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Tag: Bukola Saraki

  • The import of Saraki’s trial

    The import of Saraki’s trial

    It is significant that our Number Three  Citizen is undergoing trial

    Whether Senate President Bukola Saraki is guilty as charged of any, some, or all of the 13-count charge levelled against him by the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) or not is immaterial. To me, the import of his arraignment before the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) on Tuesday is the significant thing at the end of the day. Dr. Saraki is the country’s Number Three Citizen. But that should count for nothing when allegations of the type made against him as senate president are concerned. Indeed, it is in our kind of country where such a consideration is an issue.  Elsewhere, even sitting presidents could be tried but for the immunity that many of them enjoy.

    So, the fact that Nigeria has come to a stage where its Number Three Citizen could be taken to court to account for his past actions, even while in office, is significant. This is a country that has thrived for too long on impunity and unless this tendency is checked, we can never make progress. Nobody should have the feeling of being above the law. For me, that is the icing on the cake in the matter.

    Senator Saraki has specifically been accused of making anticipatory declaration of House 15A and 15B, McDonald Road, Ikoyi, Lagos; failure to declare property on Plot 2A, Glover Road, Ikoyi, Lagos; failure to declare property on No. 1, Tagus Street, Maitama, Abuja (Plot 2482, Cadastral Zone A06, Abuja); failure to declare property No.3 Tagus Street, Maitama, Abuja (Plot 2481, Cadastral Properties Ltd) and claiming to own property on No. 42, Gerard Road, Ikoyi and earning N110,000,000.00 per annum on it at a time the property was under construction. Other allegations are: failure to declare N375m GTB loan converted to 1.5m Pound Sterling and used to purchase property in London; operating a foreign bank account; transferring of $3.4m from GTB to foreign bank account during his tenure as governor and failure to declare leasehold interest in No. 42, Remi Fani-Kayode Street, Ikeja, among others.

    But rather than face the issues, some Nigerians, as usual, are beginning to read political meaning into the trial. For me, this is neither here nor there. Much as this may just be true, it may also be only perceived to be so. But again, whatever it is should count for anything. What we should be bothered about is whether Dr. Saraki is in the dock for the appropriate reason/s or not. Unfortunately, Nigeria’s elite have a way of hiding under all manner of excuses when they are put on the spot. They are either alleging political persecution or flying the ethnic or religious kite, whichever suits them. Now, how does political victimisation answer the questions posed by Dr. Saraki’s arraignment? It is a matter of ‘did you’ or ‘did you not’? That, I think, is the issue and those alleging political victimisation know this too well. But that has always been the way our elite shielded themselves from trial in the past. Rather than address issues, they launch into the realm of irrelevancies.

    Indeed, but for the times that are fast changing with the fall of the ancien regime at the polls in March, Dr. Saraki had, before finally making up his mind to appear before the CCT, raced to the Federal High Court, Abuja, with an ex-parte application seeking to prevent the CCT from proceeding with his trial, the way the big people in the country used to frustrate the judicial process in the past under the guise of protecting themselves. We have one of them that has been under the cover of perpetual injunction not to be investigated for years!  As usual, the plank of Dr. Saraki’s argument was not that he is guilty or not, but that of technicalities. He wants the court to order that the status quo be maintained in the matter. “In the absence of any substantive AGF in the time being, this court (Federal High Court, Abuja) has the jurisdiction to direct parties to maintain status quo, pending the hearing of the motion on notice”. His argument is that since there is no subsisting AGF as provided for in Section 24 (1) of the CCB and tribunal, the charge against him by the official of the AGF before the CCT was null and void. Thus, we saw the usual resort to technicalities in the past that has had many cases of fraud and corruption in the country inconclusive, in some cases for years. It is these same technicalities that many people have exploited in the country to shield themselves from trial when their collaborators in other countries have already acclimatised to prison life.

    Watchers of our political development must have seen a recurring pattern in the reluctance of our big people to be called to question over the decades, particularly since the beginning of this democratic dispensation in 1999. The argument about persecution is taken to the ridiculous extent of alleging that someone is being tried because someone does not like his face. And I have always argued that we should be less bothered about that. What should concern us is whether the person being accused is guilty or innocent. But our big people want a utopian situation whereby all thieves would be caught at a time; another way of saying thieves should never be caught. I do not know any country where all the thieves were simultaneously rounded up. We should deal with situation as they arise. If the then President Olusegun Obasanjo had caught thieves that were his enemies and Umaru Yar’Adua had also caught thieves whose faces he did not like, the number of big thieves would have been drastically reduced in the country because people would be mindful of the possibility of the coming to power of a king that would not know Joseph. Of course no one would have expected former President Goodluck Jonathan to catch any thief because he did not see any. As far as he was concerned, the monumental corruption that went on unabated under his very nose was nothing to worry about; it was mere stealing! Notwithstanding, we would have fewer big thieves to contend with in the country today if his predecessors had caught the thieves that they could catch in their time, be they friends or foes. Many of the big people would have been serving their jail terms now.

    However, whether Dr. Saraki should step down from his exalted office or not is a different question entirely. That is purely a moral decision left to him since our laws presume an accused guilty until when convicted by a competent court. Although in our clime, accused are looked at scornfully; in some other countries, it is not so. One may not have felt comfortable having the country’s Number Three Citizen in the dock, with the media making the picture to tell the kind of stories that suited their fancy; some slanted the picture of the senate president in the dock to look like that of a trapped rabbit, etc. I still feel Dr Saraki should be left alone to take the decision as to whether he felt sufficiently embarrassed enough to want to continue in office or whether to see through the trial to the end. But the signal is good for our political and other elites; including bankers who fiddled with their customers’ money, that it is no longer business as usual. A man who stole a goat because he is hungry due to the activities of our corrupt rich that have made jobs disappear into the oblivion should not be sent to prison when those responsible for his plight are moving freely, in some cases, with police protection.

  • Saraki: Time to step down

    Saraki: Time to step down

    When you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.

    This is the time-tested piece of advice I would have passed on to the beleaguered Senate President Bukola Saraki if he was not too far gone in his self- absorption, his overweening sense of entitlement, his predilection for cutting corners, and his Raskolnikov Complex, the delusion named for the central character in Dostoyevsky great novel, Crime and Punishment, that the rules do not apply to him.

    Summoned to appear before the Code of Conduct Tribunal(CCT) in the investigation of some baffling inconsistencies in his declaration of assets, he spurns the order, dismisses the charges as false and frivolous, awards himself an acquittal, and seeks a court to block the Tribunal’sproceedings.

    In response to this contumacy, the CCT issued a Bench warrant for his arrest.  Saraki petitioned another court in a bid to void the warrant.  Based on that petition, he again failed to show up before the CCT.

    The CCT, Saraki charged, was being used to fight political opponents “to achieve through the back door what some people cannot get through democratic process.”

    It is almost as if it was through the front door, and in a process emblematic of the best democratic practice, that he had emerged Senate president.  I use the word “emerged” deliberately.  By his own account, he had been in hiding until it was safe to join his fellow plotters on the floor of the National Assembly where he was canonised in a proceeding that seemed like the parliamentary equivalent of a street mugging.

    His spokesperson warns that “we should not destroy our political institutions and heat up the polity for selfish reasons” in a desperate bid to settle political scores and nail imaginary enemies, adding gravely:  “Let us all learn from history.”

    Again, it is almost as if the process through which Saraki became Senate president was the quintessence of altruism and selflessness, and that it had, withal, brought down the nation’s political temperature from dangerously high to super normal.

    The Tribunal’s summons, his spokesperson further said, amounted to an abuse of the rule of law which portends danger to the judicial system.  Saraki affects the language of democracy but readily employs the tactics of a backroom fixer.  He is ever so ready to remind everyone that he ranks third in the nation’s constitutional order. Yet his conduct is sometimes almost indistinguishable from that of a political tout.

    Where is the noblesse oblige that should always inform the conduct of the holder of his exalted office?

    Within hours of the CCT’s order enjoining Saraki to appear before it, a shadowy organisation calling itself Nigerians of Conscience Against Impunity rushed a full-page advertisement to the major newspapers, demanding that officials of the Code of Conduct Bureau resign immediately and face prosecution for “gross violations” of their office.

    It was all so reminiscent of the shabby tactics Saraki’s surrogates in the Senate employed when his wife was invited for questioning by the EFCC in connection with some mysterious lodgments in her banking transactions.   In what was clearly an act of petulant vindictiveness, they announced that the National Assembly was set to launch an investigation into reports that EFCC officials had corruptly enriched themselves with funds recovered from fraudsters.

    In the wake of all this drama,  another –or perhaps the same set — set of Saraki’s surrogates recruited a huge delegation to travel from Ilorin to Abuja for the express purpose of conferring on him a traditional title of dubious worth.  The real purpose of the visitation, I suspect, was to create for the embattled Senate president the illusion of mass popularity and acceptability.

    One of his proxies even has it that Saraki is being pursued because of his zero tolerance for corruption, in keeping with the notorious fact that if you fight corruption, corruption will fight you back.

    No comment.

    Thus has Saraki continued to dig and dig with increasing fury since finding himself in a hole last June, in the hope that he can spend or bluff or bully or lawyer his way out of it.  He deepened that hole yesterday when he failed to appear before the CCT which had issued a Bench warrant for his arrest.

    One of his former comrades in the old PDP and one-time Minister of Works, Adeseye Ogunlewe, has warned that a situation in which the Senate president keeps making trips to             the courts would not only “put Nigeria in bad light” but slow down activities in the National Assembly, which would in turn affect the nation.

    Ogunlewe said if  Saraki appeared before the Tribunal and was found guilty, Saraki would appeal the verdict  to the High Court (sic).  If his guilt was affirmed there, Saraki would take his case to the Court of Appeal.  And if found guilty there, Saraki would head to the Supreme Court.

    Prosecuting Saraki was therefore not a good move, according to Ogunlewe.”Imagine the amount of time that would be wasted and the effect it will have on the legislative work within that period.

    If this intervention was designed to help Saraki keep the post of Senate president, it achieved the precise opposite.  It makes a powerful case for Saraki’s immediate and unconditional resignation, regardless of his guilt or innocence.

    A Senate president traipsing from one court to another would be a pathetic sight indeed, even if it is to answer traffic charges.  But we are dealing with investigations into allegations of serious fraud.  That the president of the Senate could figure in these allegations, however tangentially, should be cause for his resignation

    Noblesse oblige enjoins such an official to resign at the merest intimation of sleaze, real or merely perceived, in his conduct.

    In Saraki’s case, these intimations can no longer be ignored.  There is the matter of the forged House Rules with which he procured the post of Senate president.  There are the ongoing investigations into his wife’s finances.  There is the charge that he made false entries in declaring his assets.  And there is festering matter of how hundreds of depositors lost small fortunes in the family-owned bank that he ran aground, with nary a dent on his personal fortune.

    Each of these issues should move a public official in a country that sets a high store by probity to step down. Together, they make a compelling case for Saraki’s resignation.

    Saraki cannot be the public face of the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.  He does not have the gravitas to steer through the legislature the agenda on which President Muhammadu Buhari ran and won. He lacks the moral standing to preside over the hearings at which Buhari’s nominees for important positions are confirmed or rejected.

    Saraki, being Saraki, will most likely hang in there and hang tough.

    That might serve him well if he can pull it off.  But it cannot serve the larger national interest that he now claims to be espousing.  Everyday that Saraki continues to wield the gavel diminishes the office of the Senate president and the stature of the Senate.

    If he will not step down voluntarily, the Senate should, even if only from a sound instinct for self –preservation, ask him to go or face impeachment.

    This national nightmare cannot continue for much longer.

  • Buhari presidency more exciting than first thought

    Buhari presidency more exciting than first thought

    Senate President Bukola Saraki will be the first person to tell anyone who accuses the Buhari presidency of dullness of making a terrible mistake. He should know. Since Dr Saraki’s enthronement in early June as Senate President, or more accurately, since his seizure of the Senate throne, he has not had a day of respite. He is unlikely to have a minute of respite anytime soon. The Nigerian presidency is a very strong one indeed. And while everyone, including his party members and feared federal agencies, is busy reading the president’s body language and second-guessing him, Dr Saraki has chosen to construct a contrasting and countervailing body language of his own, hoping presumptuously that the president would read it and probably subordinate his own beneath the Senate President’s. There is no other way to explain the stalemate in the Senate or make sense of the cold-shoulder the president has given him.

    Except Dr Saraki himself, perhaps no one else knows what emboldens the Senate President to chart what he whimsically and idealistically describes as legislative independence. Might the president’s “I belong to everybody and belong to nobody” inauguration euphoria be responsible for Dr Saraki’s chutzpah? Or, having fought many battles and won handily, including familial ones, the Senate President has begun to feel invincible and ecstatic. Whatever the reasons, Dr Saraki is standing pat and daring all-comers. He will fight in the hills of the EFCC; and he will brawl in the plains and fields of the Code of Conduct Tribunal. He will neither retreat nor surrender. Nor, apocalyptically, will the president. There is in fact no disputing the fact that on the Senate front, President Buhari will keep the country electrified and entertained.

    Furthermore, while the president refuses to shirk any battle, keeping both the country and his enemies riveted on his sanguinary pastimes, he is himself providing more excitement than his languid frame and dour look seem capable of giving at face value. He may be quiet, reserved and distant, yet his sometimes forlorn look belies the searing comicalness and pugnacious vivaciousness lying behind the uncompromising facade. “Back in Nigeria,” he told his bemused US audience during his July visit, “they already call me Baba-go-slow.” He is, it seems, capable of the most withering self-deprecating humour, indeed more enthralling than former president Olusegun Obasanjo’s unending bucolic and sometimes prurient exclamations. During electioneering, his running mate’s surname was a surprising tongue-twister to him; but after inauguration, even calling the name of his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), got inextricably intertwined with his former party, the Congress of Progressive Change (CPC).

    As the country reveled in his magnificent juxtapositions, out streamed his interminable gaffes. He would discriminate between those who voted him massively and those who were niggardly with their votes, he intoned, with no one sure whether he meant it the way he spoke it — brutally and maliciously frank. Reflecting his considerable unease with scheming politicians, he disclosed in France last week that he was reluctant to form his cabinet, for ministers were after all superfluous and zestful makers of noise. He probably meant it. To many Nigerians, it was a Freudian slip; but to him, it was an obscenely honest statement that perfectly mirrored his worldview. When he summons his first Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, how would he look the superfluous noisemakers in the face? With the same sang-froid disposition that has characterised his neo-democratic experience? Or with the icy, expressionless stare those who voted for him seem to approve of?

    Despite himself, the reed thin President Buhari will provide capital mirth for Nigerians. He is tinkering with the economy and seems to be recording success without an economic blueprint; and he has midwifed inexplicable fortitude and quietude in the polity, again without a political blueprint. For all anyone cares, he may soon mediate a new social ethos without paying attention to its building blocks. What is, however, evident is that he is giving the country things, to the delight and entertainment of every patriot, and to the frustration of the nitpicking Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The country is in for four years of Buhari drama: let the playwrights ink their pens, the caricaturists sharpen their pencils, and the satirists their wit.

  • Saraki, Ekweremadu shun hearing of suit seeking their sack

    Saraki, Ekweremadu shun hearing of suit seeking their sack

    …Judge frowns at Senate leaders’ conduct

    Senate President, Bukola Saraki, his Deputy, Ike Ekweremadu and three others Monday in Abuja shunned the resumed hearing of a suit seeking their sack.

    Although it was not mandatory for Saraki, Ekweremadu and the other defendants in the suit to attend proceedings in person, they were required be represented by their lawyers.

    Justice Ademola, who was uncomfortable that none of the defendants was represented in court, noted that the choice of Monday as the hearing date was with the consent of lawyers to the parties to the suit.

    The judge, following the decision by plaintiffs’ lawyer, Mamman Osuman (SAN) to withdraw his motion for interlocutory injunction, struck out the motion.

    Justice Ademola agreed with Osuman that the motion, which sought to restrain the Senate leadership from constituting adhoc committees, has been overtaken by events, and that the prayers contained in the motion were similar to those contained in the plaintiffs’ ex-parte application which Justice Kolawole earlier refused to grant.

    The judge, whose time as the vacation judge will end soon, said he will return the case file to the court’s Chief Judge for reassignment at the end of the court’s vacation.

    Other defendants in the suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/651/2015, are the National Assembly, the Clerks of the National Assembly and the Clerk of the Senate.

    Senators Abu Ibrahim, Kabir Marafa, Ajayi  Boroffice, Olugbenga Ashafa and Suleiman Hunkuyi are the plaintiffs.

    It is their contention that the election of Saraki and Ekweremadu as President and Deputy President was invalid on the ground that the Senate Standing Orders 2015 used for the election was a forged document.

    The plaintiffs argued that since the Senate Standing Order 2011, which was the valid Senate Rules as at the proclamation of the 8th Senate on June 9, was not known to have been validly altered before the election, the 2015 Rules could not be said to be a legitimate document.

    They stated, in a supporting affidavit, that the Senate Standing ‎Orders 2015 was “contrived” from the amendment of the 2011 version of the Orders without following its (the 2011 edition’s) relevant provisions and those of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

    The plaintiffs argued that the said amendment was in breach of the “prescriptive procedures” stipulated by the extant provisions of section 60 of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) and Rule 110(1), (2), (3), (4) and (5) of the Senate Standing Orders 2011 (as amended).

    They therefore prayed the court for the following reliefs:

    *A declaration that the Senate Standing Order 2011(as amended) is the proper, valid, constitutional and subsisting Rules/Standing Orders of the 8th Senate.

    *A  declaration that the Senate Standing Order 2015(as amended), not being a product of any legitimate amendment pursuant to the extant provisions of Rule 110 of the Senate Standing Orders 2011 (as amended), is invalid, illegal, unconstitutional.

    *A declaration that the election of the 1st and 2nd defendants as the President and Deputy  President of the Senate of the 8th Senate pursuant to the Senate Standing Orders 2015 and contrary to the provisions of Rules 3(3)(e) and (k), Chapter II of the Senate Standing Orders 2011, is illegal and unconstitutional

    *An order setting aside the purported election of the 1st and 2nd defendants as Senate President and Deputy Senate President of the 8th Senate; an order setting aside the Senate Standing Orders 2015 and an order directing the 8th Senate to elect its presiding officers in accordance with the provisions of Section 54 of the Constitution and Rules 3(3) (e) and (k) of the Senate Standing Orders 2011.

     

  • Saraki’s long, lonely walk

    Saraki’s long, lonely walk

    Senate President Bukola Saraki is full of guile, courage and ambition, and he has brought all three attributes to his quest for relevance in the polity and dominance in the National Assembly. More accurately, however, he has become a slave to these attributes, deploying one where the other would do, and summoning yet another where, sometimes, just being plain himself would be adequate. Now he can’t think, sleep or move without being guileful, ambitious or embroiled in one stratagem or the other. His life has become one rousing scheme of intrigues and foolhardy confrontation. Yet, what he actually lacks, sadly, is wisdom, without which his attributes, as desirable as they may seem, cannot take wing. The fear among many commentators is that his heart is so full of schemes that there is no room for anything else, let alone that pearly substance, wisdom.

    As the 8th Senate was about to settle down for business in June, a defiant Dr Saraki brusquely adopted Machiavellian tactics to seize the Senate throne. Not only did he seize the throne and poke a finger in the eye of his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), he also stuck adamantly to his resolve to ignore party leaders’ remonstrances. Worse, when it seemed an olive branch to party leaders would make them sheathe their swords, he preferred to uproot the entire tree and incinerate its branches. Even if the party was reluctantly prepared to concede the throne to him, he was told he couldn’t also determine who would be the party’s principal officers in the Senate. He could, and he would, he growled. And so he did with such infuriating, off-putting panache, leaving his party with the short end of the stick, and lying indecently naked in bed with the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    Dr Saraki’s continuing defiance notwithstanding, the public and party leaders had probably thought the crisis in the APC could not get any worse, and that sooner or later, the Senate President would finally send the mythical olive branch. Instead, with the aid of an elaborate alibi, including planning foreign trips and deploying his foot-soldiers and men Friday, he has appeared to intensify the war. If the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) could haul his wife, Toyin, in for interrogation on money laundering charges, why, the Senate could also haul in the EFCC boss himself, Ibrahim Lamorde. It is good old balance of terror. It does not matter whether the process of hauling in Mr Lamorde agreed with Senate rules. All that mattered is that the feet of the EFCC boss must be held to the fire, even if it causes or exacerbates divisions in the Senate and aggravates bitterness and divisions among party members and leaders.

    Since he enacted that spectacular coup in the Senate in June, Dr Saraki has been given the cold shoulder by the president and party leaders. That isolation is expected to worsen in the coming weeks. Indeed, the isolation will intensify into full-blown animosity if Dr Saraki spurns peace. There are signs of a thaw, however, a thaw that some fear could end in a disgraceful compromise. The Senate President has not denied he is seeking a rapprochement with party leaders, but he seeks peace on his own terms. His opponents, the Senator Ahmed Lawan group, insist Dr Saraki must show remorse and be willing to respect and accommodate party wishes. That suggestion galls the Senate President. However, his emissary, Senator Ali Ndume, has embarked on a shuttle diplomacy to reconcile Dr Saraki and party leaders, including the president. The effort may end futilely.

    A wise Senate President Saraki, after securing the top legislative prize through unethical means, would have bent over backwards to accommodate the party and adopt its list of principal officers. He probably however believed that doing so would make him vulnerable. But without accommodating the party on a substantial level, he could become even more vulnerable. In fact, if the war becomes drawn-out, there is a higher probability that Dr Saraki’s position would become more untenable, as the turmoil in the chamber would convince more frustrated members desirous of peace and reluctant to remain at daggers drawn with the presidency to jump ship and abandon him.

    Time is on the side of the APC leadership. They should not be desperate to reach accommodation with Dr Saraki. The misunderstanding between the Senate President and his party is not just one of personality or a normal struggle for positions. It is a misunderstanding anchored on the salient principles of party politics, party ideology and party ethos. The APC will be in greater danger if, as seems obvious, they are unable to influence President Muhammadu Buhari into more open, expansive and broadminded leadership, nor tragically even compel obedience and respect from Dr Saraki and other iconoclastic legislative leaders.

  • Senate confirms Service Chiefs

    Senate confirms Service Chiefs

    The Senate on Tuesday confirmed Major Gen. Abayomi Gabriel Olonisakin as the Chief of Defence Staff.

    Also confirmed were Major General Tukur Yusuf Buratai (Chief of Army Staff); Rear Admiral Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas (Chief of Naval Staff); and Air Vice Marshal Sadique Baba Abubakar (Chief of Air Staff).

    The military chiefs were grilled in a closed session with the lawmakers for over four hours. They were appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari on July 13.

    President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki, said the officers answered questions on various issues, after which they were cleared for confirmation.

    “Having successfully completed the screening and confirmation of the nominees, it is clear that their appointments were based on merit,” Saraki said.

    He added that the appointments came at a very crucial time, especially at a time the country was still battling with insurgency in the Northeast.

    The President of the Senate urged them to work hard to ensure the insurgents are routed in record time, assuring that the Senate would always give the Armed Forces every necessary support.

    Saraki charged them to restore the battered image and prestige of the Armed Forces and to also tackle corruption in military procurement process.

     

  • Senate delegation donates N10m to IDPS in Maiduguri

    The senate delegation to Maiduguri, Borno State on Monday donated the sum of N10m to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the state.

    The senate delegation led by Senate President, Bukola Saraki was in Maiduguri to see first hand, the plight of the displaced people told governor Shettima that their coming to Maiduguri is to commiserate with the people of the state and a show of solidarity for the people of the state.

    Details later…

    [news_box style=”1″ display=”tag” link_target=”_blank” tag=”Maiduguri, Saraki” count=”6″ show_more=”on” show_more_type=”link” header_background=”#69967b” header_text_color=”#000000″]

  • Saraki visits Maiduguri

    Saraki visits Maiduguri


    Senate President, Bukola Saraki on Monday visited Maiduguri, Borno state. The senate president, who visited the North Eastern state noted that he visitation was encouraged as a way to assess the ongoing war against Boko Haram insurgents. Saraki, who posted about the journey on his twitter handle noted that the mission of the visit is to restore hope to the people. "The mission of our visit to NE is simple, to give hope and to let the people of NE know that the Nigerian Senate will not abandon them. "I urge everyone to continue 2 pray for peace to be restored while also trying to constructively & carefully engage those behind the atrocities. "I Will make it a point to include it as part of the places we will inspect. Heard it holds over 18000 IDP's. "As individuals representing various districts & Senate as an institution, we promise to do anything required of us to restore normalcy to NE. "8th Senate will also continue to suggest ideas through motions and resolutions that can help the country put this problem behind us," he said. Find tweet below:    

  • Nigeria’s silly season

    Nigeria’s silly season

    Anyone expecting the toxicity generated by the bitter general elections fight to dissipate would wait a little bit longer. All the indications are that partisan bickering is set to become a feature of our political life for the long term as the opposition mourns its loss and the new government attempts to uproot all vestiges of the old order.

    It is shaping to be a bruising battle where reason and logic are early casualties, and posturing has replaced serious discussion of national issues.

    This last week, we saw evidence that Nigeria is well and truly into her silly season when people in senior positions of political leadership, in furtherance of low partisan agendas, have been defending the indefensible.

    It all began with the drama that attended the visit of Toyin, the wife of Senate President, Bukola Saraki to the offices of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to answer questions related to a petition linking her to money laundering when her husband was governor of Kwara State.

    What should have been a routine appointment in response to law enforcement was turned into a circus with 10 senators, 20 representatives and other supporters of the lady invading the commission’s office to accuse officials of bias.

    In the ensuing backlash, Senator Dino Melaye who has emerged as one of the Senate President’s most ardent supporters, said he joined the scrum of lawmakers, who escorted Mrs. Saraki in his capacity as a ‘private investigator’ and ‘anti-corruption crusader.’

    Unfortunately, Melaye’s crusading zeal didn’t propel him to storm EFCC with observers when other high profile visitors like Stephen Oronsaye or former governors Sule Lamido and Murtala Nyako were being quizzed by the commission’s officials.

    The subtle imputation hanging around Mrs. Saraki’s chat with the investigators was that it was the backlash from political foes still seething that her husband thumbed his nose at the governing All Progressives Congress (APC) and grabbed the Senate Presidency for himself.

    Who better to blame than former Lagos State governor, Bola Tinubu, who supposedly had more of a stake in the National Assembly leadership contest than President Muhammadu and all of APC! Quick as a flash that other ‘private investigator’ former Senator Joseph Waku woke up with a start from long retirement to declare that Tinubu was the mastermind behind Mrs. Saraki’s woes.

    Interestingly, a few weeks before this latest episode, Melaye who was facing a challenge to his seat at the election tribunal, suddenly cried out that the ubiquitous Tinubu was ganging up with his enemies to do him in because of his backing for Saraki, in the event the tribunal validated his victory in April. Unfortunately, the Appeal Court just overturned that ruling and ordered the case be retried. Surely, the vengeful Tinubu was one of the judges!

    Let’s quickly point out that an invitation to attend the EFCC shouldn’t be overblown. It doesn’t amount to much since whatever is contained in the petitions remains in the realm of allegations until investigators establish there’s a case to answer. Mrs. Saraki like others hasn’t been formally charged and must be presumed innocent.

    But if we make that allowance, we should also concede that the ongoing process could result in trials and convictions. That is why the conduct of those who overran the EFCC’s office as though the lady’s visit was a social event ought to hang their heads in shame. It can only happen in Nigeria!

    I try to picture a Labour Party stalwart accused of financial crimes storming the Serious Fraud Unit (SFU) in London with his supporters accusing Cameron’s Conservative Party administration of political persecution! Not very likely!

    People should simply insist that the right thing be done and no one rushes to judgment until the accused have been afforded sufficient opportunities to clear their names.

    I admit that Nigerians across the political divide are quick to howl ‘bias’ because former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s PDP government was repeatedly accused of using the EFCC to launch prosecutions largely against his foes.

    But even if that were the case, it doesn’t eliminate the possibility that crimes may have been committed. If the ‘victims’ of the so-called ‘witch-hunt’ have done something wrong, should they just be released and sent home because the prosecution is now being carried out by the other side? Law enforcement cannot be suspended until we’ve agreed a national quota system for prosecution.

    Or do we invite United Nations prosecutors to take up these local criminal cases before our politicians can accept that the process would be fair?

    In any event, most ongoing prosecutions are products of petitions. If one side can author them, what stops the other from coming up with theirs?

    But we’re not likely to see that happen in a hurry, because those who should be assisting the law are busy playing games. A few days ago, workers at the headquarters of the former ruling Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) received sack notices. They reacted angrily by firing off a petition to the EFCC alleging massive corruption perpetrated by members of the National Working Committee (NWC). So how did the party leaders respond? Predictably! They accused APC of instigating the workers to destabilize PDP.

    Unfortunately for the nascent opposition its regular attempts at playing victim have been largely unconvincing. Take the whole brouhaha it triggered with allegations that the Acting Director-General of the Department of State Security (DSS), Lawal Musa Daura, was an APC member. The allegations flow from actions taken by the service in response to election-related petitions in Akwa Ibom and Rivers which PDP adjudged as partisan.

    Only those afflicted with a convenient strain of amnesia would be sympathetic. The former ruling party which perfected the art of using the DSS for partisan assignments under Jonathan now fears it would be on the receiving end.

    Of greater significance, however, is the fact that PDP is accusing APC of something it did regularly whilst in power. Lt. General Aliyu Mohammed Gusau (rtd) was a member of the party and aspired to be its presidential candidate in 2011. He would later be appointed National Security Adviser (NSA) by Jonathan. Back then, it was okay for a partisan to occupy this all-important security position!

    It is the same ludicrous reasoning that would have Buhari abandon any attempt at examining the books he received from his predecessor if such a probe didn’t  go right back to Lord Lugard’s time!

    But as some have pointed out, Jonathan chose not to make waves because he found what Obasanjo and Umaru Yar’Adua turned over acceptable. Buhari doesn’t accept what went on under Jonathan and is within his rights to recover what has been lost and bring those who ripped off the country to book.

    Of all the challenges confronting President Muhammadu Buhari, recovering billions of dollars stolen by public officials in the few years could turn out to be the simplest. His job is made easy because the structures of global finance make it easy to track cash flows – legitimate or suspicious.

    But a bigger battle for the soul of Nigeria awaits because what has been lost in the area of values cannot be quantified. We’ve lost a sense of shame, outrage or proportion. These days, we are quick to rationalise what would get people lined up and shot in other climes.

    We hear stories of a minister who allegedly stole $6 billion dollars whilst serving in the last administration and instead of being outraged, some people dismiss the claims as politically-motivated lies because it involves someone from the fallen PDP.

    So far, the Americans have not denied the reports attributed to one of their officials by Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole. I also ask myself what would be the governor’s profit in making such an incendiary claim if it were false.

    The PDP under whose watch these economic crimes allegedly happened has reacted defensively. In one breath, they claim to be supportive of efforts to hold people accountable, in another they angrily claim Buhari is the only saint in APC.

    Even if all members of APC are bandits, does it make the stealing of the country’s wealth by just one individual to the tune of $6 billion right? How much do you have to steal these days to shock Nigerians?

    The challenge Buhari faces is that of pulling a heavy burden up the mountain side alone. It is daunting but not impossible. It would be easier if he had a significant position of the political elite buying into his vision. But that isn’t the case as many would prefer the old system. Still, one man’s iron will and example can change the culture in government.

    Jonathan spent half of his time in office imagining that the whole country was conspiring against him. Even when allegations of sleaze were made against his ministers and associates, he would react defensively by dismissing the accusers as being even more corrupt. On many occasions, he was dragged – kicking and screaming – to move against those with very bad cases.

    That legacy where anything went, where some special distinction had to be made between ‘corruption and stealing’ is partly the reason the lines between what is acceptable and what should shock are so blurred these days. The only way back is to begin a process of consistently celebrating what is right and ensuring that those who cross the line and break the rules receive their just deserts – even if it means being accused of ‘political lynching’ by those on the receiving end.

  • Unapologetically venal?

    Unapologetically venal?

    Rallying for its leadership, without addressing the alleged forgery at its election, only diminishes the Senate  

    Closing ranks for legislative sovereignty cannot be a bad idea. For one, the presidential system sits on a strong pillar of clear separation of powers; and its handmaiden, checks-and-balances. The legislature is therefore constitutionally primed as a bulwark against executive excesses.

    For another, by Nigeria’s unfortunate political history, the legislature is the least developed, no thanks to a relay of military coups that lay this polity prostrate in the past. Each time a coup d’état broke the democratic order, only the legislature got buried under its rubble. The executive continued in business — and even purported to constitute itself into some junta legislative assembly, rolling out decrees. So, did the judiciary, many times condemned to interpreting harsh laws.

    So, if the current 8th Senate of the Federal Republic is ultra-sensitive on its independence, the least it expects of other stakeholders is empathy. We grant the Senate that — so long as its angst is founded on solid legality, sound morality and crystal-clear conscience.

    Which is why we wonder what the Senate hopes to achieve by its current vote of confidence in its leadership, under Senate President Bukola Saraki, despite a police investigation which showed Senator Saraki and his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu, might have been elected by crooked procedure.

    Even with the slightest whiff of illegality, what is that vote of confidence worth? That the Senate, supposed bastion of law, embraces a leadership that came about via an alleged willful rape of its own rules? Or that, even with the unsavoury direction of police investigations into the matter, the majority in that distinguished chamber are unapologetically venal? We sincerely hope not!

    These are the allegations, which police investigation has all but confirmed as a “forgery”. On June 9, the extant Senate rule, at the legislature’s prorogation, was Standing Orders 2007 (as amended). For the Saraki/Ekweremadu elections however, Standing Orders 2015 (as amended) — the alleged forgery — was used.

    Thereafter, a segment of the Senate petitioned the police, alleging an illegal insert into “Standing Orders 2007 (as amended)”, gave birth to the “forgery” dubbed “Standing Orders 2015 (as amended)”, claiming no such amendment existed. Across party lines, many members of the 7th Senate confirmed indeed that the extant rule, as at the end of the 7th Senate, was Standing Orders 2007.

    Besides, the process to amend Standing Orders is clear: a senator pushing the amendment would write the senate president; his proposed amendments, if approved by half of the seated (after forming a quorum) would be debated at plenary. After the debate, two-thirds would then agree before the amendment is passed.

    So, if “Standing Orders 2007 as amended” was the signing-off rule at the 7th Senate, and the 8th Senate was prorogued the day senators Saraki and Ekweremadu were “elected” to their posts, who then sat to amend “Standing Orders 2007 as amended” to produce “Standing Orders 2015 as amended”?

    This is the notorious query awaiting an urgent answer — and not even a million “votes of confidence” can wish it away, if the Senate must retain Nigerians’ trust and respect.

    Now, let us get something straight: politicians play games; and we hold no brief for any of the blocs across the divide. The bloc that screams “party supremacy” as its war cry has its motive. So does the bloc that yells “legislative independence”.  None of them we dare say, from the configuration of Nigeria’s current real-politik, would probably bow to principle qua principle, if that principle is not laced with some current power exigency. That is unfortunate; and only further political evolution in the right direction would cure it — hopefully with time.

    But political rascality and alleged forgery, a willful and premeditated crime to illicitly and illegally skew the process, are not quite the same thing. That is the unflattering situation staring at the Senate, “vote of confidence” or not.

    That is why those trying to launder this alleged crime must clamber off their silly horse. Even if Saraki and Ekweremadu didn’t know of the forgery — if proven — that alone cannot clear them of culpability. At best, they would be receivers of stolen goods, and a terrible moral burden to the Senate.

    Even then, as motives go, they both would appear not beyond fair suspicion. Saraki “won” the election with the whole 49 opposition senators and a smattering of his own ruling party senators, at a time when majority of his own party senators were away at an aborted meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari. Ekweremadu is a beneficiary from the alleged forgery; and he was, as former deputy senate president, also part of the National Assembly management under the ancien regime.   Former Senate President, David Mark, also among the bulk PDP senators that supported the Saraki-Ekweremadu election, is also in the loop. So, is the Clerk of the National Assembly, Alhaji Salisu Maikisuwa, the highest ranking bureaucrat in the National Assembly management.

    So, the least the Senate could do, for its own collective sanity and brand equity, is quietly letting the law run its full course — instead of some laughable bluff and bluster, masquerading as “vote of confidence”.

    If indeed forgery is judicially proven, there is technically no leadership to pass — or refuse — a vote of confidence. An election erected on a crooked law cannot stand. If, however, all within legitimate suspicion are cleared, the Senate would have demonstrated its robust commitment to law and due process.

    In ancient Athens, the Areopagus — the equivalent of the modern Senate — was peopled by nobles of high learning and even higher character. In Rome, the Senate, despite the proclivity of individuals, was home to the finest of Romans. The Nigerian Senate cannot afford a lesser pedestal, in this crucial era of building Nigerian democracy.

    That is why it must toe the path of patriotism and nobility, not venality and banality, in this latest scandal of alleged forgery involving its leadership.