₦airaland Forum

SARAKI, THE FACE OF CORRUPTION

SARAKI, THE FACE OF CORRUPTION

July 13, 2017 Muhammad Ahmad and Ashafa Murnai

A Federal Capital Territory High Court in Abuja granted Mr. Turaki bail on Thursday despite the anti-graft agency, EFCC, stating its opposition and relaying how Mr. Turaki had avoided court and arrest.
PREMIUM TIMES reported how Mr. Turaki was arrested by the EFCC, four years after an arrest warrant was issued by a Federal High Court in Dutse, the Jigawa State capital, on May 3, 2013.
Justice Sabi’u Yahuza had directed the police and the EFCC to apprehend Mr. Turaki whenever sighted and bring him before it.
“You are hereby commanded to arrest the said Ibrahim Saminu Turaki and bring him before me at Federal High Court, Dutse, Jigawa State without delay,” the court had ordered the law enforcement agencies.

EFCC OPPOSES BAIL
The EFCC, whose operatives repeatedly tried to arrest Mr. Turaki without success for four years, opposed the bail.
The anti-graft agency’s counsel, M.S. Abubakar, opposed the bail conditions, highlighting the antecedents of the accused in avoiding trial and evading arrest.

“Our action of arrest was in furtherance of Section 35(1b) of 1999 Constitution, as well as a valid order of the court,” he said.
Mr. Abubakar said three days after the former governor was arrested, the EFCC asked the federal court in Jigawa to transfer his trial to Abuja.
“We submitted an administrative letter dated July 7, 2017 to the registry of the Federal High Court, Jigawa, requesting them to transfer the matter to the Federal High Court, Abuja for arraignment (before the vacation judge) or alternatively, remand him in prison custody pending arraignment. However, we have not received a response,” he said.
“Due to this, we filed a similar application dated July 13, 2017 to this honourable court.”
Mr. Turaki, who served two terms as governor of Jigawa from 1999 to 2007, was first arraigned by the EFCC before Justice Binta Murtala Nyako of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, High Court on July 13, 2007 on a 32-count charge of misappropriating N36 billion while in office.
PREMIUM TIMES had reported how Mr. Turaki, in 2011, successfully foiled his trial at the same FCT High Court that granted him bail on Thursday. It was that his initial success that led to his being tried in Jigawa.

JUDGE IGNORES EFCC
Despite the EFCC’s argument, the court granted the ex-governor bail.
“Justice Halilu admitted the accused to bail on conditions which require him to deposit his travel documents to the registry of the court, produce two sureties with reasonable source of income and as well as report to the Commission every two weeks from today, July 13, 2017 till when the court resumes from vacation in September, 2017,” the EFCC spokesperson, Wilson Uwujaren, said in a statement on Thursday.
PREMIUM TIMES had reported how Mr. Turaki would have remained in detention until September 17, the date the Jigawa federal judge adjourned his corruption trial to.
Mr. Uwujaren later told PREMIUM TIMES that the commission would obey the ruling.

“Once he meets the bail condition, we’ll release him,” he said.
Although he granted the ex-governor bail, Justice Halilu Yusuf questioned Mr. Turaki’s motive in filing a fundamental rights suit on July 10 at the same FCT High Court challenging his trial.
“Why has the applicant chosen to come and drink from the cup of equity at this court. Was it not this same court that he refused to stand before prior to now?” Mr. Uwujaren quoted the judge as saying.
He, thereafter, adjourned the substantive rights’ application to July 20.

http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/236843-efcc-fumes-as-court-grants-bail-to-ex-governor-on-the-run-for-four-years.html

SARAKI, THE FACE OF CORRUPTION

BY CHIDO ONUMAH & GODWIN ONYEACHOLEM JUL 10, 2017
In reviewing the farcical coup—orchestrated by the president of the Nigerian senate, Bukola Saraki—that took place on Tuesday, July 4, 2017, we were reminded of the French coup of 1851 by Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte and the analysis by Karl Marx.

Since the French constitution prohibited an incumbent president from seeking re-election, Louis Bonaparte (Napoleon Bonaparte's nephew), who was elected president in 1848, was due to leave office in 1852. On December 2, 1851, President Louis Bonaparte staged a self-coup as his followers broke up the French Legislative Assembly and established a dictatorship. A year later, he proclaimed himself Emperor Napoleon III.

In The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Napoleon, Marx, referencing the coup of 18 Brumaire, November 9, 1799, that brought General Napoleon Bonaparte, the uncle, to power, described how the class struggle (political crisis) in France “created circumstances and relationships that made it possible for a grotesque mediocrity (Louis-Napoleon, the nephew) to play a hero’s part.”

The political crisis in Nigeria is creating circumstances in which swindlers in the corridors of power and scoundrels posing as lawmakers are playing the part of heroes. And so, it came to pass that Nigeria’s senate president, Bukola Saraki, whose rap sheet is long enough to sew prison uniforms for every member of our notorious National Assembly, prevented himself from being sworn in as acting president of the country on July 4, 2017, and thus saving our fledgling democracy.

In the Preface to the Third German Edition of The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Napoleon in 1885, Friedrich Engels concluded that “Marx came out with a concise, epigrammatic exposition that laid bare the whole course of French history…and in so doing did not even need to treat the hero of the coup d‘état otherwise than with the contempt he so well deserved.” The “hero” of the parliamentary coup of July 4 in Nigeria deserves all the contempt we can muster!

On a day that will perpetually live in infamy, Bukola Saraki, using his sidekicks, Eyinnaya Abaribe and Kabiru Marafa, and much to the approval of other senators toadying to their emperor, otherwise known as senate president, sought to undermine the constitution and illegally overthrow the government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria of which he is a highly placed member—the third in the hierarchy. The details of that coup, orchestrated by anti-democratic forces, would have been laughable if not that they are tragic.

After two weeks of vacation, Saraki and his colleagues resumed in their severely desecrated chamber and the main order of business, amid the political tension and excruciating economic conditions, was a scheme to overthrow the acting president, Prof Yemi Osinbajo.

Saraki had hardly finished reading a letter from the acting president requesting the senate’s confirmation of the appointment of Lanre Gbajabiamila as the Director General, National Lottery Regulatory Commission, when the senate’s unrepentant pedophile, Ahmed Sani Yerima, raised a point of order to initiate discussion on the acting president’s position on the confirmation of nominees.

In a voyage of crass mischief and pathetic misunderstanding of the acting president’s stance on the power of the senate to confirm nominees from the executive branch, Yerima guided his colleagues to adopt the erroneous position that since the acting president believes the senate lacks the power of confirmation, there was no point entertaining letters from the executive branch asking for confirmation of nominees.

But Nigerians know that this mischief was aimed at undermining the acting president by twisting his position on the senate’s power to confirm executive nominees. His position was strictly in respect of the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and others in that category. What he said after the senate’s refusal to confirm Ibrahim Magu as Chairman of EFCC following two appearances, was that the presidency ought not to have sent Magu’s name for confirmation because the nominee did not belong in the category of appointments that the constitution empowers the senate to confirm.

This position was what these malefactors pretending to be lawmakers twisted to suit the grand plot they have long nurtured to subvert democracy. With Prof Osinbajo now head of government, in acting capacity, they must have reasoned that it would be much easier to finally undo the presidency and launch a process of floating an ultra-ambitious Saraki—a man who already sees himself as the putative leader of Nigeria—as the acting president and ultimately the president. Saraki knows there is no other way to the presidency for him except through this despicable and farcical route.

In acting out the plot, our senators, whose mendacity knows no bounds, took the first step by discussing Yerima’s point of order and resolving not to take any more requests for confirmation of nominees from the presidency until Ibrahim Magu is removed from office. Enter Dino Melaye, Saraki’s lapdog, who is battling furiously to stave off an imminent recall from the senate by his constituents.

Not to be outdone on this occasion, this minion of a senator tried to impugn Magu’s qualification for the job of EFCC chair. For an unabashed liar and a man with the putrid air of certificate forgeries—including claims of degrees from Harvard University and London School of Economics that have been refuted by both institutions—still hanging thickly around him, Melaye must have balls the size of a football to question anybody about his or her qualification for public office. Saraki and his dissolute co-travelers made it clear that if Ibrahim Magu is not sacked there would be severe consequences, including impeachment, even if not expressly stated. But as far as most Nigerians can tell, impeachment is what these senators have in mind.

Bent on undermining the laws of the land, our idle senators veered from Ibrahim Magu to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Ike Ekweremadu, a lawyer, and the deputy senate president, took the floor and told the world that the issue of the recall of Dino Melaye was “dead on arrival” and that INEC had to seek the senate’s ratification before it could conclude the recall process. To impress his team of approving nitwits, the addle-headed senator emphasized with overt disdain and arrogance that the electoral body, even by doing their job as stipulated in the constitution, was “wasting their time” with respect to the matter.

When a man of the status of Ekweremadu, touted to be specialized in the workings of the constitution as a lawyer, pronounces in so scandalously expedient manner that an agency of government performing its duties as mandated by the constitution is engaging in a futile exercise, one can conveniently say there is no hope for Nigeria.

Such lawlessness and disregard for due process is the hallmark of the 8th senate, constituted by the worst group of senators since the return of democracy in 1999. When one of their own, Ali Ndume, called on Saraki and Melaye to clear themselves on the issue of non-payment of the requisite import duty for a bulletproof Range Rover SUV imported by the senate president and allegations of certificate forgery respectively, like the pack of debauched gangsters that they are, they descended on him and suspended him for six months.

So desperate has this senate become in their subversive agenda that it would make nothing of frustrating the executive—and grounding the country in the process—in virtually all matters, including the national budget which they have turned into a cash cow. They have ingloriously padded the national budget, arrogated to themselves the power to alter the budget, illegally removed planned national projects and shamelessly and criminally inserted so-called community projects, a euphemism for grand theft.

Now, to their ultimate goal. They can deny it as much as they like and their leader can feign disinterest, but the very irresponsible and disgraceful contribution of Eyinnaya Abaribe, pointing sinisterly to a non-existent vacuum in the leadership of the country and calling on Bukola Saraki, the senate president, to assume the position of acting president because in Abaribe’s warped logic, and contrary to the provisions of the constitution, the president and acting president were out of the country, has all the elements of a coup d'état.

For the record, the acting president went to Ethiopia to represent Nigeria at the 29th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union on Monday, July 3, 2017, and returned to Nigeria the same day. Not that it really mattered because, whether in or out of the country, the leader of any nation remains so, unless, in the case of Nigeria, he or she notifies the National Assembly of their inability to perform that role. The fact that our senators knew that no letter was transmitted by the acting president to the National Assembly did not stop Abaribe’s odious submission from receiving a raucous applause by our law-making cheerleaders.

It stands to reason that if the acting president was not in the country when Abaribe moved his criminally audacious and absurd motion, the Nigerian military would have been justified in taking over to “save the country”. We think Saraki and his cohorts have fired the first salvo. Despite their failed coup, they are not giving up and they will stop at nothing until they achieve their aim or drag the whole country down with them.

The masses who bear the brunt of the evil machinations of the Nigerian senate would have to find a way to get rid of these lawless lawmakers who have weighted down the country’s democratic process by their inordinate ambition, greed and corruption. Our senators have repeatedly trampled on the constitution, so looking toward the constitution for guidance is not an option. Recall is clearly not an option.

By their coup of July 4th, Saraki and his gang of pseudo-democrats are inviting a coup. Except that this time, the coup will be by the mass of our people, a popular revolutionary uprising, and the consequences are better imagined!

http://saharareporters.com/2017/07/10/saraki%E2%80%99s-farcical-july-4th-coup-chido-onumah-godwin-onyeacholem

BY SAHARA REPORTERS, NEW YORK JUL 09, 2017

A youth organization in Kwara State, Kwara Youths Stakeholders Forum (KYSF), has threatened to initiate a process to recall Mr. Bukola Saraki, the Senate President. The group made the threat in a statement jointly signed by its leaders, including Mr. Charles Olufemi Folayan, President; Ahmed Alanamu, Deputy President; and Abolarin Olusola, Secretary.

The organization said the long-running face-off between the Senate and the Executive arm of government is hindering the operations of the government and affecting the masses. It blamed the situation on Mr. Saraki's lust for power.

"We are cognizant of the separation of powers in a democratic government, but it is shocking to see the Legislative and Executive arms of Government formed by the same political party playing opposition between themselves in the name of separation of powers," said KYSF.

The group noted with regret that the Senate recently suspended confirmation of nominees sent to it by the Executive. KYSF said it is particularly disappointed by the conduct of the Senate President, an indigene of Kwara State, for refusing to work with the Executive to deliver the dividends of democracy to Nigerians.

It accused the Senate under Mr. Saraki of elevating personal interests above public interest.

"Sadly, bills of public interest such as Local Government Autonomy Bill and other bills that will make direct impact on the people have not yet received adequate attention from the Senate.

"We are disappointed that despite the economic recession, which demands urgent attention, the Senate leadership has been paying more attention to swarming court rooms for Code of Conduct Tribunal trial, Customs boss' uniform and debates on the recalling of an individual senator," stated KYSF.

Rather than antagonize, KYSF said the Senate should support Acting President Yemi Osinbajo, who is standing in for President Muhammadu Buhari, to lead the country out of its current economic hardship and keep the it united.

KYSF maintained that Kwara State has not felt the impact of producing the Senate President. Rather, it said, the people of the state are constantly embarrassed by Mr. Saraki's obscene display of affluence through multi-billion naira convoys before unemployed youths in the state and oppression of civil servants, whose salaries have not been paid for months.

KYSF said it has resolved that if having a Senate President from Kwara State is of no value to the youths in the state and Nigerians in general, it will have no option other than initiate the process to recall Mr. Saraki from the Senate, where he represents Kwara Central Senatorial District.

"We hereby advise him to realize that he is there to serve the good people of Nigeria, adjust his ways and prioritize the interest of Nigerians above ego and personal political ambition," said KYSF.

http://saharareporters.com/2017/07/09/kwara-youths-threaten-recall-saraki-accuse-him-pursuing-personal-interest

SARAKI, THE FACE OF CORRUPTION. ALL NIGERIANS KNOW YOU ARE A THIEF AND CROOK AND DO NOT REPRESENT THEM.

SARAKI, THE FACE OF CORRUPTION. ALL NIGERIANS KNOW YOU ARE A THIEF AND CROOK AND DO NOT REPRESENT THEM.

BY SAHARA REPORTERS, NEW YORKMAY 29, 2017
Niyi Osundare, Nigeria’s international award-winning literary icon, on Sunday dismissed Senate President Bukola Saraki as “Mr. Corruption personified”.

The English language professor spoke to SaharaReporters at the 50th birthday celebration of Jiti Ogunye.

“Most of our politicians are criminals, real criminals,” he thundered. “Many of them should be behind bars. They are not serious. Such prodigals!” he lamented.

“Look at our Senate, the band of people that you have there, where the Senate President [who says he] is talking about corruption is himself Mr. Corruption personified. We still remember how he became Senate President, he and his cohorts.”

Osundare expressed concern that Nigerian politicians only care about winning the next election and not necessarily about the people.

He commended the commitment of the Muhammadu Buhari-led government to fighting corruption, but stressed that the executive cannot be observed in isolation from the other tiers of government.

“We cannot talk about the government of Buhari in isolation from the legislature and the judiciary because this is longer a military government but a three-tier government. So, we have to take a comprehensive look at all of them. What happens when the presidency is against corruption but the legislature is frustrating it? The legislators have a reason to frustrate because they are not very clean people.”

Turning to perceived corrupt practices in the judicial system, he alleged that some judges are paid just to stall corruption cases.

“When you go to our courts, you are not sure you would get justice and then the way people buy injunctions. You’ve stolen people’s money, everybody knows you’re corrupt, now you’re to be prosecuted and then you shop for a judge and you buy a perpetual injunction. That is, nobody must even mention that case any longer. I don’t know any part of the world where that kind of thing happens,” he said.

He lamented that corruption has eaten so deeply into the country that young people have been recruited into various corrupt acts, stressing that the attitude of many Nigerians supports corruption.

"Many Nigerians do not think seriously about corruption … because they say it is God that put [the politicians] there; it is their time. That is to say, when I get there, I too will steal my own.”

Questioning how corruption can be curbed in a country where the people have such a frame of mind, he said that for corruption to be eradicated in the country, Nigeria would have to regain her lost sense of shame, and that Nigerians would have to be less tolerant of corruption.

He also noted that corruption goes beyond the political class. “In the past, if anybody associated you with theft or perjury or fraud, it was as if your family was being inflicted with leprosy; people would avoid you. Today, they will give you a horse to ride on.”

Speaking on the rate at which politicians decamp from a party to another, Osundare said the lack of political ideology in the country is partly responsible for that.

“If you want to talk about 'ideology,' I think it is the ideology of 'chop, make I chop.' It is a prodigal, extremely corrupt and corrupting belief system. That is what constitutes our so-called ideology.”

http://saharareporters.com/2017/05/29/senate-president-bukola-saraki-%E2%80%98mr-corruption-personified%E2%80%99-niyi-osundare

SARAKI, THE FACE OF CORRUPTION. ALL NIGERIANS KNOW YOU ARE A THIEF AND CROOK AND DO NOT REPRESENT THEM.

SARAKI, THE FACE OF CORRUPTION. NIGERIANS KNOW YOU ARE A CROOK AND THIEF.

BY PETER CLAVER OPARAH MAY 22, 2017
The ongoing anti-corruption war launched by the Muhammadu Buhari regime is a joke, so says the heavily-dented Senate President, Bukola Saraki; so says all those presently charged for one form of corruption or the other. To them, what is going on is a comedy, a circus show, and has nothing to do with fighting corruption. Even as they have been mum on how the fight should be done, we have no reason not to agree with them. What is going on, they say, is a witch-hunt, not a fight against corruption. They have told us that the ‘witch-hunt’ is selective and targets political opponents of Buhari and the All Progressives Congress (APC). We may not have to doubt them. Why? They have been there before. They have wined and dined with corruption. They have mated with corruption and know its many sides, guiles and wiles. They know best. Even as they are not divulging how the war should be fought, we have to try to agree with them.

Saraki is facing multiple charges of corruption. His fellow choristers have multiple infraction charges staring them in the courts. They are the ones prescribing unclear ways to fight corruption. Saraki says that we should not punish corrupt people and we should stop exposing them but rather we should emphasize deterrence in the fight against corruption. However, Saraki fails to provide any details on how this strategy of deterrence should be implemented. For him, that is a topic to be discussed another day.

What is not in doubt is that Saraki and his compatriots in corruption can give us first hand information on corruption and how it is perpetrated, for they are grandmasters in the game. What is in doubt is if they are competent to tell us how best to fight corruption because they stand to be annihilated by any fight against corruption. But we have to agree with them because they are the big men on whose necks most of the egregious corruption cases that have wrecked the country hang. As Brutus was an honorable man, so is Saraki an authority on corruption.

In the latest sing-song of Saraki and his pro-corruption choir, they have allies; those who share from their vile ways, those who eat from the rotten proceeds of their stock. They have recruited those who have political axes to grind with the present regime. They have recruited tainted clergymen who have leased out their pulpits to Lucifer and the spread of its devilish gospel. They are in cahoots with those whose lifeblood runs on the seedy proceeds of corruption - and they are many in a Nigeria, where conducts of the affairs of the state and individuals have ill-departed from the soiled and sullied ways of corruption. Having failed in their previous orchestrations against the anti-corruption war, they have resorted to banal scoffing, jesting and clowning about the war on corruption being a joke. They have a target: vilify and taint the anti-corruption war. It is the latest way through which corruption is fighting back. We shall see how far they will go with their present antics.

Yes, the present anti-corruption fight is a joke. It is a comedy, just because it targets such fat cows and big thieves like Saraki. It is a joke because it violates the well-entrenched standard of leaving out the big time corrupt elements in Nigeria. Surely, corruption is the main turf of the big men, the untouchables, the sacred cows of which the Sarakis rank foremost and they are beyond reproach. But then, who in Nigeria does not need such a joke as the present anti-corruption war? Who in Nigeria does not like the present joke that has ensured that for the first time in Nigeria, our commonwealth is not the feeding trough of such big politicians and their hirelings? Who does not like the fact that through this anti-corruption war, the country’s annual budgets are no longer allocations meant to be shared for the ramparts and ghouls that have eaten Nigeria down since independence? Who does not like the fact that through this joke, contracts are now meant to be executed and not as means of sharing trillions of Naira to all manners of party space fillers, stakeholders, apex leaders, hitmen and fixers?

Abeg, who in Nigeria does not like the fact that through the Buhari anti-corruption joke, trillions of Naira that would have otherwise warmed the ubiquitous accounts of free loaders are now saved into the country’s treasury to finance critical projects and infrastructures? Who loathes the fact that the present joke of an anti-corruption war is the reason why senior civil servants and their political cohorts have been blocked from maintaining thousands of accounts through which they salt government revenue? Who doesn't like the fact that this anti-corruption joke has sieved our economy of hundreds of thousands of ghost workers who were used by nefarious civil servants and their political collaborators to steal billions of Naira from the treasury each month? Who hates the fact that the present joke is the reason why the country is building vital and critical infrastructures in a recession; projects we couldn't do during an oil boom when the Sarakis and their cohorts were supposedly waging a serious fight against corruption?

Who does not love the fact that through the joke of an anti-corruption war, roads that were dilapidated out of existence during an oil boom are being built during a recession, together with ambitious rail lines and power infrastructures? Who is not pleased that the anti-corruption joke is the reason we got a brand new airport terminal in six record weeks; a feat we couldn't do for years when this joke has not birthed? Who does not like the fact that this anti-corruption joke has saved trillions of Naira that would have otherwise swelled the accounts of the Sarakis and their cohorts, and are now saved, with which hundreds of thousands of jobs are being created in various sectors in a time of economic recession? Who does not like the fact that the present government is embarking on such an ambitious, extensive and expensive Social Intervention Program that targets millions of citizens in diverse sectors for empowerment? Who does not love the fact that the anti-corruption joke is the reason why our military has thrashed a Boko Haram that was in tight control of a fifth of Nigeria’s land territory and was making daring claims to Abuja and the North Central states before the present regime came?

Most importantly, who doesn't like the fact that through the present anti-corruption war, Saraki and his many other lieutenants in corruption have become restive fugitives, shunting between the law courts to answer for their many demeanors? Who does not like the fact that the present joke has hauled untouchable criminals and looters into docks where they are making regular runs to free themselves from conviction? Who doesn't like it that the present joke has ensured that looters, plunderers, free loaders and rogues who vandalized our treasury are today sweating through their pants in a bid to devise safer ways of hiding their loot? Who in Nigeria is not pleased that through the present joke, economic pests and ramparts are made to perpetually be discomfited in a desperate bid to fight off the reach of the same joke? Who is so cursed in Nigeria as not to be glad that the joke of an anti-corruption war is striking hard at the thick underbelly of the most corrupt, most astute and most remorseless cult of looters that laid the country prostrate? Who does not love it that the loud boastful plunderers that ate our country into recession are now living on the fear of the unknown as they don't know when and how the joke of the present anti-corruption will come knocking at their doors? Who does not derive infinite pleasure that this joke is, for the first time, poaching the untouchables and instilling the fear of God in their systems, webbed to impunity? Who is not happy that the Sarakis and all those that eviscerated the country when this joke had not happened are now being ran ragged by this joke, especially in its determination to bring them to account for their misdeeds?

Pray, who does not like the fact that the present anti-corruption joke has dispersed the thick crowd of loiterers, idlers, loafers, layabouts who perennially constitute a nuisance around the seat of power in Abuja with hopes of getting an illicit cut of the famous national cake just by affixing themselves to party leaders? Who is not happy that those political space fillers who have hewed a vocation of embarking on one night trip to Abuja and coming back as billionaires have been made extinct? Who is not pleased that the anti-corruption joke has ensured that those who flaunt unrooted and unexplainable wealth are now being asked questions as to the sources of their illicit wealth?

Who is not happy that this joke has ensured that the country is not assaulted by daily tales of multi-trillion Naira and multi-billion dollar scams, as was the case before this joke happened? Who is not glad that this joke has stopped the disbursement of trillions of Naira to rogues and bedmates of those in power in the guise of petroleum subsidy, as was the case before?

Who is not happy that this joke has stopped the horrendous stealing of billions of dollars in the name of fighting insurgency, as the country witnessed before now? Who is not glad that this joke has outlawed the culture of granting dubious import waivers running into trillions of Naira to various shady interests? Who is not happy that through this joke, the country’s account sheets have been thoroughly cleaned and untoward practices that bled the country to death before the joke happened have been outlawed? Who is not happy that this joke is unearthing illicit wealth hidden in disparate crevices by those that wrecked the country to the seams just the other day? Who is not happy that under this joke, a Secretary to the Federal Government has been relieved of his duty for influencing the award of N200 million to a company in which he has interest; a sin that was way below touts in Aso Rock before this joke came?

I can go on and on, but the fact remains that Nigeria is on all fours today because the Sarakis and all shades of fugitives from the law have been operating as lawless czars. That is what the anti-corruption ‘joke’ is meant to curb, and it is doing very well in that regard. We have been hearing all these manners of orchestrated outcries and such pranks as the Sarakis and their cohorts play today. We are wiser to their antics. The anti-corruption war may not be perfect yet, but it has done tremendously well to cleanse the Augean stable and stench of dirt that preceded it. It has greatly fumigated the sordid space and is gradually improving in its task of stopping the Byzantine hemorrhage the Sarakis and their jesting ilk lorded on us. So far, the Buhari anti-corruption war has shown that the fight against corruption is winnable and we must all strive to take it through the whole distance if our country is not to sink from the weight of corruption.

Indeed, we need more of this Buhari anti-corruption ‘joke.’

http://saharareporters.com/2017/05/22/nigeria-needs-more-anti-corruption-joke-peter-claver-oparah

BY JOE IGBOKWEMAY 17, 2017
On Monday, 15 May 2017, Mr. Dino Melaye gathered birds of identical plumage in Abuja to launch his book titled: Antidotes for Corruption. Among his crowd of invitees is Mrs. Patience Jonathan, who represents corruption from the crown of her head to the soles of her feet. Of course, the President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki who is facing charges at CCT graced the occasion. Remove some few guests that graced the occasion simply because Dino is their friend, majority of the people in that hall that day came to mock President Buhari’s anti-corruption war. They resorted to mocking just because all the antics they have employed to rubbish the war had failed.

The choice of the date was deliberate because the President was not in town. I was wondering if such inanity and affront would have been displayed if the President had been in town. The impunity, body language and gross pettiness displayed by Dino and his gang of reprobates suggest that they think that the war against corruption is a joke. To Saraki, the war on corruption is a circus show that is working on the surface instead of dealing with the symptoms. Perhaps, dealing with the symptoms amounts to allowing Saraki to walk away with the many cases of corruption that he drags about.

From my understanding of what transpired on that Monday, it seems to me that these characters came together to put funny words on paper together in a book form and put Dino Melaye’s name as an Author to give it an identity but the purpose is to reduce President Buhari’s war on corruption to a joke. The purpose of that gathering of the corrupt was to malign and defame the present war of corruption because they have not succeeded so far with many other methods they have adopted to stop it. Sure, corruption must fight for itself and Dino’s comic show was one form of that fightback.

But can we, in all honesty, agree with these unrepentant jokers that the war against corruption is a fluke? Can we believe these characters? Are they really serious? Did they convince anybody? Is the world taking them seriously? I do not think so. What happened on Monday was a non-event. It was a meeting of clowns and jesters, all noise and no substance, full of sound and fury; signifying nothing. This book Melaye ‘wrote’ is not worth the paper on which it was written. The economic saboteurs and enemies of the nation met to mock themselves judging from the feedbacks since that mock rally on Monday. They came on stage to try to convince us with their watery book and scurrilous drivel but they ended up ridiculing themselves. The book is no book. It is an exercise in futility.

The war on corruption in Nigeria is now a movement. I have just read that the Federal Government is working on 2, 500 tips from whistleblowers, that could lead to loot recovery and blocking of leakages within the system. Do these characters know this? Hear the Minster of Finance: “Note that not all the whistle-blowers are looking for rewards. Some are just patriotic citizens. Now that everyone has embraced the policy, this has become a national fight against corruption." Now, therefore what does this imply? The war on corruption is now a national project and one million Dino Melayes and the Sarakis of this world cannot stop an idea whose time has come. This is the kind of development that worry corrupt characters like Dino Melaye and his band of jesters for they are scared that soon and very soon, the dragnet will catch up with them., therefore, preemptive strike but I know that with such a dogged fighter like Buhari, they are struggling in vain.

Let nobody deceive himself. President Buhari has recorded unprecedented success in his determined war against corruption. I only pity those who are yet to come to terms that it is not business as usual. I pity more characters like Dino Melaye, Bukola Saraki, Patience Jonathan and their ilk who think they will use their sly antics to prevent the anti-corruption war from catching up with them. Corruption in Nigeria has put us in difficult situations and difficult situations require difficult solutions. War against corruption may have recorded some few setbacks but one philosopher tells us that ‘A life spent in making mistakes is not only honorable but more useful that a life spent doing nothing’ He who makes no mistakes makes no progress.

There is no doubt that a revolution is afloat in Nigeria as the war on corruption continues to make giant strides in arresting the kind of monumental drift Melaye and his soulmates excel in. They may try any prank they like. They may mock in palpable frustration but they can run but not hide. At the end of the day, Nigeria will be better served by dealing corruption a rough nose, as is being presently done by the Buhari regime.

http://saharareporters.com/2017/05/17/corruption-gets-boost-dino-melaye%E2%80%99s-book-launch-joe-igbokwe

SARAKI, THE FACE OF CORRUPTION. NIGERIANS KNOW YOU ARE A THIEF AND A CROOK.

SARAKI, THE FACE OF CORRUPTION. NIGERIANS KNOW YOU ARE A THIEF AND CROOK.

SARAKI, THE FACE OF CORRUPTION. NIGERIANS KNOW YOU ARE A THIEF AND CROOK.

SARAKI, THE FACE OF CORRUPTION. NIGERIANS KNOW YOU ARE A THIEF AND CROOK.

SARAKI, THE FACE OF CORRUPTION. NIGERIANS KNOW YOU ARE A THIEF AND CROOK.

SARAKI, THE FACE OF CORRUPTION

SARAKI, THE FACE OF CORRUPTION

SARAKI, THE FACE OF CORRUPTION. NIGERIANS KNOW YOU ARE A CROOK AND A THIEF!!!

BY PREMIUM TIMES APR 24, 2017
The trial of Senate President Bukola Saraki, a Supreme Court Justice, Sylvester Ngwuta, and others currently before the Code of Conduct Tribunal will continue on a day-by-day basis, the Tribunal has said.

Messrs. Saraki and Ngwuta are among the most prominent of those charged with false asset declaration by the Nigerian government.

While the Senate President faces an 18-count charge for the alleged offense, Mr. Ngwuta was slammed with an eight-count charge.

According to the CCT’s practice direction manual for the year 2017, exclusively obtained by PREMIUM TIMES: “Hearing of cases shall be from day-to-day bases as the diary of the tribunal may permit for the purpose of fair and speedy trial”.

The manual, signed by the Tribunal’s chairman, Danladi Umar, and a member of the CCT, William Atedze, further states that the start time for trials shall be at 9 a.m., every working day, stressing that no attempt to frustrate the speedy dispensation of matters at the tribunal would be tolerated.

The CCT’s chairman, Danladi Umar, had at the start of Mr. Saraki’s trial stated that the matter would proceed on a day-by-day bases, but later recanted that stance.

The senate president has also made several attempts to prevent the continuation of his trial, forcing the tribunal chair to sound a note of plea to the defense counsel urging them to deviate from prolonging the trial, without due reason.

Mr. Saraki’s trial, which was earlier scheduled to continue on April 18 was latter adjourned to April 25 following a notice to the effect of the further adjournment by the tribunal.

Also, the accused persons stand a chance of forfeiting their undeclared asset pending the determination of the trial, as stated in the guideline.

The 12th paragraph of the guidelines allows for the prosecution to apply for a temporary seizure of the asset affected by allegations against accused persons, till the matter is determined by the tribunal.

Also, according to the guideline, the application from the prosecution for the temporary seizure shall be obtained ex-parte, with an affidavit and schedule of the property to be so attached.

By the charges proffered against Mr. Saraki, asset belonging to him, which may be seized include landed properties in various parts of Abuja and Lagos State, as well as a similar asset in London, purchased at the cost of N375 million.

Mr. Ngwuta was also accused of failing to declare landed properties and luxury cars belonging to him. His trial at the tribunal commences on July 5.

As indicated by the guideline, its provisions, containing 26 paragraphs, took effect in February, this year.

http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/229506-cct-pledges-daily-trial-saraki-ngwuta-others.html

SARAKI, THE FACE OF CORRUPTION. EVERY NIGERIAN KNOWS YOU ARE A THIEF & CROOK. YOUR MANY SINS AGAINST THE NIGERIAN PEOPLE WILL CATCH UP WITH YOU ONE DAY.

SARAKI, THE FACE OF CORRUPTION. NIGERIANS KNOW YOU ARE A THIEF & CROOK.

BY SAHARAREPORTERS, NEW YORK APR 18, 2017
The Association for Credible Leadership in Nigeria (ACLN), based in New Jersey, United States, has expressed objection to the forthcoming visit of the Senate President of Nigeria, Dr. Bukola Saraki to the United States.

“We cannot hold back from revealing how disappointed we, like many Nigerians, are with the Senate President and his Senate, who [has] failed to address the several cases of corruption leveled against them,” it said in a statement on Monday signed by Adeyinka Fadehan.

It called on Nigerians in Houston and throughout the United States, should Mr. Sarak’s visit materialize next month, to rise up and show him their displeasure.

“We cannot allow these rogues the pleasure of a peaceful visit to the U.S.A while they leave our fellow Nigerians languishing in misery back home!” ACLN said.

Senate President Saraki is expected to speak at a town hall event at Crown Plaza Suites Hotel, 9090 Southwest Freeway, Houston on May 4th, 2017.

http://saharareporters.com/2017/04/18/nigerian-group-us-urges-strong-opposition-visit-senate-president-bukola-saraki-houston

SARAKI, THE FACE OF CORRUPTION. NIGERIANS KNOW YOU ARE A THIEF & CROOK.

SARAKI, THE FACE OF CORRUPTION. NIGERIANS KNOW YOU ARE A THIEF & CROOK.

SARAKI, THE FACE OF CORRUPTION. NIGERIANS KNOW YOU ARE A THIEF & CROOK.

ACTIVIST lawyer Femi Falana yesterday expressed reservations over the controversies trailing the cash found in a residential apartment on Osborne Road, Ikoyi, Lagos, by operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

He urged the authorities to handle the matter with transparency to avoid a repeat of what happened to the $9.3 million ferried to South Africa in a private jet in 2014.

According to him, like the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) claimed the ownership of the $9.3 million, the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) has come out to claim the sum of $43 million, N22 million and £27,000 seized by the EFCC last week.

Falana’s statement reads: “In 2014, two businessmen (an Israeli and a Nigerian) smuggled $9.3 million to South Africa from Nigeria. It was alleged that the private jet with which the fund was hauled was leased from the then President of Christian Association of Nigeria, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor.

“Both suspects were arrested while the fund was seized. The additional sum of $5.7 million sent to South Africa through a bank by the duo was also seized. Although the Federal Government was not implicated in the transfer of the fund, the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) later claimed that the $15 million was meant for the purchase of arms from a firm in South Africa.

“As the ONSA could not justify the brazen contravention of the Money Laundering Act of South Africa, the fund was confiscated on the orders of a High Court in Pretoria. When tried last year to confirm from the Attorney-General of the Federation if the forfeited sum of $15 million had been recovered from the President Jacob Zuma regime, I was asked to direct my enquiry to the ONSA.

“It is hoped that history is not repeating itself with respect to the embarrassing attempt by the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) to claim the sum of $43 million, N22 million and £27,000 seized by the EFCC last week from a flat at a building in Osborne Road, Ikoyi.

“The Federal Government owes the nation a duty to handle this matter with utmost transparency and circumspection. The NIA should not be allowed to play on the collective intelligence of the Nigerian people. If the Federal Government believes the cock and bull story of the NIA, the danger is that similar hidden funds are going to be officially protected, thereby making a mockery of the whistle-blowing policy of the government.

“We must avoid a situation whereby huge funds hidden in abandoned buildings and apartments are said to be “operational funds” kept by certain security agencies. If the EFCC had refused to seize the fund last week, the whistle-blower could have rushed to the media to accuse the Buhari administration of keeping stolen money for the 2019 general elections.

“Apart from the NIA, the Rivers State government is also laying claim to the fund. But instead of giving the Federal Government a seven-day ultimatum to hand over the money to the Rives State government, Governor Nyesom Wike should instruct his attorney-general to file an affidavit at the Federal High Court.

“But before doing that, he should carefully study the case of FRN v CBN (unreported) where the application of the Delta State government to claim the bribe of $15 million paid to the then EFCC chairman, Mr. Nuhu Ribadu, by a former governor of the state was dismissed as the applicant was unable to prove that it owned the money.

“On a more serious note, are Nigerians to believe that an agency of the federal government kept about $50 million in an apartment without adequate security personnel to guard the money? Why was the fund not kept in a safe in the well-fortified ONSA? When was the National Intelligence Agency exempted from the Treasury Single Account (TSA)?

“If the DG of NIA has just gone to brief President Buhari that the fund was collected from former President Goodluck Jonathan for a special project, why did the briefing not take place before now? Since the NIA is in charge of external security why was it necessary to execute projects in the country? How much of such fund is being kept in private homes by the NIA and other security agencies?

“Since the whistle-blowing policy of the Federal Government commenced why has the NIA not deemed it fit to take the anti-graft agencies into confidence with respect to the fund being kept in Ikoyi for the so called covert operations?

“Is the Federal Government not being exposed to ridicule when corrupt public officers are competing with government departments to hide millions of United States dollars in dump sites and ‘safe’ apartments? Anyway, since the Federal High Court has granted the application filed by the EFCC for an interim forfeiture of the fund, it is no longer an internal affair of the Buhari administration. Let the National Intelligence Agency approach the court with convert proof to claim the money.”

http://thenationonlineng.net/falana-advises-govt-handle-43-4m-cash-haul-care/

SARAKI, THE FACE OF CORRUPTION. NIGERIANS KNOW YOU ARE A THIEF & CROOK.

BY SAHARAREPORTERS, NEW YORK APR 12, 2017

Sacked NNPC MD, Esther Nnamdi-Ogbue Owns The $50m Found By EFCC – Source


Sources on Wednesday, told SaharaReporters that the $50 million uncovered in a residential building located at Osborne Towers, Ikoyi, by the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) belongs to the sacked Managing Director, Operations at the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Esther Nnamdi-Ogbue.

Nnamdi-Ogbue, was sacked along side other three top Managing Directors at the NNPC over the ‘missing’ petrol scandal involving Capital Oil & Gas Nigeria Limited owned by businessman, Ifeanyi Ubah.

SaharaReporters reports that the cook who served Esther Nnamdi-Ogbue, absconded with cash and pieces of jewelry worth $6million in 2016.

The cook, Mr. Gabel Segbedji, a national of Benin Republic, took off with the loot in a Toyota Camry car, which also belonged to her boss.

The operation leading to the discovery was followed by a whistle blower's confidential alert received by the anti-graft agency in the early hours of Wednesday.

The breakdown of the money found in the house is $43.4million, £27,800 and N23.2million.

According to the source, the movers of the bags made believe that they were bringing in bags of clothes. Another source who is conversant with the apartment of interest indicated that a woman usually appears on a different occasion with Ghana-Must-Go bags.

"She comes looking haggard, with dirty clothes but her skin didn't quite match her outward appearance, perhaps a disguise," the source said.

On getting to the building, operatives met the entrance door locked. Guards at the gate explained that nobody resides in the apartment, but some persons come in and out once in a while.

In compliance with the magisterial order contained in the warrant, the EFCC used minimum force to gain entrance into the apartment, the agency said.

Monies were found in two of the four-bedroom apartment. A further search of the wardrobe by operatives in one of the rooms was found to be warehousing three fireproof cabinets disguisedly hidden behind wooden panels of the wardrobe. Upon assessing the content of the cabinets, neatly arranged were US dollars, British pound sterling, and some naira notes in sealed wrappers.

Preliminary findings indicate that the funds are suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activity. Investigations are ongoing.

The facility is said to be owned by a former PDP Chairman, Adamu Mu’azu.

http://saharareporters.com/2017/04/12/sacked-nnpc-md-esther-nnamdi-ogbue-owns-50m-found-efcc-%E2%80%93-source