/cct-trial-fresh-cracks-in-sarakis-camp

tick tock

Have said it before, those feigning love for saraki will jump ship without looking back and it is already happening.
When ambition is not tamed, it leads to a fast and calamitous destruction, that is where saraki is right now.
Suddenly the senators have realized their work is not for saraki but their constituencies.

Today is my birthday. Please Nairalanders, 6 likes is OK for me.

Saraki the immediate past senate president

bad news for the wailers...

Me know that, unity camp or disunity camp or like minds camp, by the time Buhari open their books that have been gathering dust over the years, they will all fall into 1 camp, the loyal camp.