Bukola Saraki: Time to pardon and draw a legislature’s boss nearer
By Anonymous
Apart from all of those issues, Bukola Saraki also has his good side. He is an easy going, gentleman of the Nigerian medical practice community and has been a great benefactor to the people of his constituency. Except that there is no person, no matter how perfect or saintly, that Nigerian politicking cannot take through the mud of disgrace. Hence the challenges that Saraki is faced with today (which are not political frame up as thought in certain quarters but real) and those challenges are not insurmountable.
Senate President, Federal Republic of Nigeria, Alhaji Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, no doubt, has been in the eyes of the storm for as old as the current administration both of executive and legislature in the country. The crisis on his neck, which initially used to be blamed on the controversial way he ascended to the third highest office in the country, was later not to be so as it began to portray a more self-ambition prone than imagined.
There was no reason for Saraki to have been involved in the death rumour and analysis of how, in event that President Muhammadu Buhari did not return from his medical vacation in London, United Kingdom, he would move a step upward while the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, would have moved into the office of the President and how, further, Osinbajo would be impeached and he, Saraki, would move fully up into the destination of choice – the exalted office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. This, I am saying, was what happened and it is what continues to shape my state of mind about the Senate President because an aide from his office, who was in charge of this thing could not deny when, I eventually exposed him on the social media. He had engaged in the type of senselessness Reno Omokri was doing for Goodluck Jonathan calling Buhari “brain drain” on my Facebook social media wall thus inferring that he would no longer be capable of continuing as President.
It was the most heinous thing to come from an aide engaged, paged and directed by the number three citizen of a country as African giant as Nigeria. All those things were going on yet Saraki, who happens to be my friend on Facebook seeing my post everyday, every moment on how I did not pretend in telling the world that the guy on that deadly anti-Buhari social media death wishes was working for him, never denied. The next thing I saw was the guy sending me repeatedly desperate messages asking for my phone contact and assuring me that he would want me to speak with his boss. But I never gave him my phone contact because I know many things people of such character could do with phone contacts. The next thing I saw was that, the guy tactically unfriended me and so today, it is even difficult for me to see him on my Friends’ List. This was how I got to know that the Buhari’s death wishes, while in London and all of us were praying for him quick recovery and safe return, were not only from the camp of opposition Ayodele Fayose, Femi Fani-Kayode and precisely People’s Democratic Party (PDP) looters but also they came from the office of the Senate President.
The Saraki body language then became an issue that incurred the wrath of the masses of the Nigerian people when he started waging war against the person and office of the President, Muhammadu Buhari, at a time after his successful return from medical trip when the Senate President should be the happiest being that President of Nigeria and Leader of his Party who was thought by political enemies of him and Nigeria would not return but had returned. Example of those wars by Saraki against Buhari was the fight against the Comptroller-General of the Nigerian Customs Service, Col. Hameed Alli (Rtd) and against the Acting Chairman of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mallam Ibrahim Mustapha Magu, both based on attempt to frustrate the anti-corruption war of the Administration of the Daura, Katsina State-born President. Worst was that, each time Saraki wanted to do all of these, he vacated his high seat for his clearly opposition minded Deputy, Ike Ekweremadu and all that transpired during the period cannot easily be wished away in a hurry from the memory of many Nigerians.
Unknowingly, Saraki continued to paint the picture of politically motivated frame-up when the issue of Senate Rule forgery alleged crime against him started to come up in an Abuja Federal High Court without instead for him to come down to the level of Nigerian people and tell them the truth and come down. He believed that once the court cleared him, like he was cleared of that alleged criminal offence he was tried for, Nigerians would be okay. Not even at a time confidence of the people had completely eroded from the thinking of the people. Was it the judiciary that, after admitting a man actually stole N27 billion pension fund, asked him to pay N700,000 and go home freely he expected would have impressed Nigerians when it came to same judiciary acquitting him of the Senate Rule forgery allegation? It then moved on to the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) where after some time he was also acquitted only for Appeal Court to return him to the CCT where he is till now. Then it became worse for Nigerians to see that Saraki and Ekweremadu behaved in those court trials as if they were above the law as they apparently suspended Senate plenary and main legislative businesses only for the nation to bemoan how 80 Senators, over that number of Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs) appeared on each day of Federal High Court or Code of Conduct Tribunal trials just for Saraki/Ekweremadu or Saraki alone feigning being political persecution victims; by who?
Other issues that made Saraki’s case complicated included his inability to submit to simple scrutiny by the either the custodians or enforcers of the laws of the land; apart from what transpired in court, what was wrong in Saraki’s just allowing the Customs’ boss to constitutionally do his job as assigned to him by the President? What did he have to plot ridiculing the retired Army officer, whose experience in government dated back to Buhari’s 1984-1985 military regime when he was Military Governor of Kaduna State? Would he say that he did not know Hameed Alli was a diehard no-nonsense officer while he allowed those PDP lawmakers particularly Ekweremadu and some undesirable APC lawmakers like Ahmed Sani Yarima to push him into attempting to make him work against his calling? Why should wearing of uniform by a retired Army officer, whose calling did not require him to wear customs uniform, be the reason the Saraki’s Senate deprived Nigerians the opportunity to listen to Alli defend his car importation policy through the floor of the Senate, which could have been a great achievement on the party of the Senate President? But that also failed and Nigerians are yet to forgive Saraki for it, especially when, against expectation that he would allow an independent panel to probe the Customs’ allegation of tax evasion against him, he threw himself in as judge in his own court, and not only got himself cleared of that allegation but also went ahead to suspend for 120 days without pay Senator Ali Ndume for calling his attention to a PUNCH Newspaper’s repeated report bothering on the image of the Senate over the Customs’ allegation and advised Saraki to do somebody about it.
It went on like up to the Dino Melaye’s frame-up cries. Saraki should have known Dino Melaye so well before now for him to be careful so that his hard earned name would not be dragged in the mud by a people whose stock in trade is feign political joker to bring down their perceived enemy. Saraki, a fine medical doctor of foreign expertise, should have known that it was wrong for Melaye to stage a battle against the Office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. There is no such country where the people were major stakeholders in the installation of government that such a warrior like Melaye could go scot free. He needed no political frame up but people’s action in itself to frame him up and throw him out of office. That was what led to the attempted removal through “recall” that he experienced. And the fact that people chose not to come out to attest to their earlier position was not because they did not sign that petition but because of sympathy his hospitalization following his jumping out of police vehicle due to another chain of alleged criminal offences that had now mounted on his neck. All along, he was doing all of those things to the name of Senate President Bukola Saraki and that was the reason when he was invited by Police to come and clear himself over an allegation of gun running and other offences, instead for him to go and state his own case and return home, he chose to go to Saraki’s Senate floor and started threatening heavens and earth what how he would fight Buhari and his Federal Government with the last drop of his blood.
But can we really say Melaye was alone at it? There is somebody within me that tells me that meeting General Ibrahim Babangida (Rtd) in the early period of this administration by Saraki, Melaye and later Atiku Abubakar and later Olusegun Obasanjo has more to what have been happening than meet the eye. Yoruba parlance says, “Witch screams yesterday and baby dies today. Who does not know it was the witch that screamed yesterday that killed the baby?” Next thing Obasanjo’s 18-page letter of emptiness running Buhari down thus warning him not to seek re-election. Next, the three letters in 24 hours by Babangida disputing himself as to whether to back Obasanjo’s own too-long letter of no substance or distance himself from it. Then came the Jonathan’s letter than blinded the whole problem for the Third Force that emerged as a result of the Obasanjo letter. Next killings beginning mainly on December 31, 2017/January 1, 2018 in Rivers, Kwara and Benue states started and then the involvement of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) helping tag those killings “Herdsmen”. The Third Force also failed with that because Christian Association of Nigeria could not prove how truly Christians’ defenders they are if they could overlook the killing of 24 Christians in Rivers on crossover night when they knew the cultists who killed them only for them to sell the dummy to media which they hyped about Benue where they already have perceived enemies in Fulani herdsmen that they needed to either throw away or tag on the neck of Fulani President Buhari to discredit him as equipping his tribesmen with weapons to kill Christians of Benue. Ealier before Benue, Rivers and Kwara there had been killing of over 700 Fulani men, women and children on the serene Mambila Plateau which they overlooked.
That was how the current security situation after the defeat of Boko Haram started. It then continued until after donating N100 million at the maiden convocation ceremony of Taraba State University following his award of doctorate honour retired Lt. General TY Danjuma called to arms conflict among Nigerian over what he called the Nigerian Armed Forces-aided killing of people of Benue and Taraba, all done by the General to further escalate the already politically motivated killings in the land which they kept calling Fulani herdsmen killing.
It will be recalled that one day, the so called killings had spread to Kogi State in within 24 hours 24 people had been killed in the state. It will also be recalled that it was Dino Melaye who ran to the floor of Senate that very day to say killer “herdsmen” had moved to Kogi State. He and his sympathizers then said later that his travails were because he mentioned “killer herdsmen” in the Senate but they failed to realise that since those criminals who said he was the one that sponsored them to destabilize Kogi State were arrested, there has been peace in the Yahaya Bello-led North Central state. Yes, we are told that the criminals had said they do not know him or that Melaye did not send them to kill. And some anti-government and anti-police elements are happy that Melaye is free. How free is he? Where in political thuggery system do sponsors of criminals have close contacts with the mercenary they use? The court trial has not fully commenced. Those who are jubilating for Melaye should wait till the whole issue become exposed. If Melaye truly did not know the criminals, why was he dodging the Police and why did he have to jump out of police vehicle to ensure that he was taken to one-on-one encounter with them in Lokoja. After all, Shehu Sani, a more deadly opposition against Governor Nasir el-Rufai in Kaduna State was invited by the Police over murder allegation; he went, explained himself and was allowed to go home.
These are the issues. But for Saraki to allow his name to be mentioned or carried around by Melaye in all of these is the major sings he has committed against the Nigerian people that not even the kind of defence he is having from the social media platform of some lawyers some of who call themselves human right activists can free him from except Nigerians just decide in their own decision to forgive him. It is the reason in this long piece I have taken my time writing throughout the night to appeal to the minds of the Nigerian people to pardon Saraki, despite all of these atrocities on condition that he, himself will admit his errors and mend his ways, and then draw him nearer in the collective interest of the nation.
No matter what the past of Saraki is, be it his efforts to frustrate and sabotage the government of Muhammadu Buhari, which indeed has led to many setbacks that the administration faced in the last three years, it is time for Nigerians and the governing All Progressives Congress (APC) to review their position about the former governor of Kwara State and pardon him.
The motion for the above thought was first moved on a social media platform of The National Interest Group (TING), where three foremost Nigerian social media activists debated but concluded that yes, Saraki can be pardoned and be re-integrated into the trusted group of the progressives but that the Senate President should show commitment to convince while Nigerians should not regret ever forgiving him as, according them, no matter what tactics or strategy he explore, Nigerians will always be the victors over him.
It was also concluded that in the best interest of Nigeria, whatever it is that Saraki had done in the past should be overlooked but warned that he should stop all of the ambitious things that made him wine and dine with opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Senators in a way that has neither benefited Nigerians nor the political party on which platform he rode to the office of the number three citizen in the country.
Albeit a strong voice within The National Interest Group agree with the idea of pardon and reconciliation with Saraki but frowned at the idea of overlooking those things that had placed him before the courts of the land. Owner of that voice within the TING was demanding that, while Saraki should be reintegrated into the larger party away from the nPDP that he says has played not meaningful role but started 2019 politics since 2015 and in a way that has almost shutdown the government of the Federation to the joy of the Ekweremadu-led opposition party in the National Assembly, that he should be made to answer to those questions the courts are asking him.
Apart from all of those issues, Bukola Saraki also has his good side. He is an easy going, gentleman of the Nigerian medical practice community and has been a great benefactor to the people of his constituency. Except that there is no person, no matter how perfect or saintly, that Nigerian politicking cannot take through the mud of disgrace. Hence the challenges that Saraki is faced with today (which are not political frame up as thought in certain quarters but real) and those challenges are not insurmountable.
However, I want to advise him to go and meet with President Muhammadu Buhari by himself and tell him, “Mr. President, I’m sorry.” He should then return to that same joint NASS session, which he and Dogara suddenly collapsed into recently, and from there do a national legislative broadcast and tell Nigerians, “We have had the cause to review our activities in the past three years and regret that they have brought the untold hardship that we have all collectively experienced as a government and people. So, on behalf of myself and the entire members of the Nigerian National Assembly under my chairmanship, I say to you good people of Nigeria that I am sorry. We are now a new leaf and we are going to ensure, not only that the next one year will be a great, positive experience in our life but that the successes we are now committed to achieve there will lead all of us into another term of continuous change and progress.”
Saraki should also warn the overzealous members of his National Assembly who carried their personal issues at their constituency to rub on his own personality at NASS resolved that whatever the situation is, “once I have Saraki I can insult President Buhari and get away with it”, to stop. And when such persons have their issues, allow them to face their soup by themselves and them that the National Assembly is centre legislation for Nigeria not for the defence of some selfish individuals.
This is all that is required from our indefatigable Senate President. Then watch after having done all of these, what President Muhammadu Buhari will do. As a matter of fact, this is just the Part I of this piece. While the Part II will be dedicated to the “Other Side of Saraki that is Full of Positive”, the Part III will be dedicated to telling President Buhari how to forgive and work harmoniously with Saraki and whoever is it that has seized the Saraki’s crisis with his Executive to sabotage the mandate of Nigerian people that the President carries in his hands. Thank you.
