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| Senate President, Bukola Saraki |
The trial of Senate President Bukola Saraki at the Code of Conduct
Tribunal over a 13-count charge of false declaration of assets committed
in the year 2003 while he was the governor of Kwara state started at a
very low ebb in September, 2015 and it seemed like an administrative
procedure that required no public attention until Saraki's refusal to
honour the invitations of the Chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal,
Justice Danladi Umar forced the Judge to declare him wanted. An arrest
warrant was issued and the onus fell on the Inspector General of Police,
Solomon Arase to grab Saraki and usher him into the tribunal.
The 'search' for the number 3 man of the current administration
looked sensational to social media users who cured boredom by designing
memes to mock Saraki. The Kwara Central senatorial district Senator
later honoured the invitation of the CCT and made a triumphant entry
into the dock. That was the long-awaited moment needed by
Photo-Journalists to swing to action as such picture spot will sell even
a stale newspaper. The following day, the entire print, electronic and
online media showered attention on Saraki like Kobe Byrant on his recent
retirement from basketball. Saraki's trial became the hit gist at
several gatherings and you will not blame the people involved; the
alleged unlisted assets of Saraki could prompt a poor man to look unto
the heavens four times consecutively and ponder on his fate as a human
being.
It's 7 months now and the Saraki saga is becoming as relevant as
ever like President Muhammadu Buhari will add it to his achievement list
at the end of his 4-year tenure. It has become the trending topic on
Facebook and Twitter again. Saraki's letter about his alleged
persecution titled: ''My Media Crucifixion: Fighting Corruption Through A Corruption'' has
emerged as the hottest news of Saturday, the 23rd of April, 2016. The
general public as usual have charged Saraki to their prospective 'media
courts' for prosecution by unfounded laws.
Nigerians have been causelessly divided again into two major groups
namely the Anti-Saraki and the Pro-Saraki groups with no feasible
national benefits from the leadership tussle apart from the rented crowd
appearing at the CCT venue with all manner of placards and banners with
diverse inscriptions in support of Saraki. Unconfirmed reports have it
that they might have been induced with some hundred naira notes judging
by their malnourished and unkempt appearances.
I am very much disgusted by the obsession of the Nigerian masses
with Saraki's CCT trial because it doesn't really concern us. The war
has nothing to do with the general interests of the people which the
state stands for. It’s a flagrant political war with powerful political
actors aiming for the golden prize of selfish interests and personal
ambitions at the expense of the change-expectant Nigerians. Channeling
the last bars of our phone batteries or other electronic devices in this
era of highly erratic power supply doesn't cut it.
Saraki's trial is not a battle for democracy neither is it a
dividend of Buhari's anti-corruption campaign (or else more big wigs of
the APC would be cooling their heels in Kuje and preparing for court
proceedings), it will never make the shameful national blackout cases in
this 21st century go away, it will not fix the ailing state of the
naira, it will not reduce the morale of the Fulani Herdsmen who after a
holocaust in Agatu, Benue have been unleashing mayhem on other states
across the 6 geopolitical zones unabated, it will not convince Boko
Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau to surrender and return the abducted
Chibok girls who may one day return as 'women' if care isn't taken, it
will not discourage the gas pipeline vandals and operators of illegal
refineries from continuing their trade, Saraki's fate is no way tied to
the social security the ruling APC promised the unemployed Nigerian
youths or the 'vulnerable' not to talk of providing jobs or feeding the
primary school pupils, it will not encourage the Biafra revolutionist,
Nnamdi Kanu to renounce his separatist movement which is threatening the
national unity of Nigeria, it will not clean up the Shiites massacre
mess in Zaria, Kaduna on the reported death of 705 faithfuls especially
in a time when Amnesty International is confronting the Nigerian army
authorities with concrete facts about the secret burial of slain members
of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria in shallow graves.
Ultimately, Saraki's trial will never find a solution to the
problem of fuel scarcity which has short-changed the electorate on the
'change' agenda they longed for. It will not settle the budget crisis
which has been lingering for like 5 months now with the clock gradually
ticking against the 4-year term and several other issues associated with
the Buhari's administration.
What point am I trying to make? The ruling party seems to be
concentrating more on its selfish interests than providing the expected
change. APC has affirmed the words of PDP chieftain, Bode George that
the party is an experimental project that may not stand the test of
time. The party has become a house divided against itself which is bound
to crumble like a pack of cards.
The problem started from Saraki's controversial emergence as Senate
President against the interest of powerful hands within the ranks of
the APC who wanted Ahmed Ibrahim Lawan from Yobe north constituency of
Yobe state to fill that spot. National party leader of the All
Progressives Congress, Bola Ahmed Tinubu regarded Saraki's back-breaking
move as a democratic coup. Saraki's strategy of allegedly collaborating
with the opposition party, Peoples Democratic Party to win the seat of
senate presidency and also concede the post of deputy senate president
to the opposition as part of a covert agreement was a slap on the face
of the leadership of the APC.
The fact that Saraki also nurses a presidential ambition
necessitated a need to clip his wings before he becomes invincible in
2019. Since 99.9 percent of Nigerian public office holders are fond of
sharp practices, a review of their financial records could pull anybody
down no matter the prior perception the public has of him.
Personally, I feel a 'goal-getter' like Saraki has the capability
or merging the APC and the PDP together to become president in 2019 if
he isn't restrained by powerful hands romancing him and his team of 90
Lawyers and 84 Senators that have reduced to 4 now.
It's crystal clear Saraki wrote the letter to Nigerians to attract
public sympathy which is possible even though the letter seems
incomplete as he didn't focus on the charges against him or how his name
accidentally popped up on the Panama Papers leak which has forced some
indicted people across the world to resign and other mind-boggling
allegations of his heartless rape of the Kwara treasury.
Saraki's senate has to a large extent exposed the selfishness of
the ruling class who heavily feed on the sweat of the tax payers (with a
budgetary allocation of N115 billion to the National Assembly which
they are not obliged to account for) to crack dry jokes during the
plenary. The same senate that produced a 'white man' who is as calm as a
cat in the senate but as wild as a lion on social media. A man that
childishly attacks the wrong English of his followers with pride at the
age of 60.
Saraki's senate abused some major principles of democracy which is
freedom of press and expression in its bid to gag the social and online
media through a bill sponsored by Kebbi South Senator, Bala Ibn
Na'allah. The social media has overtime served as a viable platform
through which Nigerians harmlessly express their grievances. But our
so-called Lawmakers wanted to live like Emperors who are unquestionable.
Again, the speedy process of the social media bill which quietly passed
the second reading is as questionable as the amendment of the Code of
Conduct Bureau act which was on the verge of making history as the
fastest bill ever passed in the history of the Nigerian senate after it
passed through the second reading in just 78 hours to bail out Saraki,
weaken the CCT and uphold future cases of corruption. The ignorant
senators were initially of the view that the amendment could affect an
ongoing trial which is wrong.
Meanwhile, a bill on gender equality sponsored by Senator Abiodun
Olujimi representing Ekiti South which would have saved some other Ese
Orurus from forced marriages and child abuse was kicked out as it
wouldn't satisfy the sexual interests of some paedophiles and the
representation of women in the corridors of power.
Saraki can further be described as that awkward piece of wood that
thwarts the cooking fire according to a saying by the Yorubas. In this
case, he decisively divided the APC Senators thereby making an arch
enemy off Senator Kabiru Marafa of Zamfara central and his team. This
was also extended to the party as Timi Frank, the Deputy National
Publicity Secretary of the APC was denied the chance of replacing the
current Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed to speak on
behalf of his party due to his relationship with Saraki who he has often
spoken in support of.
Saraki's senate (including the House of Reps) also delved into the
duties of the Executive arm of government by editing (making
allocations) the 2016 appropriation bill rather than simply ratifying it
or sending it to the Executive for correction or assent as spelt out in
section 4 of the 1999 constitution. Section 80-83 clearly specifies the
role of the Legislature as regards public finance. The duplication of
the function of the Executive arm has led to all manner of controversies
e.g. the Lagos-Calabar rail project saga which is still yet to be
cleared as no party has proven humble enough to take the fall for the
inadequacies. This also led to the implication of Hon. Abdulmumin
Jibrin, Chairman House of Reps Committee on Appropriation who was
vehemently accused of allocating governmental projects worth N4.2
billion to his federal constituency, Kiru/Bebeji in Kano. These
Lawmakers need to be referred to the Nigerian constitution for
orientation on the division of governmental powers between the
legislature and the executive arm of government as well as the judiciary
for future purposes.
The last minute efforts by the Senate Committee on Ethics,
Privileges and Public Petitions to frustrate Saraki's daily trial by
summoning Justice Danladi Umar on a case of corruption that is already
being heard in a Federal High Court further exposes the senate as a
waste of taxpayers' money that could have been used in developing the
agricultural sector and providing jobs if we had no senate.
Saraki's senate also showcased the red chambers' height of
insensitivity to the economic plight of Nigeria when it purchased 36
exotic Land Cruiser SUVs for a whopping sum of N36.5 million each after
being paid their heavy car loan allowances in a country where 'grasses'
were used to prepare soup for people in the Internally Displaced Persons
camps in the North-east. 450 people have also died from malnutrition in
28 IDP camps in Nigeria in the year 2015 not to talk of the 6,444
severe cases of malnourished children according to a statement by Borno
Emergency Management Agency.
For the first time in this country, Nigerians are considering an
amendment of the constitution to enable them get rid of the
money-grabbing Senators just like Senegal. The upper lawmaking body
seems disconnected from the people they represent.
Saraki's case isn't the best movie to watch, neither is it the best
Radio show to listen to. His exit or stay in power may never affect the
plight of the Nigerian masses or solve most of the problems Nigeria is
being confronted with.
I wish to see the issue of fuel scarcity trend relentlessly, power
problem and that of the quagmire of Fulani cattle rustlers who are
almost above the law because their 'Chairman' is on top as PDP
chieftain, Femi Fani Kayode insinuated.
We shouldn't allow external issues that will never advance the
generality of our interests to divide us. As the street slang will
always say; Who Saraki trial for CCT Epp (help)? Certainly, the elites
sharing the same dining table with him like Senator Dino Melaye who
pledged allegiance to him until death.
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