₦airaland Forum

IdisuleOurOwn:



EID MUBARAK to ya all Muslim brothers and sisters in Islam.


Let Allah protect us and our children.


Let Allah make us, our parents and our children obedient to Him.


Let Allah save us from all sorts of trials and tribulations.


Let Allah protect us from the dangers of Heavens and earth.


Let Allah grant us Halal provision by His mercy and save us from haram provision.


Midolian, GoatAndYamTheory, Demmzy15, lexiconkabir, Aminat508.

Amin..thank you so much bro! May Allah continue to bless you Barka da Sallah!

chuna1985:
He's excellence made pdp senators to stand solidly behind him. We will stand behind him till the very end(U know our loyalty is too powerful, we ain't sabotage) as long as he's doing well.

counting down... oct 23 on my mind

chuna1985:
So far he's been doing an excellent job. And I have a firm belief that he will excel even more.

yes! Because the PDP senators are solidly behind him

chuna1985:
As long as saraki is doin well in the Senate.. No problem.

...And is he doing well?

OZAOEKPE:
"midolian, our senate president has spoken, please come let's read together". Quote me anywhere.

Another Senate president will be giving this congratulatory message by next year.

Why am I not surprised?

allycat:
Me all I need to know is Saraki juju man or whatever that told him in 2003 to claim a building that was to be sold in 2007.

OZAOEKPE:
"he's only an accused, wait till the court says he's a criminal". Quote me anywhere

True! But since Saraki emerged(through treacherous means) as the senate president, there has been division in the party, no peace in the senate and its affecting the CHANGE Nigerians have long been yearning for. He should just step down for the 'good' of the country.

chukwudi44:
Since you know that Saraki is guilty,go ahead and jail him let us see

chukwudi44, Saraki's one and only son. Do you get mentions whenever Saraki is mentioned? It surprises me how you attack every thread that contains his name

A former Minister of State for Education, Chief Kenneth Gbagi, has called on the President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki, to step down.

He said the trial of the Senate president by the Code of Conduct Tribunal has put a question mark on his integrity to lead the upper legislate chamber.

Gbagi said with what is going on, there was no way Nigerians and the international community would respect motions and bills that would emanate from the Senate under the leadership of Saraki.

The former minister spoke with some journalists in Abuja on Wednesday.

He said the trial of Saraki by the CCT was enough reason for the former governor of Kwara State to step down and allow another person mount the saddle of leadership of the Senate.

He said, “We have a problem in Nigeria where we don’t have people of honor, dignity and integrity as leaders.

“The mere fact that the Senate President is undergoing criminal trial is an indication that he has no business being a Senate president living with tax payers’ money.

“First, Nigerians will not have faith in anything that comes out of his Senate that is chaired or presented by that kind of person.

“Again, the entire international community will not believe in the passage of any Bill or motion under his leadership.

“So if you ask me, that is the end of him. He is gone. And like several other government where you think you get in and it will be business as usual, it is not true.”

He regretted that Saraki would not learn from advanced counties where someone like him, who is undergoing such trial, would have resigned from office.

He said this was one of the reasons why countries like the United State of America is still being respected.

http://www.punchng.com/news/nigerians-wont-respect-bills-from-sarakis-senate-ex-minister/

Lalasticlala

Na which kain "dwarfic" ram be this?

illmatic101:
midolian!!! Get a life

This has nothing to do with me, bro. This is a special report from premiumtimes..was shocked when I stumbled on it and I decided to share with others here. If the write-up is too long for you to read, the source shouldn't be. Don't blame midolian, blame premiumtimes!

The report called for the suspension of disbursements to NPHCDA until it put in place a prudent management of GAVI funds.
It also sought for a reimbursement of US$2.2 million from the Nigerian government being the amount it claimed Nigerian officials mismanaged.
The report also requested the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to carry out a detailed investigation of the GAVI grants disbursed to Nigeria.

Before the completion of the GAVI audit, a Joint Letter of Understanding had been signed by Nigeria’s former Health Minister, Onyebuchi Chukwu, and GAVI’s Chief Executive Officer, Seth Berkley.

In the letter, Dr. Chukwu admitted that there had been systemic weaknesses which may have led to inappropriate use of funds.

Dr. Chukwu also agreed that the Nigerian government “agrees on principle” to reimburse GAVI for any amounts identified as inappropriately used for the period under review.

At the time of the release of the GAVI report, the Civil Society Network Against Corruption, CSNAC, filed a petition to the EFCC demanding the investigation of Dr. Chukwu over the alleged mismanagement of the GAVI funds.

In a letter dated November 19, 2014, CSNAC stated that the alleged misused funds should not be refunded from Nigeria’s coffers, but rather from the individuals involved in the misappropriation.

Nigerian officials’ fury

When GAVI released its final report in late October 2014, it sparked anger among Nigerian health officials who accused the organization of unilaterally arriving at conclusions without giving them a chance for a reconciliatory exercise.

While noting the shortcomings and recommendations from the CPA, Nigeria’s implementing agencies insisted that the sum of US$233,000 remained unaccounted for as at June 30, 2014, and not the US$8.2 million claimed by GAVI in its May report or the US$2.2 million in the published report.

An angry Dr. Chukwu said his ministry’s zero tolerance for corruption was the reason he signed the joint agreement with GAVI, which committed both sides to transparency and integrity in transactions.

“That was also why in principle he signed the joint statement,” Dan Nwomeh, who was Special Assistant to the former minister at the time, said one month after the final audit report was released.
“That if at the end of the review of the audit including the responses of Nigeria and there are areas where funds may not have been spent in accordance with the Memorandum of Understanding with GAVI, those funds would be refunded by Nigeria (that is, the NPHCDA).

“In fact, at the time the joint statement was signed, GAVI never informed the former minister that they had about 2 million dollars they were still querying.”
In addition to its petition to the EFCC, CSNAC had also followed up with a similar letter to the Nigerian government demanding explanations over the conduct of its officials in what it described as an “international embarrassment”.

In its response to CSNAC, the Nigerian government stated that it “strongly objected” to GAVI’s final report and accused the donor of “unilateral conclusion and publication”.

“The Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH) and the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHCDA) stands by its earlier response to the initial CPA Report issued by GAVI in May 2014,” the Nigerian government stated.

“The FMOH and NPHCDA strongly objected to GAVI’s final report which it released and published without carrying out a post audit reconciliation exercise (a standard audit practice); and without incorporating the Government of Nigeria response to the CPA as agreed withGAVI.”

According to the government, a significant downward revision of the ‘unaccounted sum’ of US$8.2 million in the audit’s initial report (in May) to US$2.2 million in the final report raised questions on the basis of the reduction without a reconciliatory process.

The government said that it became obvious from the GAVI report that any document not placed before the CPA Team was deemed ‘non-existent’.
It also said the CPA Team did not make any specific request for additional information and refused to engage senior management to seek clarifications on specific issues.

“In the CPA report, it was noted that there was no evidence for the transfer of N44.5 million to UNICEF, whereas no senior management staff in the Finance and Accounts Department was contacted for this document. UNICEF has since confirmed (in writing) receipt of the said funds,” the government said.

“The CPA Team performed field visits without informing the Federal Ministry of Health or NPHCDA of the locations and gave no feedback on return. Government of Nigeria provided evidence to show that the team in some instances visited wrong locations and interviewed wrong persons.

“The report claimed that incinerators were not delivered whereas all were delivered at the time of the CPA.
“In its final report, GAVI maintained that only $70,000 (about N11 million) was remitted to Internal Revenue body. FIRS has since confirmed in writing that over N237 million was received by it on the GAVI Alliance funded projects.”

The Nigerian government further stated that GAVI refused to conduct reconciliatory exercise following its response to the audit, turned down invitations for joint site visits for verification, and therefore had no basis to demand for a refund.
The government also stated that it went ahead to contact the Corporate Affairs Commission, FIRS, UNICEF, EFCC, and other agencies mentioned in the GAVI report.

“Contrary to GAVI’s allegation of NPHCDA engaging companies without appropriate registration, the Corporate Affairs Commission through a letter dated Wednesday, 25th June, 2014, in response to a request for the verification and confirmation of status of the companies by the NPHCDA, listed the names of those companies as duly registered with the Commission,” the Nigerian government said.

“The Federal Inland Revenue controverted GAVI’s assertion of failure to remit taxes vide a letter dated November 6, 2014, confirming the agency paid due taxes, even beyond GAVI quoted amount, as at when due.”

The federal government also stated that the Kaduna State Primary Health Care Agency and Bauchi State Primary Health Care Development Agency in letters dated 10th October, 2013, and 26th June, 2013, respectively wrote to confirm the receipt of 7,140,278 units of vaccination cards in Kaduna and 1,105,300 units of Non Polio SIAs Vaccination cards in Bauchi.

These were contrary to claims in the GAVI report that those cards were neither produced nor delivered by the NPHCDA.

The Nigerian government also said that no petition, oral or written, had been submitted at the EFCC contrary to claims in the GAVI report that an official report had been lodged.

“Contrary to claims of failure to disburse fund by GAVI, UNICEF also wrote via its New York office to confirm receipt of funds from the NPHCDA as reported by the agency.”

GAVI’s silence

Following the responses by the Nigerian government, CSNAC led other civil society organizations to carry out an independent investigation into some of the claims made in

GAVI’s final report.

Olanrewaju Suraju, CSNAC’s Chairman, said his organization solicited, free of charge, the support of civil society partners domiciled in states where NPHCDA claimed they had executed its incinerator projects.

“Responses were received from some committed and reliable networking partners and their officers were dispatched as field investigators who visited sites to verify the status of projects, and presented the findings from their sites visits,” said Mr. Suraju.

“CSNAC received support from CSOs and individuals who volunteered and assisted with visiting locations of incinerators constructed by the NPHCDA across the northern states of Nigeria.”
Civil society investigators visited 13 incinerator sites in seven northern states, including the Federal Capital Territory.

In Kano, for instance, the five sites visited – in Gwale, Municipal, Dambatta, Bichi, and Wudil – showed all the incinerators had been completed.
However, the incinerators at Numan in Adamawa State, and Wukari in Taraba State had not been built, according to the private investigators.
In November last year, CSNAC opened communication with GAVI’s Geneva office with a view to compare notes and share information regarding the report.

“We got no positive response,” Mr. Suraju said.
“We then reached out to GAVI’s American office via telephone in December and got a promise of an official response by January 2015.

“On January 8, 2015, CSNAC received a response from GAVI saying it had no further information to give on the issue beyond what it published on its website.”

Mr. Suraju said that it was unacceptable for any foreign organization to hide under Nigeria’s perceived corrupt status to level corruption charges against its government without providing verifiable evidence to support their claims.

“We are seriously concerned by GAVI’s adamant and uncooperative posture in spite of the apparent weight of evidence provided by the NPHCDA in the Nigerian government’s comprehensive response with attached documentations, the site visitations by CSNAC; confirmation of receipt of funds by UNICEF, tax remittances to FIRS, and authenticity of agencies by the CAC,” said Mr. Suraju.

“In the extant case, since the Government of Nigeria has refuted GAVI’s claims and provided documentary and other evidence which contradict GAVI’s claims, it is therefore surprising that GAVI has held on to its position as shown by the GAVI Management’s repeated utterances that ‘there was no significant change in their position.’

“GAVI needs to respond to charges by the Government of Nigeria that ‘many of the actions of the CPA team were not in tandem with expected level of professionalism; and may have been premeditated on a mindset”.

‘No case of fraud’

In the midst of the dispute between the NPHCDA and GAVI, the Nigerian government, led by Ms. Okonjo-Iweala still went ahead to refund the alleged misused funds of US$2.2 million to the organization.
On August 11, the EFCC responded to CSNAC’s petition over the alleged mismanagement of the GAVI funds stating that no prima facie case of fraud, diversion of funds, or other crimes had been established in relation to the project.

“Our investigation confirmed that the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) paid all due taxes to the Federal Inland Revenue Service. The NPHCDA also paid required funds to UNICEF in 2012 for meningitis vaccine campaign (MENAFRIVAC),” the EFCC said in its response signed by Olaolu Adegbite, on behalf of the Executive Chairman.

“All contracts under the project were duly executed while the provisions of the Nigerian financial regulations for the public service were duly followed in the disbursement of duty tour allowances and other incidental expenses for the staff.”

The anti-graft agency stated that the findings of GAVI’s initial audit report was based on an unfounded suspicion of fraud and called for the ongoing reconciliation between the organisation and the NPHCDA to be concluded.

“We believe that the GAVI report underscores the effect of negative media coverage of events on our national reputation,” the EFCC stated.

“It is unfortunate that some reputable foreign organizations continue to perceive most Nigerians as corrupt and fraudulent in spite of contrary evidence.”

But despite the EFCC report, GAVI stuck to its claims. Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala believed the donor agency despite protests by a government she served.

She brushed aside the concerns and proceeded to refund $2.2million to the organisation, even without clearance from the health ministry.
Few months later, GAVI named her the chairperson of its board.

http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/190510-special-report-how-gavi-rewarded-okonjo-iweala-after-she-worked-against-nigerias-interest.html

Lalasticlala

On Monday, the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization announced that Nigeria’s former Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has been appointed Chair of its 28-member Board.

Ms. Okonjo-Iweala will be succeeding Dagfinn Høybråten as Chair of the US$12 billion multilateral international public private partnership committed to saving the lives of children and protecting people’s health by improving access to immunization in developing countries, including Nigeria.

The former minister’s appointment came months after she spearheaded a controversial decision to pay US$2.2 million to the Geneva-based organization, being a refund for funds allegedly mismanaged by Nigerian health officials.
The refund was made despite protests by officials of the health ministry that all GAVI grants had been judiciously used.

Hours after her appointment was announced, online whistle blowing site, Sahara Reporters tweeted that Ms. Okonjo-Iweala got the position from an organization with whom Nigeria did business under her watch and “paid GAVI $2.2m shortly before she left”.

But in a swift response, Paul Nwabuikwu, Ms. Okonjo-Iweala’s media aide described the tweet as “lies.”

“GAVI was paid back according to MOU because grant was misused. NOI (Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala) handed case to EFCC before she left.”
However, several documents reviewed by PREMIUM TIMES showed that despite a robust defence on how the GAVI funds was spent, Ms. Okonjo-Iweala indeed went ahead to authorize the refund.

Allegations of graft

Last year, GAVI alleged that Nigerian officials mismanaged cash grants allocated to the country through the Federal Ministry of Health and the National Primary Health Care Development Agency between 2011 and 2013.

But the Nigerian health officials fought back, accusing GAVI of manipulating events to suit their narrative and deliberately turning a blind eye to its explanations on how the funds were spent before publishing their final audit report.

Civil society organisations who had undertaken independent investigations into the allegations, after they were made public last year, say their efforts to reconcile their findings with GAVI’s audit report met a brick wall from the organization.
A PREMIUM TIMES e-mail to GAVI, since May 26, seeking explanations for their alleged refusal to entertain explanations from Nigerian officials or organisations over the report remains unacknowledged and unreplied.

Between 2002 and 2014, the Nigerian government, through the Federal Ministry of Health and the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, received vaccine and cash-based support from GAVI Alliance to the tune of over US$100 million.
While US$165 million was disbursed for vaccines, US$143.5 million was for cash support through a number of mechanisms, including Health Systems Strengthening, Immunization System Support, operations costs for vaccine campaigns (Measles, Meningitis, and Yellow Fever), and Vaccine

Introduction Grants.

Previous audits by GAVI had raised concerns about how Nigerian officials utilize disbursed funds.
For instance, a four-year audit between 2008 and 2011 revealed about US$300,000 unsubstantiated expenditures relating to the Immunization System Support programmes from 2009 to 2011.
In October 2014, GAVI released its findings from a Cash Programme Audit, CPA, of US$29 million it disbursed to Nigeria between 2011 and 2013.

The CPA findings claimed that funds – running into millions of dollars – meant for the procurement of vaccines and other immunization support activities in the period under review were mismanaged.
Of the total expenditure (US$29 million) stated in the period under review, 32 percent (US$9 million) was examined in the audit of which 87 percent (US$8.1 million) was found to be questionable.
The remaining US$20 million reported expenditure for the period could not be verified, according to GAVI, because of a number of limitations that included outstanding returns from states and poor security levels in some states which could not be visited.

“The report describes systemic weaknesses regarding the operation of controls and procedures in national systems used to manage Gavi cash-based support,” GAVI said in a statement following the report.

“As a result of specific findings the Government of Nigeria has agreed to repay funds deemed to have been misused, which are quantified as US$2.2 million.”

According to the report, 40 percent of the total expenditure of US$29 million (about N4.5 billion) within the two year period was spent on procurement.

GAVI further stated that based on its preliminary findings, cash-based support to Nigeria was suspended in April 2014 and funds previously disbursed but not yet used were immediately frozen.

The audit stated that there were fundamental weaknesses in the area of procurement which included collusion between government officials and contractors.

In certain instances, it stated, assets – such as incinerators, boreholes, and medical equipment – which had been delivered and full payments made were found to be non-functional.

The audit further established that several suppliers shared the same addresses and telephone numbers and that documents of different suppliers were signed by the same people.

“However, these related suppliers submitted separate quotations/bids in order to create the appearance of competition,” the report stated.

“Multiple companies registered to one individual are used to increase the chances of obtaining contracts at inflated prices – this was observed for procurement relating to printing, motor vehicles and incinerators. Some of the suppliers could not be located at the addresses provided to the NPHCDA.

“The audit noted inflated costs of assets/goods. An example is the purchase of motor vehicles where third parties purchased Toyota cars from a licensed Toyota dealer and sold the same cars to NPHCDA at double the price.”

In the area of tax payments on goods and services, the audit stated that it could not verify whether payments were correctly made to the relevant tax authorities. But it found out that from a sample of 184 companies with which NPHCDA transacted, the registration of 97 of them with FIRS (Federal Inland Revenue Service) could not be confirmed.

“In addition, NPHCDA records indicated that they had made VAT (Value Added Tax) and WHT (Withholding Tax) payments of approximately US$950,000 to FIRS in the period 2011 and 2013; independent validation of amounts received by FIRS indicates that only approximately US$70,000 is recognized as being received by them from NPHCDA,” the audit said.

“Specific accounts are not maintained in the accounting system for VAT and WHT to record and monitor the taxes paid.
“NPHCDA did not provide a statement or receipts from FIRS confirming how much has been paid to the tax authorities and if indeed the payments were received by FIRS – it was not clear how payments to FIRS for VAT and WHT could be made on behalf of companies whose existence was questionable.”

OZAOEKPE:
"Why is it that, for every of your thread I must see ******508 around?" Quote me anywhere

lol..she only comments on my threads that interest her.

OZAOEKPE:
"Midolian, why you too like sahara reporters?" Quote me anywhere

SR is the best

modath:
Saraki is not only a thief, he has the supernatural gift of both PROPHESY & FLASHBACK..

Declaring properties not yet bought & recent ones like it it's always been possessed.

CC: midolian, tomakint, firefire

That man? He is all you tagged him and also a dangerous capitalist. My prayer is that someday soon, kwarans will say they are free from saraki's chains

I have a dream that someday soon, kwarans will be free from the hands of ......

The good people of Kwara State have been yoking under the tyranny of the Saraki Family for several decades.  They have yoked for so long that it seems that suffering in subjugation has become their second nature.  Others often joke about their supposed docility and assume that this has been responsible for their inexplicable acquiescence to brutal subjugation, enslavement and endless denigration by a single family that has held them to ransom for so long without them being able to revolt or do anything about it.



While it could be easy to pillory the people of Kwara State, especially the Yoruba majority, for not having found a way to liberate themselves from the tyranny of the Saraki family, it would amount to intellectual masturbation to divorce their dilemma from their unfortunate history in which treachery and perfidy has played a prominent role. That part of their history which is better wished away but ought not to be forgotten for them to be able to chart a way forward for themselves and their future generation. 
 
Records show that, the fate of Kwara people has stubbornly remained stagnant as far as the struggle for freedom from tyranny of the Saraki family was concerned, not because they have not put up any resistance, but because the Nigerian State had collaborated with a political carpetbagger and his scions to exploit and manipulate the system to hold them down. This was in return for loyalty to the despicable oligarchy that has fostered corruption at the center, moralized immorality and ensorcell the rest of Nigeria and as a result, checkmated the crossover of a fully endowed country to greatness in the comity of nations.
 
 The nature and character of the Nigerian state – structurally and psychologically antithetical to progress and development - has not experienced any fundamental change by the advent of President Mohammed Buhari.  Buhari’s second coming has been made possible by a disoriented, confused, incompetent and kleptomaniac Ijaw man thrusted into power and greatness but found himself utterly unprepared  and as such fumbled woefully. His name is Goodluck Ebele Jonathan (GEJ). This man unwittingly created the template for the issues that were used to campaign against him, the most important of which was and still is corruption against which Nigerians have declared a war and mandated President Buhari to lead same.
 
What has this got to do with the enslavement and subjugation of the Kwarans by the notorious Saraki family? The functional relationship of the above antecedents to the current possibilities for the freedom of the subjugated Kwarans lays in the fact that the Saraki family has grown comfortable in its heinous acts of shepherding Kwarans. The family, by the time of 2015 elections, feels unassailable and invulnerable. It could not fathom that anything could happen that could change the tide against it.  The mechanics of the Saraki family’s domination still remained essentially the same: kowtowing to the North who had always helped its patriarch to maintain his hold on the State and its unfortunate people.
 
With the coming of President Buhari,  the scion of the family and the current “godfather” of the family, “Senator” Bukola Saraki, did not anticipate that he (Buhari) could be different. His calculation was conventional that President Buhari being a Fulani would play the usual game, condone his (Bukola’s) excesses and allow him to continue to ride roughshod on the laws and the fortunes of the people of Nigerians as his father did, and he had also done for long in Kwara. His confidence appeared to have been buoyed by the reported intervention of Emir of Sokoto to facilitate his emergence as the Senate President as publicly attested to by Speaker Yakubu Dongara.
 
Absent in Bukola’s calculation was the dynamics of the milieu outside the confines of Kwara which were crying for change and seeking an end to kinetic kleptomania, conspicuous consumption and contumelious corruption that had turned the country into a laughing stock. The dynamics which were appropriated by opportunistic and corrupt politicians were used to convince Nigerians that Buhari was the answer. Their objective was not really to fight corruption but to gain power and further enrich themselves. In the course of this, they failed to take cognizance of what is called the X factor. All of these politicians are now contending with, and may still contend with, unintended consequences. But unknown to the purveyors of greed, while greed could be enormously rewarding, it also destroys devastatingly. 
 
Thus Bukola, working with the old assumptions, aligned himself to another odiously corrupt Fulani man and an international criminal wanted in the United States of America for money laundering and corruption, in Abubakar Atiku, the Vice President under Chief Olusegun Obasanjo-Onyejekwe. Bukola allegedly conspired to forge the Senate rules to install himself as the Senate President. But his luck ran out because his greed befuddled his thinking process, fueled his arrogance, primed his impunity and seeped into his inebriated consciousness. He did not know when to stop and think of others. He was still thinking in the context of the mechanics of his domination of Kwara State where he had used the system to subjugate everyone. He misfired. The rest is now history.
 
But the trajectory for this history despite being long, has yet to conclude. This struggle to seek liberation from the Saraki’s family tyranny started between the first generation political "godfather" , the father of Bukola, the late Oloye Olusola Saraki and late Governor Adamu Atta who spearheaded the first rebellion.  He was unsuccessful because Saraki knew how to beg his enemy to defeat another enemy, the usual Afonja style. But it was this same President Buhari that ended that victory of Oloye Saraki in December 1983 when the government of Alhaji Shehu Shagari was overthrown.
 
 But the struggle to overthrow the tyranny of the  Saraki family got a new lease of life in1999 when another hitherto political "son" , Muhammed Lawal, itched seriously to come into his own, at least so it seemed. This struggle for liberation in Kwara had many facets to it:

I.  The questions of physical development of Kwara State as it were.

II. The empowerment of average Kwarans and other Kwaran elites or the lack of it

III. The question of whether a single family was entitled to all the plum positions that the state had.

IV.  Stemming from the latter was what appeared to be the most serious and important facet of this - the contest between political, social and economic subjugation by Saraki family and the unceasing desire for freedom and liberty by Kwarans.
 
For those who have followed the developments in the State of Kwara since 1979, this struggle was not new. It has been repeatedly waged between Oloye Olusola Saraki on one hand and other Kwarans who reportedly, seek to liberate their people from Saraki's alleged stranglehold, on the other. The first time this battle was fought (at least openly) in the second republic (1983 elections) as pointed out above, Oloye Saraki won a psychological one by aligning with his traditional enemies in the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) to defeat the rebellious Governor Adamu Attah who contested for a second term on the platform of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN). This realignment brought Chief Cornelius Adebayo, whose brief era was described as "one of the most progressive in the history of Kwara State," into office, regardless of the fact that it only lasted for a few months.
 
This facet of the contest between "servitude and liberty," also appears to be the most interesting, and seemingly most volatile of all the facets. It is this facet that had and still has larger and more durable ramifications for the future of Kwara State and its people. The fact that the arrow head of this "struggle for liberation" at the advent of this republic in 1999 was Mohammed Lawal, a Yoruba man from Ilorin, brought new equations, old intrigues and silent yearnings into the struggle. It not only brought into the open, the question of identity and loyalty of the Saraki family to the Yoruba community and their interests in Kwara State, it also brought into the question why the state has not progressed as it should all this while when Oloye Saraki controlled the destiny of the Kwaran people, at least politically.
 
During the Babangida inspired era of abracadabra politics, Chief Olusola Saraki himself started a controversy when he said he was not a Yoruba man. He flat out denied the Yoruba for whatever it was worth. He told the world that he was a Fulani man, and that the fact that his name was "Olusola" had nothing to do with his "Fulaniness" but more to do with the sojourn of his parents somewhere in the neighbourhood of Iseyin in Oyo State.  This, under normal circumstances, should not have mattered. But that declaration or denial, happened at a time of a serious crisis, when questions of emancipation of the Yoruba in Kwara from Fulani imperialism, in a manner that would forestall inter-ethnic upheaval were being considered.
 
His continued frustration of the dreams of the Yoruba people of Ilorin to have their own Oba as opposed to an emir and his admission of his membership of the minority Fulani "overlords" might have made it easier for Saraki's political detractors to cast him as the perpetuator of the servitude of the Kwara people. But unfortunately for him too, though not uncharacteristic of a feudalized, selfish and opportunistic politician, he had also played into the hands of his detractors by his demonstrated lack of vision in terms of serious development in the state. For over 35 years, late Oloye Saraki had nothing concrete or tangible he could point to on the ground as being his handwork that has advanced the social and economic progress of the Kwarans.
 
To worsen his case, he exhibited political greed (that would later consume him when he was betrayed by his own son, now Senator Bukola Saraki) by sponsoring his daughter, Gbemisola for the Kwara Central senatorial seat while at the same time nominating his son Bukola, for the governorship of Kwara State. This gave the impression that Saraki was seeking the imperial control of the state to the exclusion of those who consider themselves the "real Kwarans." His opponents insinuated that he (Sola Saraki) was a "Fulani agent" being used to hold the Kwara people in perpetual servitude. Some Kwarans were making "fundamental connections" between this "threat of Saraki family control" of Kwara politics and the way and manner most emirs in the North have their lineage linked to the Sokoto throne and "elective" offices.
 
Some of the Kwara "freedom fighters" have also sought to establish the "character of Saraki politics" as being a replica of "most Northern States where the Fulani are in the minority but maintain political control." The fact that Saraki had publicly called himself a Fulani also fueled this fear as being very real. Saraki's political opponents also recalled his role in the installation of the present emir (who incidentally has also dropped his Yoruba middle name on ascension to the "throne" using it as evidence of their allegation that he (Saraki) wanted to keep Kwarans in servitude for his Fulani people. His opponents were quick to point to Sokoto and adjoining states where the Fulani held and still hold sway and compared the "misfortunes" of the Kwarans in terms of 'education, economic empowerment and political freedom" to those of the people in those states.
 
For late Mohammed Lawal to have successfully characterized the face - off with Oloye Sola Saraki as that of the quest for "freedom against servitude and bondage" was a very smart political move. Though, the ingredients for this view and genuine basis for this feeling have been there all this while, Lawal appeared to have been able to articulate this and encapsulate it as the plank for his struggle against Oloye Saraki. It was a master stroke on the part of Lawal Group.
 
There is a history of political horse trading and dealings on the platter of expediency that has no bearing on the lives, hopes, aspirations and dreams of the ordinary people of Kwara by the Saraki family. Though some Saraki family apologists point to the "progressive era" of Chief Adebayo as the "handiwork" of Oloye Saraki, others were quick to contend that it was not done for the interest and progress of the Kwarans but to "spite his political challengers, " especially the rebellious Governor Adamu Atta.  The Saraki family political history in Kwara is a history that would bring the chickens home to roost and would likely cost the Sarakis their "political enterprise" sometime in the future.
 
Therefore, while the raging battle might seem to be for the Ilorin State House, and the desire of the Yoruba people in Kwara to have their own traditional Oba as opposed to an Emir (which in a way it still is), the underpinning tones have always been of more serious nature. The "combatants" appreciate the implications and are willing to give everything for it. The untimely death of Mohammed Lawal had scuttled the resurgence of the “freedom fighters” and their ability to sustain their struggle which has evidently engendered the subsistence of the status quo to the extent that even, Bukola Saraki has appropriated the political machine of his father and reinforced the servitude of the Kwaran people. He did not only inherit the political machine of his father, Bukola actually disgraced his father Oloye Olusola Saraki, also a Senator in the Second Republic, and humiliated his sister Gbemisola, to become numero uno  in the politics of Kwara state.
 
In some quarters in Ilorin, it has been repeatedly whispered that his father was so pained about the treachery of his son that he laid a curse on Senator Bukola Saraki that he (Bukola) would also meet his own waterloo in opprobrium. But treachery in the Yorubaland of Kwara is nothing new. It started in 1817, when Aare-Ona Kakanfo Afonja, seceded Ilorin from the control of Alaafin Aole (sometimes written as Awole) who also put a curse on Afonja just the way Oloye Sola Saraki put a curse on Senator Bukola Saraki. When Afonja was murdered six years after by his Fulani ally,  Alim al- Salih (also known as Shehu Alimi) in 1823, Jagunjagun Solagberu, another Yoruba war General who was a traitorous co-conspirator with Field Marshal Afonja against the Alaafin Aole and Oyo kingdom became a victim of assassination by Alimi’s son to give complete control of a part of Yoruba land to the Fulanis.
 
This was the year, according to a Hugh Clapperton 1929 Journal, when Ilorin became part of the Sokoto Caliphate, as a result of this assassination of Jagunjagun Solagberu. The belated effort of Alaafin Majotu who succeeded Alaafin Aole to seek the help of the British and Oba of Benin to retrieve Ilorin from the non-native Fulani impostors came to nought. Ilorin later served as the launching pad of the Fulani imperialism against the Yoruba kingdoms until it was effectively repelled in 1840 at Oshogbo. The betrayal of Sola Saraki by his son, Bukola is only a manifestation of an odious practice that has become a character of politics in Yorubaland of Kwara State.
 
The present troubles of the former Governor of Kwara State now trying to hold on to his position as the President of the Nigerian Senate has stirred the hornets’ nest of those seeking to disentangle the Kwaran politics from the stranglehold of the servitude, subjugation and kleptomania that Bukola Saraki and his family represents, reportedly on behalf of those who are regarded as “neo -colonialists” in Kwara. It is not clear how the present legal imbroglio would affect the struggles of the freedom fighters who are sensing an opportunity in the corruption war that seems about to engulf the “godfather” of Kwara politics.
 
The “freedom fighters” who are presently lamenting the absence of a powerful political figure to champion their course believed that they would not remain perpetually in servitude. They are expressing the belief that the lessons of history had insisted that “the battle for freedom is never done, and its field is never quiet.” Hopefully, in the not distant future, the determined Kwarans would be able to say in the words popularized by the famous American Civil Rights icon, Martin Luther King Jr.: FREE AT LAST! FREE AT LAST!! FREE AT LAST!!!
 
“In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility – I welcome it.”
- John F. Kennedy, in his Inaugural Address January 20, 1961

Credit- Oyeyemi Aderemi

http://saharareporters.com/2015/09/23/tyranny-saraki-family-and-kwarans%E2%80%99-struggle-liberation-remi-oyeyemi

Gone, going, gone

Saraki's lawyer knows all of these.. He is deliberately raising the issues of technicalities to prolong the case.

The news that charges have been filed against the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, at the Code of Conduct Tribunal was received by many with a shock. The expectation, however, was that the accused would be in haste to clear his name, as honourable men would want to.

On the contrary, Dr. Saraki filed an application before the Federal High Court seeking to stop the scheduled trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal. The application was granted ex-parte.

The ex-parte application and its grant represent the two of the most frustrating avenues through which justice is frustrated and judicial process abused in our country’s courts of ‘justice’. The fact that the number three man in our political hierarchy is the perpetrator in this case is profoundly disappointing.
More importantly, however, is the fact that the grant of the application was in manifest error of trite law such that keen watchers may be pardoned for suspecting that something underhand was involved in the entire process.

In the first place, no court of law has the powers to interfere with, or in any way restrain the exercise of the judicial powers of another court of co-ordinate jurisdiction. This is trite and well established in accordance with the principles of the doctrine of judicial precedent. In this case, the Federal High Court and the Code of Conduct Tribunal are courts of co-ordinate jurisdiction: appeals from the decisions of the Code of Conduct Tribunal lie to the Court of Appeal (s.23 (4) of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act) and appeals from the decisions of a Federal high Court lie to the court of Appeal (s. 243, Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999).

In the second place, an injunction restraining the Code of Conduct Bureau is misdirected and therefore, futile. The Code of Conduct Bureau is not a prosecuting authority; under section 3 of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act, it is merely an administrative and investigative authority and its role in the prosecution of defaulters under the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act is limited to recommending persons for prosecution. The prosecuting authority in respect of offences under the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act is the Office of the Attorney General. Thus section 24 (3) of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act provides the Attorney General or any one nominated by him may bring charges in respect of offences under the Act.

In the third place, it is incorrect for Dr. Saraki to hinge the basis of his ex parte application on the fact that there is no incumbent Attorney General capable of instituting actions against him or any criminal action whatsoever. This line of legal reasoning, once regularly cited, has since been discredited by the Supreme Court in a number of cases and, most recently, in the case of Federal Republic of Nigeria v. Senator Adewunmi where the Supreme Court, per Umaru Altu Kalgo, JSC said
“There is no doubt at all that the power to institute criminal proceedings against any person in the 1999 Constitution lies on the Attorney-General of the State or the Federation as the case may be, but such power may be exercised by the Attorney-General himself or through any officers of his department.

See Sections 174 and 211 of the 1999 Constitution.
These sections though very similar in content do not require that the officers can only exercise the power to institute criminal proceedings if the Attorney General expressly donated his power to them. The provisions of the sections presume that any officer in any department of the Attorney General’s office is empowered to initiate criminal proceedings unless it is proved otherwise”.

Furthermore, section 25(3) provides that the question whether any authority has been given in pursuance of this section requiring the Attorney General to donate his prosecutorial powers under the Act, “shall not be inquired into by any person”.
The decent course for an accused, if he has concerns, is to raise preliminary objection(s) before the tribunal where he has been charged. Dr. Saraki is advised to so do if he is to remain qualified to remain as the number one lawmaker in this country.

On September 18, 2015, following Dr. Bukola Saraki’s failure to appear before the Code of Conduct Tribunal as charged, the Tribunal, on the application of the prosecutor, issued a bench warrant for the arrest of Dr. Bukola Saraki. This power is inherent in any tribunal having the full powers of a court of law, such as the Code of Conduct Tribunal. Furthermore, sections 2 and 14 of the 3rd Schedule to the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act empower the tribunal to compel the attendance of accused persons and witnesses.

Under section 23 of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act, if found guilty, the tribunal is empowered to impose any of the following punishments:

(a) Vacation of office or any elective or nominated office, as the case may be;

(b) Disqualification from holding any public office (whether elective or not) for a period not exceeding ten years;
and

(c) Seizure and forfeiture to the State of any property acquired in abuse or corruption of office.
Furthermore, trial or conviction under the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act does not preclude a separate trial under any other applicable criminal law (Section 24 Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act).

– Anthony is a legal practitioner

https://www.today.ng/blog/092317799-why-the-law-is-not-on-sarakis-side/

Appleyard:
Seconded like witch! I pray make GEJ reject a truckload of Fishes

chuna1985:
Nope, buhari is keeping we wailers alive ooooo. We shall live n witness his tyranny.

Imagine 4 months no minister no cabinet n no government. Now he's trying to make sure he does not appoint ministers anytime soon by attacking saraki n keeping him in court, thus he can't make those appointments.


Sole Administrator.

lol..Buhari will name his ministers this month as he promised. He has no hand in Saraki's case. The "50senators" loyal to Saraki confirmed this, so pls stop attacking Baba over what you are not sure of.

If Buhari fails to appoint his ministers this month, I wld stop believing in him.

chuna1985:
but same buharis source of wealth is well tainted with Thievery. Ite ona calling kettle black.

Chuna Chuna! Buhari matter no go kill you o!

MizMyColi:
Midolian and Ngeneukwenu won't like the this news

*runs out of Nairaland*

you, ehn!

...Meet the man that knows how best to play pplitics with the grassroot.

A slap is enough to bring this "soldier" on his knees. He looks so dry and hungry

TolaOluwatosin:
hahaha you be confirm sycophant.

is that what buhari told you, am not surprised, many people will believe your poo story, brainwashee

Go and make research on why he divorced his first wife, bro..then get back to me

temitemi1:
Baba nah 'saint' na

I dey tell you

modath:
No be even trust his source of wealth level sef, Baba does not want to be beholden...

PMB walking the talk ; " I belong to everybody, I belong to nobody" May 2015

Sai Baba,
Long live my president & the federal republic of Nigeria

very true

As clean as a whistle!

Baba probably doesn't trust his source of wealth.

If a man can divorce his wife for taking money from someone he sees as corrupt, then it shouldn't come as a surprise that he did something like this.