Unmasking The Demons Behind Saraki’s Travails

Editor’s note: Senator Bukola Saraki has been slammed with several damming allegations since he assumed the leadership of the Senate. These accusations vary from siding with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) 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?

No one needed a crystal ball to be told that Senator Bukola Saraki’s tenure as 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 an 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 by the security agencies.

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 the tribunal 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 his 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 Ahmed 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 Saraki.

Even though the presidency has distanced itself from Saraki’s ongoing trial, 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 the Senate President.

“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 also 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 presidency should brace up for a long fight because Saraki is a political survivor capable of outwitting his foes.

Saraki

we don hear

Those behind saraki is Saraki Himself!

He has his right to make his own choice, so let him be responsible for it

Hmmm

I stand to fault the use of the word 'invisible' in describing those behind Saraki's travail. The media should help us by being bold to say it loud no matter who is involved.

Is it not obvious and a public secret that APC, Tinubu, Buhari, Oyegun, Lawal, et al are the ones upsetting Saraki cum the Senate?

frankay430:
we don hear

Abi.

You won an election under the platform of a party only for you not only turn your back against the party but also embarrased them.Now let him prove how he's bigger than the party.

Dog eat Dog while the country's economy runs on autopilot.

Nigerian mentality

always blaming demons for the crimes they commit

Stale news

We are watching.