Embattled Senate President Bukola Saraki yesterday accused those he branded desperate politicians of plotting to unleash sponsored protests against him in the wake of his trial for alleged corruption by the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT).
Saraki claimed yesterday that his political foes were out to turn the trial into a tool to damage his political career.
Such people, he said in a statement by his chief spokesman, Yusuph Olaniyonu, had started distributing money and other materials to faceless civil society organisations, market men and women associations and other shadowy groups with a view to instigating demonstrations in Lagos, Abuja and Ilorin starting from tomorrow.
The aim of the sponsors of the proposed protests, he said, was to pollute public opinion against him, through forceful mobilisation of anti-Saraki protesters.
The Senate President is one of the 130 Nigerians mentioned in #PanamaPapers, the 11.5 million leaked financial and legal records of politicians, businessmen, celebrities, drug traffickers and sports stars from the internal database of the Panama-based law firm and offshore-provider, Mossack Fonseca.
He is said to own four assets abroad which were held in trust for him by proxies including his wife, Toyin.
However, the four companies traced to Saraki are Sandon Development Limited, a vehicle used in acquiring a property on 8 Whittaker Street, Belgravia, London, in 2012; Girol Properties Ltd, which was registered on August 25, 2004 (a year after Mrs. Saraki’s husband became governor of Kwara) in the British Virgin Island (BVI); Landfield International Developments Ltd., registered in the British Virgin Islands on April 8, 2014, with Mrs. Saraki as sole shareholder; and Longmeadow Holdings Limited.
A German newspaper, Süddeutsche Zeitung, had reported that the four assets which Saraki claimed belonged to his wife’s rich and famous family, were actually his and were only held in trust for him by his wife, Toyin.
The newspaper also retrieved data exposing how the assets were transferred by Toyin to her husband, Bukola.
Apart from Saraki, some Nigerians similarly fingered as owners of hidden assets in tax havens included Gen. Theophilus Danjuma (Rtd), Mr. James Ibori, Senator David Mark, among others.
But the Senate President has continued to blame his political foes for his travails.
The statement added, “As part of their plan, they are already distributing money and other materials to some faceless civil society Organisations, market men and women associations and other shadowy groups, with a view to instigating demonstrations in Lagos, Abuja and Ilorin, starting from Monday, April 11.
“They believe that the on-going trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal provides them the opportunity to stampede Dr. Saraki out of office so that their defeated objective of getting their lackey into the office of Senate President will be realised.
“This is another desperate move by these spineless politicians to achieve through the back door what they failed to realize on the floor of the Senate.
“We are alerting members of the public to the antics of these desperate politicians which may result into breach of public peace, order and health. Dr. Saraki is a peace-loving and law abiding politician.
“The trial at the CCT is just beginning and while the prosecution’s witness has started giving evidence, he is yet to be cross-examined by the defence team. The defence has also not opened its own case. We urge members of the public to patiently wait for the conclusion of the case.
“Since the fundamental principle of our legal system is that an accused person is presumed innocent until he is found guilty, Dr. Saraki will not allow any distraction to take him away from his responsibility as President of the Senate and Chairman of the National Assembly,” his official statement said.
