Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as currently instituted set out from the inauguration day to be in the eyes of the storms. The emergence of its leadership was one of the reason and later on the attitude of its leadership and members, shielding Senator Bukola Saraki from being answerable to the laws of the land became another. It was so unacceptable that any allegation leveled against Saraki was seen by the Senate, which should see itself as an institution of Nigeria and not institution of a personality, as allegation as the legislative institution thereby shutting down the entire business of the Senate whenever Saraki was required to answer a case in court or tribunal.
The Senators of the Senate with no clear exemption of any, all together, went further to attempt weakening the apparatuses with which the executive intended to achieve its campaign promises of fighting corruption and impunity to save Nigerians from further economic woes and impunity and they went on to amend the laws setting up the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) and Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) for no other reasons but to that they were asking their Senate President Abubakar Bukola Saraki questions on some of the financial crimes he was alleged to have committed in times past while he held sway as governor of Kwara State perhaps the handling of Societe Generale Bank by the Saraki Family was included. Bukola was a major player in the businesses of the bank that many continued to describe as having caused death and permanent disabilities for many homes and people.
There was another issue of Senate rules forgery involving some Senate figures and they were no other persons than the same Bukola Saraki, his Deputy, Ike Ekweremadu and some other Senate officials. They were investigated by the Police High Command shortly before Mr. Solomon Arase appointed by past President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan retired as Inspector-General of Police (IGP) and charged to court. Each time Saraki and Ekweremadu would be going to court for their trials, the legislative businesses of the Senate were stood down. Yet they never told Nigerians how they deducted money for that day they willfully shunned their legislative businesses from the bogus allowances they were and are still collecting as lawmakers of the upper chambers.
It so much occurred that at one of the sittings in the high court in Abuja, the Judge in charge had to order the Senators to vacate the seats in his court room as he said the seats were not meant for them saying his court had no case with the Senate but with two of Senate officials. The more misdoing of the Senate that drew the ire of the Nigerian people particularly people in defence of Buhari’s efforts for better Nigeria was the attitude of going to court with 30 Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs) and 80 Senators. What for? They wanted to know and to also know if those SANs were in court to appear for Saraki and/or Ekweremadu for free other than they were being paid from the same tax payers’ money in their coffers.
Another development, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) performances which showed zero tolerance for corrupt people – be it in the legislature, judiciary or in the executive. Although the EFCC was perceived in the opposition circle to be fighting only PDP but it was quite clear that Ibrahim Mustapha Magu-led EFCC had arrested a very close friend and political ally of the President and had even arrested a General on the entourage of the President while some APC Senators including Senator Ahmed Sanni Yarima had been arraigned for corruption cases and the rest of that. For whatever it may be, it is not possible for people who were not in government while corruption of high magnitude as freely perpetrated in the era of People’s Democratic Party (PDP) would now be expected to be punished for offence they were not part of. It will be injustice of highest degree. And it is this point that this online media calls on the President Muhammadu Buhari and the National Executive Committee of the governing All Progressives Congress (APC) to ensure that those PDP past officers who are now trouping into APC should be watched closely as some of them may be doing so to be covered from punishment for their past financial crimes and impunity.
Saraki has been said to have been indicted by the EFCC over the Paris Club loan refund fraud being investigated by the anti-corruption agency, in which he was said to have cornered for himself some N3.5 billion out of the N19 billion paid to his home state. How Paris Club loan refund to Kwara State that should be sole business of Governor AbdulFattah Ahmed then became the business of Bukola Saraki, whose job is constitutionally the Senate President of the Federal Republic, has become a thing that many lips wag to ask.
The EFCC was said to have attempted to arrest Saraki but needed to wait till President Muhammadu Buhari returned from his vacation in the United Kingdom to be furnished with some of the discoveries made against the Senate President.
On March 10 the anti-corruption submitted a letter communicating the matter to the President and on March 15 – five days after – the Senate under Bukola Saraki rejected for the second time the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), whose is Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Ibrahim Mustapha Magu, sighting a security report from the Department of State Services (DSS) saying he is not fit to occupy the office of EFCC chairmanship. Saraki later denied that his Senate’s rejection of Magu was not based on the DSS report. Then based on what? Nigerians also asked but got no answer yet.
Finally, the Special Adviser to the Senate President on Media, Alhaji Yusuf Olaniyonu, granted a press interview where he was said to have said that the letter submitted by EFCC to the President on March 10 furnishing him with its indictment of Saraki in a criminal laundering of N3.5 billion of the Paris Club loan refund was Magu’s way of fighting back for his rejection of March 15 by the Senate. This is the most unconnected analysis that the Saraki has put up lately in defence of himself, which has made even a prominent Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) that Mr. Femi Falana is to ask why are all the criminal allegations tilting towards only Saraki? Without fire there must not be smoke.
To now nail it all against itself, Saraki, who allegedly ventilated what some people described as treasonable statement that he would shut down the Buhari’s government in 72 hours and which he up till the moment did not deny, declared at Tuesday plenary that he was standing down on confirmation screening for the 27 Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) names sent to his Senate by President Muhammadu Buhari. This has been reacted to by Presidential anti-corruption committee and many other eminence citizens and more people have viewed it as declaration of war against the Federal Government and confirmation of the statement few days ago that he would shut down Buhari’s government in 72 hours.
Now that the Senate is trying all round to save its image from finally getting damaged in the eyes of the public, is the upper chamber, claiming that it deserves to be respected by those it consistently calls “the cabals in the presidency”, also considering the implications of many of the integrity issues raised above for which it long lost the confidence of Nigerians to the extent that people now call for scrap of the Senate? Some even said if it was possible for Senegal to scrap its Senate that it would be of no difficulty for Nigeria to follow suit.
The DEFENDER therefore posits that the Nigerian Senate should stop seeing any allegation against any of its members – be it Senate President, Deputy Senate President or any of the Senators – as war against the Nigerian Senate. No. That was how it got to this state that Saraki has now made himself too powerfully to be checked, according to many comments, so much that he declares war on the Federal Government which he supposed to be part of.
The President too should be active and fast at establishing his grip on the government he heads as the Chief Executive and refuse at all times any blackmail of impeachment that any legislative arm would dangle on him by asserting himself. That is the only way to get out of a huge conspiracy of a people who are supposed to be part of a government but who work against the government in the name of carrying out their constitutional duties with numerous criminal and corruption allegations handing on their necks uninvestigated.
The President should get the Police or DSS to swing into any allegation of corruption and crimes against anybody be it the National Assembly, Judiciary or Executive at any point in time. It is not only when whistle blowing is about stolen money that these security institutions should be active. They should act at any allegation of crimes or impunity or threat that bothers on the security and collective interest of the Nigerian people. The dragging of feet is the reason the Senate’s attempt to rubbish the Buhari’s government appears to have got to this point.
