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Saraki Replies Dele: I Did Not Make Deal With PDP by alertbest(m): 11:05am On Apr 24, 2016 |
I DID NOT MAKE DEAL WITH PDP TO BECOME
SENATE PRESIDENT.
My dear brother Dele, let me thank you most
sincerely for your article last weekend, “My
Candid Letter to Saraki.” I take everything you
said in that article to heart and I must commend
you for your candidness indeed and the sincerity
of your intentions.
As you said in your article, you are someone I
have known more by reputation than by any
personal relationship, until recently when we
struck up some personal acquaintance based on
our shared political interests, especially during the
last presidential election. However, I understand
why you had to sound so defensive for knowing
me at all and had to publicly map the boundaries
of our relationship. We have got to that point in
our country when we no longer believe that
anyone could stand for anything based on
principles and convictions alone. Moreover, in the
growing culture of media crucifixion and
presumed guilt; it is rare to find a voice like yours
that calls for fairness and justice.
I would have simply sent you a text message or
call you up for your candid advice to me, which I
take seriously. But I feel the need to make some
clarifications on some of the issues you raised.
One of them was that in seeking to be Senate
President, I struck a deal with the PDP and made
it possible for one of them to be the Deputy
Senate President. I know this is the dominant
narrative out there, but it is far from the truth.
I did not do any deal with the PDP. I did not have
to because even before the PDP Senators as a
group took the decision to support my
candidature on the eve of the inauguration of the
8th Senate, 22 PDP Senators had already written
a letter supporting me. What I did not envisage
was a situation where some members of my party
would not be in the chambers that day, especially
when the clerk had already received a
proclamation from the President authorizing the
inauguration of the Senate. Pray, if a team
refused to turn up for a scheduled match and was
consequently walked over, would it be fair to
blame the team that turned up and claimed
victory? I believe those that made it possible for
PDP to claim the DSP position were those who
decided to hold a meeting with APC senators
elsewhere at the time they ought to be in the
chambers. What the PDP Senators did was to
take advantage of their numerical strength at the
material time. They simply lined up behind
Senator Ike Ikweremadu while those of us from
APC voted for Senator Ali Ndume. It was a game
of numbers, and we were hopelessly
outnumbered. If the PDP had nominated their own
candidate for the Senate Presidency position that
day, they would have won. It was as simple as
that.
Secondly, I don’t know if you were aware that in
the build up to Senate inauguration, the National
Working Committee of the APC sent two signals.
The first signal specified how leadership positions
in the National Assembly have been zoned. While
we were trying to give effect to this decision, the
second signal came, which contained names of
people to which these zoned position had been
allocated. What was not acknowledged was that
the President of the Senate is not an executive
president. He is primarily one of 109 senators.
Therefore, I cannot decide by myself who gets
what in the Senate. Therefore, when they said I
defied party directive in the choice of principal
officers, they are invariably ascribing to me the
power that I did not have.
My dear brother, most people talk about the
Senate Presidency position, but this was not my
only offence. I have also been accused of helping
to frustrate some people’s opportunity to emerge
as President Muhammadu Buhari’s running mate.
But I have no problem with anybody. My concern
was that it would not be politically smart of us to
run with a Muslim-Muslim ticket. I doubt if we
would have won the election if we had done this,
especially after the PDP had successfully framed
us a Muslim party. I felt we were no longer in
1993. Perhaps, more than ever before, Nigerians
are more sensitive to issues of religious
balancing. This, my brother, was my original sin.
What they say to themselves, among other things,
was that if he could conspire against our
ambition, then he must not realize his own
ambition as well. For me however, I have no
regrets about this. I only stood for what I believed
was in the best interest of the party and in the
best interest of Nigeria.
Now to the substantive issue of my trial. As you
rightly noted, this trial is not about corruption.
And I am happy that since my trial started, people
who have followed the proceedings have now
understood better what the whole thing is about.
I have had opportunity to declare my assets four
times since 2003. Over those years, the Code of
Conduct Bureau had examined my claims. There
was no time that they raised any issues with me
on any item contained in my declarations over
those twelve years. This is why you should be
surprised that while I am being tried by the Code
of Conduct Tribunal, the witness and the evidence
supplied against me were all from EFCC.
Like you, I have an abiding faith in the judiciary.
May God forbid the day that we would give up on
our judicial system. However, the onus is not on
me to prove that I have confidence in the
judiciary; the burden is on my prosecutors to
prove to the world that justice is done in my
case. If the process of fighting corruption is itself
corrupt, then whatever victory is recorded would
remain tainted and puerile!
Some people have wondered, why has Saraki
been “jumping” from one court to another instead
of facing his trial? To those people, I would say
that I have only gone to those courts in search of
justice. Strange things have happened, and they
are still happening. For example, Section 3(d) of
the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act
states that the Bureau shall refer any breach or
non-compliance to the Tribunal. However, where
the person concerned makes a written admission
of the breach, no reference to the Tribunal shall
be necessary. It was on this basis that the case
against Asiwaju Bola Tinubu was dismissed in
2011, by this same judge in this same Tribunal on
the grounds that he was not given an opportunity
to deny or admit to any breach before he was
brought before the tribunal. This was the ruling
that I relied on in making my case. But what did
the judge say? That he had judged in error in
2011 and he had since realized his error and
departed from it. My question is whether a
Tribunal of first instance has the power to reverse
itself. I should expect that everyone would be
worried if justice is applied differently to different
people. However, in spite of my fears, I remain
hopeful. Why? Because the judiciary does not end
with this Tribunal.
Do you know the genesis of my real problems
with President Goodluck Jonathan? I have had a
touchy relationship with him, but the turning point
was in September 2011 when I moved a motion
on the floor of the Senate that exposed the N2.3
trillion fuel subsidy racket. I remain proud that I
was the Senator that blew the lid on the most
elaborate corruption scheme ever in this country.
But after that I became a marked man. My
security was withdrawn. I was invited and re-
invited by the EFCC and the Special Fraud Unit. I
was even declared wanted at a point. I believe I
am still one of the most investigated former
governors in this country. I have no doubt that if
the Jonathan government was able to find
anything against me, they would not have
allowed me to go unpunished.
Let me make this point clearly. I do not expect to
be shielded from prosecution because of my
contribution to APC, if there was genuine basis
for such action to be taken against me. But I
have every reason to expect not to be persecuted
by the party that I contributed so much to build.
The New PDP may not have given APC victory in
2015, but it was an important factor in the
dynamics that produced that victory. And with all
sense of modesty, I was an important factor in
the formation of New PDP; in leading that group
to the APC; in ensuring our group’s support for
the candidate during the primaries and in
mobilizing substantial resources for the election.
For these, I have not expected any special
compensation. Rather, I only expect to be treated
like every loyal party member and accorded the
right to freely aspire!
Some people have complained that I have been
taken Senators with me to my trial. But I did not
force them to follow me. The Senators have freely
accompanied me to the Tribunal not because they
are loyal to me as Abubakar Bukola Saraki, but
because they are committed to the principle that
produced me as the President of the Senate. The
same principle that produced Ike Ekweremadu as
Deputy Senate President and produced Ali Ndume
as Majority Leader. They see all of us in the
Senate leadership as manifestation of their
jealously guarded right to freely choose their own
leaders. Because they know they made us their
leaders without any external interference; they are
confident that they retain the power to remove us
whenever they so wish. They also know what this
trial is all about. They believe I am being
victimized because they have expressed their right
to choose their own leadership. This is why I am
not in any way perturbed by my absence in the
chambers during this trial. Because I was not
imposed on the Senate, I feel confident that the
Senate will protect its own choice whether I am
present or not. It is never about me. It is about
the independence of the legislature. It has always
been so since 1999. It is so today and it would
be so in 2019, it would be so in 2023, and as
long as we practice a democracy that operates on
the principle of separation of powers.
My dear brother, let me end by observing that I
am not alone in this trial. On trial with me in this
process is the entire judicial system. On trial with
me are our entire anti-corruption institutions and
our avowed commitment to honestly fight
corruption. On trial with me is our party’s promise
to depart from the ways of the past, a promise
that Nigerians voted for. And I dare say, on trial
with me is our media; and their ethical
commitment to report fairly and objectively. In the
end, it is my earnest hope that whatever we do
will ultimately ennoble our country.
Dr. Saraki is President of the Senate, Federal
Republic of Nigeria |
Re: Saraki Replies Dele: I Did Not Make Deal With PDP by 48noble(m): 11:15am On Apr 24, 2016 |
The Lord shalll return the dayz d locust has eaten... |
Re: Saraki Replies Dele: I Did Not Make Deal With PDP by omogin(f): 11:17am On Apr 24, 2016 |
If buhari can't reverse the evil employment of his niece and cronies @ the CBN, and revisit the tinubu case @ the cct... I rest my case 1 Like 3 Shares |
Re: Saraki Replies Dele: I Did Not Make Deal With PDP by talktonase(m): 11:20am On Apr 24, 2016 |
hmmm saraki who this your story epp? |
Re: Saraki Replies Dele: I Did Not Make Deal With PDP by SLIDEwaxie(m): 11:22am On Apr 24, 2016 |
omogin:your case? Which one? Who knw u? 1 Like |
Re: Saraki Replies Dele: I Did Not Make Deal With PDP by omogin(f): 11:24am On Apr 24, 2016 |
SLIDEwaxie:I expect nothing sensible from people 1 Like 2 Shares |
Re: Saraki Replies Dele: I Did Not Make Deal With PDP by yarimo(m): 11:47am On Apr 24, 2016 |
Mtchew saraki deal or no Deal prison loading 98.9 percent, Justice umar please take note . |
Re: Saraki Replies Dele: I Did Not Make Deal With PDP by Mynd44: 12:12pm On Apr 24, 2016 |
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