ABUJA – President Muhammadu Buhari has dissociated
himself from the current travails of Senate President
Bukola Saraki in the hands of the Code of Conduct
Bureau (CCB) and the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT)
over a 13-count criminal charge preferred against Saraki
on account of alleged false declaration of assets, saying
the courts have a duty to perform.
This came as Abuja, the nation’s capital city hosts a web
of high-wire intrigues and three-fold legal fisticuffs over
the issue today.
Meantime, Saraki returned to Abuja after a short trip to
Ilorin, the Kwara State Capital. Saraki and a host of
senators were said to be meeting in Abuja, last night over
the issue. Details of the strategic meeting were not
available at press time.
Also, members of Senate Unity Forum, SUF, an anti-
Saraki group in the Senate were, yesterday, engaged in a
marathon meeting. It was gathered that the senators
who met in Abuja in an undisclosed venue, were said to
have gathered to strategize ahead of the resumption of
the Senate.
According to a source, the meeting was a follow up to
the one held by senators loyal to Saraki, weekend.
Leave Buhari out of Saraki’s trial-Presidency
While saying that it will not tolerate claims linking
President Buhari to the matter, the presidency added that
the speculation that CCB and CCT only act on external
influence was unfounded.
A statement by the Senior Special Assistant to the
President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu
said: “There is no place in law that the Bureau and the
tribunal should take instructions from any quarters.”
According to him, “as an independent institution equal to
any superior court of record, the tribunal is set up by the
constitution to determine the issue of default, false
declaration or forgery in assets declaration.”
Shehu said that the matter was purely a judicial process
and had nothing to do with the presidency. He advised
the affected parties to also use the courts to acquit
themselves of the allegations.
According to Shehu, the president cannot interfere with
the judicial process by stopping the Judge. He reiterated
President Buhari’s avowed commitment to the fight
against corruption no matter whose ox is gored, saying
that the President has sworn to protect the constitution.
“If anyone has an axe to grind with what they are doing,
they should do it in a judicial manner by challenging
those actions in a proper court of law. Let them hire a
good team of lawyers to prove their innocence.
“Government has no desire to persecute anybody. The
President has vowed to respect the rule of law and this is
what he is doing by staying out of this matter. He has
said times without number that the war against
corruption has no sacred cows. Even if the President
wants to help, there is no way he can do anything. Is he
going to ask the judge to stop the trial?
“It is purely a judicial process, the type of which are
routinely dealt with by the CCB and the CCT. There are
many cases like this that are going on. The President
has sworn to an oath to protect the constitution and will
not violate that oath”, Shehu said.
Three-fold legal fisticuffs
One leg of the triangular legal battles will be at the CCT,
where Justice Danladi Umar will be expecting the
Inspector General of Police, Mr. Solomon Arase and other
security agencies to produce Saraki for arraignment.
Saraki refused to appear before the CCT on Friday and
sent his team of lawyers led by former President of the
Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), Mr. J.B Daudu (SAN) to
file a memorandum of conditional appearance on his
behalf. Justice Umar in issuing a bench warrant said
that having sworn to protect the constitution Saraki
should have shown respect to the tribunal and appeared.
The second leg will be at the Federal High Court Abuja,
where Justice Ahmed Mohammed is also expecting the
Ministry of Justice, the chairmen of the CCT (Justice
Umar) and the CCB, Mr. Sam Saba over the charge
against Saraki. Justice Mohammed had on Thursday
summoned the trio to appear before him today after
hearing Dr. Saraki’s ex-parte application.
And the third front is at the Court of Appeal where Saraki
has gone to challenge the powers of the CCT to try him
as well as the refusal of the tribunal to discharge the
bench warrant for his arrest, adding that the CCT acted
without jurisdiction by assuming jurisdiction over a
charge that is being challenged at the Federal High
Court.
Saraki returns to Abuja
Meanwhile, Saraki’s Spokesman, Mr Yusuph Olaniyonu,
yesterday, dismissed as false, reports that Saraki was
hiding. He said in a telephone chat: “No. we are just
arriving Abuja from Ilorin. Why will he leave Nigeria? For
what? We are in Abuja. At least you know where he lives,
you can come and have dinner with him.”
Asked if the Senate President will appear before the CCT,
he said: “I can’t answer that question. It is a legal
matter, only his lawyer will answer but you know there
are three angles to the matter. You have the Federal
High Court, CCT and Court of Appeal.”
Saraki may appear before high court
A source close to the Senate President who spoke to
Vanguard on grounds of anonymity, yesterday, stressed
that Saraki would not be comfortable to appear before
the CCT today, “having regards to the hurried way the
Justice Danladi Umar-led panel issued a bench warrant
against him on Friday based on a mere oral application”.
However, the source, who is part of Saraki’s legal team,
but not authorised to speak on his behalf, said his client
would rather prefer to appear before Justice Ahmed
Mohammed of the Federal High Court in Abuja who is
presiding over the suit seeking to halt the proceeding of
the CCT.
Justice Mohammed had on Thursday adjourned till today
to hear Saraki’s suit against both the tribunal, the CCB,
the Ministry of Justice and the deputy director in the
office of the Attorney General of the Federation, Mr. M.S.
Hassan, who signed the charge against the Senate
President.
“You will recall that whereas the CCT commenced its
sitting on Friday, the same day it hurriedly issued a
bench warrant against the Senate President, Justice
Mohammed of the Federal High Court had earlier on
Thursday delivered a ruling that ought to have put the
proceeding of the CCT in abeyance.
“Justice Mohammed was categorical when he
summoned the Chairmen of both the CCT and the Code
of Conduct Bureau to appear before him today to show
cause. When you are asked to come and show cause, it
means that you should come and adduce reasons why
you should be allowed to proceed with a planned action.
“The record before the Federal High Court which is a
superior court to the CCT shows that the subject matter
of the ex-parte motion marked FHC/ABJ/CS/775/15,
bothers on the legal propriety of the proceeding before
the tribunal.
“If a court of competent jurisdiction had asked you to
come and show cause why you should be allowed to do a
specific thing, and you are notified about the ruling of the
court, yet you go ahead to do exactly the same thing the
plaintiff is trying to prevent, does that not in itself
epitomise lack of respect for a constituted authority?”
Meantime, effort to reach Saraki’s lead counsel, Mr.
Daudu, SAN, yesterday, proved abortive. Similarly,
repeated calls to the phone line of Mr. Mahmud Magaji,
SAN, who also represented the Senate President at the
tribunal on Friday, were not answered.
Senators speak
Some senators loyal to Senate President Saraki have
decried Saraki’s travails, saying that the ruling All
Progressives Congress, APC was drifting Nigeria into a
state of anarchy.
Commenting on the development, Senator Sonni Ogbuoji,
PDP, Ebonyi South noted that the current travail of the
President of the Senate was an indication that the APC
has no programme of governance for the country but to
use state apparatus to witch-hunt perceived political
enemies, adding that the CCT was treating Nigeria to a
“new form of Constitution”, whereby a deputy director
instead of the Attorney-General of the Federation was the
one that took Saraki to court.
Describing Saraki’s treatment as politically motivated,
Senator Ogbuoji noted that those behind the saga were
not fighting for the growth of democracy, but for their
selfish interest, which he said was to the detriment of the
country.
When asked whether he would advise the President of the
Senate to resign in view of the dimension his opponents
had taken to fight him, Senator Ogbuoji, who noted that
there was no basis for anyone to demand for Saraki’s
resignation, stressed that even if Saraki was eventually
arrested and arraigned before the court, it would not
remove him from his seat as the President of the Senate,
adding that such would only be seen as a judicial
process.
Also speaking, Senator Joshua Dariye (PDP, Plateau
Central) who warned that the unfolding scenario was not
a good development, however, suggested that the best
way to handle the matter was for the warring factions to
go for dialogue and resolve their differences, since the
recent action against Saraki was still a fallout of the
outcome of the formation of the leadership of the 8th
Senate.
He said: “It is not a good development. Dialogue is the
key to any success; so let them go into dialogue and
settle their differences.”
Anti-Saraki senators meet
A source told Vanguard that members of the SUF, the
group of Senators who are in support of the position of
the All Progressives Congress (APC) on the leadership of
the Senate have continued their consultations in
readiness for the fallout of the CCT trial of Saraki.
It was gathered that the SUF has decided to lie low and
allow the ongoing trial get to a head, as they continue the
consultations behind the scene. A source said that the
senators cannot say for certainty what would happen
during the week, but many of them were said to be
banking on the government “handling the assignment for
them.”
The SUF Senators: Abu Ibrahim, Kabiru Marafa, Ajayi
Borofice, Olugbenga Ashafa, Suleiman Hunkuyi, Banabas
Gemade, Ahmed Lawan and George Akume among
others came up to support Senator Ahmed Lawan during
the fight for the position of Senate Presidency, which
Saraki won.
As members of SUF are consulting, Saraki’s supporters,
mostly of the Like Minds Senators (LMS) were also
moving to consolidate the Senate President’s hold on the
red chamber.
According to a source, one of the forces against Saraki
was pushing for an “Obasanjo option,” which would be to
pull through the planned arrest and detention of the
Senate President irrespective of the CCT order on the
issue.
Those behind this agenda are claiming that the CCT is
not lower than the High Court and that its orders can
only be referred to the Court of Appeal.
It was also gathered that the position of this camp is that
the CCT could be made to get Saraki “out of the way”
while the issue of control of the Senate would be sorted
out on resumption.
Others are, however, expressing caution that the
“Obasanjo option” could look drastic and reduce the
government’s democratic credentials, especially as the
government is still trying to get off the fallout of the
invasion of Akwa-Ibom Government House.
The source said: “The noise by the Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP) is also unsettling the plans. If the nation had
remained quiet as it was before now, the authorities can
go all out after the Senate President under the guise of
fighting corruption,” a source close to the party said,
adding that the two divides in the APC camp are
weighing the best option going forward.
It was also gathered that loyalists of the Senate
President have decided to hold a Unity meeting of all
Senators on September 28, a day before the 29th
resumption date.
CCB member faults trial
Meanwhile, there was a new dimension to the case
against Saraki, yesterday, as a member of the CCB said
that the entire trial was needless and in contradiction
with the process stipulated in the Code of Conduct
Bureau and Tribunal Act.
The member of the Bureau noted that the Section of the
Act was not complied with before the Senate President
was charged before the tribunal, adding, “If it had been
complied with, the man will probably not even need to
get to court at all, even if he committed all we are
charging him with. Once he admits the inconsistency and
regularise them”.
According to the member who spoke on condition of
anonymity said if the Bureau had followed the provision
of Section 3(d) of its own law, it will not rush to trial, but
invite Saraki to come and defend whatever inconsistency
or infraction that may have been discovered in his asset
declarations, adding that the normal procedure according
to Section 3(d) of the Act was that the Bureau should set
up a committee to determine whether an infraction has
been committed by any public officer after submitting
his/her asset declaration forms.
Section 3(d) of the CCB Act states that: “The functions of
the Bureau shall be ….to receive complaints about non-
compliance with or breach of this Act and where the
Bureau considers it necessary to do so, refer such
complaints to the Code of Conduct Tribunal established
by Section 20 of this Act in accordance with Section 20
to 25 of this Act.
“Provided that where the person concerned makes a
written admission of such breach or non-compliance, no
reference to the Tribunal shall be necessary.”
The source recalled that it is this same refusal to follow
procedure stipulated in his own law that led to the
collapse of the case filed by the Bureau against Asiwaju
Bola Tinubu in 2011, adding that members who observed
this anomaly were dissatisfied with the unilateral action
of the CCB chairman, Mr. Sam Saba who did not consult
with other members before referring the matter to the
tribunal.
Meanwhile, Senators have kept mum since the matter
came up, even as the Chairman, Ad- hoc Committee on
Media and Publicity, Senator Dino Melaye, APC, Kogi
West has failed to issue an official statement from the
Senate, even as Senators called to speak vehemently
refused to make comments.
There are also strong indications that Senate President
Bukola Saraki may not honour the order of the Code of
Conduct Tribunal that the Inspector General of Police,
IGP, Solomon Arase should arrest and produce him in
Court today.
Though, Senate President Saraki was said not to be in
town, but when Vanguard contacted his Special Adviser,
Media and Publicity, Yusuph Olaniyonu, he said the
Senate President was in town.
Don’t be influenced IEDPU urges CCB
The Ilorin Emirate Descendant Progressive Union (IEDPU)
has described Senate President Saraki’s current travails
at the CCT as politically-motivated.
The union therefore cautioned the CCB against being
used to achieve political gains, adding that the board
should do its job devoid of external interference.
National President of IEDPU, Alhaji Abdulhamid Adi
wondered why CCB failed to raise any issue concerning
the Senate President’s asset declaration forms since
2003.
Alhaji Adi added that the 12 years interval to unearth the
alleged issue by the CCB and the way the CCT is
handling the issue is suspicious.
“I see it more or less as political persecution. It is purely
political. Maybe there are some political opponents that
are trying to get at him,” he said.
MEF begs NU, MBF to intervene
Also Group known as ‘Maja Elders Forum’ (MEF) has
urged President Buhari to intervene.
In a statement, MEF Coordinator, Alhaji Kayode Yusuf,
appealed to the Northern Union (NU) and Middle Belt
Forum (MBF), the two bodies, Saraki’s biological father
Olusola Saraki had brought into prominence in the
nation’s socio -political landscape, to meddle in the
“persecution of Bukola Saraki’s family.”
The statement which was entitled: ‘Save Bukola Saraki’s
Life: a Passionate Appeal to President Buhari,’ the group
believed that the recent invitation of Saraki’s wife
Oluwatoyin by the Economic and Financial Crime
Commission (EFCC) and his attempted prosecution by
the CCT might not be unconnected with the rising
political profile of the former Governor of Kwara state.
Source: Vanguard.
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