FEATURE ARTICLE

Temple Chima UbochiThursday, October 1, 2015
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Bonn, Germany

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BUKOLA SARAKI'S TRAVAILS:
WHO CROSSED UP BUHARI SHOULD KNOW THAT HE HAS INCURRED A DEBT HE WILL PAY ONE DAY, NO MATTER HOW LONG IT TAKES (2)

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Continued from Part 1

Don't let yesterday use up too much of today (Will Rogers)

Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves (Confucius)

I am one of the strongest believers in the rule of law. I am a law abiding citizen and my faith in the judiciary remains unshaken but when trial is being instigated outside the purview of normal procedure, then the tribunal must watch it and must be on the side of justice (Senate President, Bukola Saraki)

It should cover all the people who are guilty, not just target a few individuals. Ninety per cent of politicians declare assets falsely, so the law should go after all the people that are guilty of such false declaration of assets, try them and bring them to justice. They should not just target one or two people (Chairman of the 2014 National Conference Convocation Committee Senator Femi Okurounmu)

hat's the problem with Nigeria; and that's what I've tried to point out in my articles that the bane of the war against corruption is the lack of strong institutions to carry out the job. The institutions in Nigeria are built around personalities, some strong and some weak, and how they, the institutions, carry out their functions depends on the personality calling the shots. But that's not how the war against corruption should be fought; what we need is strong and independent institutions which can operate on their own, without any influence or interference from the person at the helm. If the institutions in Nigeria are strong and independent, the CCB wouldn't have waited till now to prosecute Saraki for an offence he committed more than 12 years ago, and Saraki wouldn't have emerged as the senate president in this current dispensation, saving Nigeria this absurdity going on. Ayo Olukotun rightly advocated that "a proper reform project must both be able to punish offenders in a level playing field; as well as prevent corruption at source through institutional renewal". Buhari can't fight corruption with Saraki as the senate president, and impeaching him may not be possible. The Senators has just passed a vote of confidence on Saraki on Tuesday, September 29, 2015, amidst rowdy session. 83 Senators, out of 109, passed the vote of confidence vote. When more than two-third of the number needed to impeach the senate president has passed a vote of confidence on him, is the issue about impeachment not over?

How will he, Buhari, get out of this quagmire? The war against corruption has even ended before it has begun. The Chief Justice of Nigeria rightly pointed out that corruption in Nigeria (Africa) thrives on weak institutions, when he recently blamed the high rate of corruption in Africa on lack of accountability, transparency and weak government structures. The Chief Justice hit home by asking the key actors in the judiciary sector in Africa to beam their searchlight on the allegations of corruption against members. Because, if those who should dispense justice are corrupt themselves, then, nothing can be achieved against corruption, because, you can't fight corruption with corruption. That's what I have been asking Buhari to do; to strength and empower the institutions and the structures before embarking on his hyped war against corruption. Who will fight the war for him? The Chief Justice, while addressing his learned colleagues at the annual conference of the Pan Africa Lawyers Union with the theme, "Combating corruption: The role of the legal profession in Africa", said amongst other things, that "Corruption is characterized by the absence of culture of accountability, inefficiency, weak government structure, excessive concentration of power in the executive arm of government and lack of transparency." The chief justice was right that , excessive concentration of power in the executive arm of government also breeds corruption, and that's what Buhari should know, because, the way he's operating as president is corruption, although he might not know it, so there's no way he wants to fight corruption, when his actions, inactions and utterances are tantamount to corruption.

How can Buhari fight corruption when he is setting dangerous precedents, which will likely make the national assembly to lose its oversight functions? The Sunnews wrote that some lawmakers condemn the impunity being perpetrated by this present administration, when one of them said "We have seen a pattern. You remember how the president has made some key appointments without referring them to the National Assembly for approval. You have also seen how EFCC chairman refused to appear before a Senate committee probing the diversion of monies realized from recovered assets. Even in the ongoing public probe of the 2015 budget in the House of Representatives, it is the same. The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance and Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) have both refused to honour invitations sent out to them by the adhoc committee. These are clear signs. What about the billions of naira singlehandedly approved by President Muhammadu Buhari as bailout funds to states? Did he seek for approval from the National Assembly? There is a pattern and in the coming weeks, Nigerians will understand the point I am trying to make". Niran Adedokun rightly pointed out that Buhari has lost an opportunity here, when he wrote that "One of the things this government is expected to have accomplished in the past four months is to have cultivated the National Assembly and got the best out of it while everyone is still feeling fresh from the elections. Truth be told, no matter how much the executive arm tries in a presidential system of government, frostiness in its relations with the legislature is as sure as night and day. As a result, democratic governments are ideally expected to exploit the first few moments in their administration to get the best from the legislature before vested interests creep in. This administration has not only lost that opportunity, the chance that it would ever take advantage of its party's majority in the legislature gradually evaporates like water in the sun".

To show that this government has a hand in Saraki's travails:

  1. We learned that the federal government has lined up a total of five witnesses that will testify against Saraki, including the former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory and incumbent governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai. El-Rufai, who is expected to testify that he was the one that sold one of the assets that Saraki bought in Abuja, which the government alleged that he failed to include among the assets belonging to him.

  2. About 50 senators and members of the house of reps, cutting across all the geo-political zones, accompanied Saraki to the Tribunal. Only the south-west was under-represented, because, the law makers from the zone are afraid of offending Tinubu, and the only senator from the zone who went to the Tribunal with Saraki has been ostracized. We read that the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has barred the lawmaker representing Ondo-Central senatorial district, Senator Tayo Alasoadura, from attending South-West caucus meetings, for allegedly working against the interest of the party's South-West leadership and for taking sides with Senate President Bukola Saraki. Alasoadura's sin was that he followed Saraki to the Code of Conduct Tribunal in solidarity on Tuesday Sept 22. Tinubu also warned senators from the south-west to ensure that sensitive issues were not discussed in the presence of Alasoadura, as he was an enemy within, despite a statement from the Ondo State senator pledging his loyalty to the party and denying supporting Saraki, but, only working in the best interest of his constituents. We learned that an APC leader vowed that the party would ensure that he remained irrelevant in the APC.

  3. There are allegations that as part of moves to perfect the removal of Senate President, Saraki, some senators had been reached with heavy sums of money in dollars, with two senators, one from the South-West and the other from the North-West, being the arrow heads. It will not be easy to impeach Saraki, despite the monetary inducements to some senators to do the job: senators said they were solidly behind Saraki, notwithstanding his trial by the Code of Conduct Tribunal. A statement by Senator Ibrahim Abdullahi Danbaba, signed on behalf of others in the eighth Senate, said the senators were happy that Saraki appeared before the CCT in observance of the rule of law, pledging that the lawmakers were fully behind Saraki in his travails. The senators further said that Saraki remained the choice of senators for the Senate presidency, adding that external influence would not stop their support for him. Hear them: "After majority of us, senators of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, witnessed the appearance of our president, Senator Saraki, at the Code of Conduct Tribunal this morning (Tuesday), we are happy that he appeared after availing himself of the opportunity to defend his fundamental human rights. We also want to state here, on behalf of our colleagues, that the Senate remains solidly behind Senator Saraki and we express our unalloyed support for his leadership. We reiterate the fact that he is our choice for the post of Senate president and no politically-motivated, mischievous and vindictive trial will change our opinion of him".

    Those calling for Saraki's resignation are getting it wrong because the provision of the constitution doesn't criminalize the trial of the Code of Conduct Tribunal. Saraki is not yet convicted, and until that happens, no one has the right to call for his resignation, unless he does that personally on a moral grounds. If accusation leads to resignation, then almost all the office holders would have resigned at one point or the other. The point is that only a conviction would make it impossible for Saraki to remain as the head of the senate, because, the body will be unable to take moral high ground to probe others for corruption. In saner climes, may be, it would have been possible for Saraki to resign on moral grounds, but, in Nigeria, the leaders have no morals or conscience. Sylvester Udemezue puts it succinctly when he wrote: "As is reasonably deducible from the provisions of section 18 (6) of Part 1 of the 5th Schedule to the 1999 Constitution, as amended, PROCEEDINGS before the Code of Conduct Tribunal are NOT and cannot be referred to or equated with CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS. Hence the subsection/paragraph states that "nothing in this paragraph shall" preclude a public officer already tried or punished by the CCT from being prosecuted or punished for an offence in a court of law. And by section 18 (3) of the same Part, "sanctions imposed by the CCT shall be without prejudice to the penalties that may be imposed by any law where the conduct is also a criminal offence." It is therefore clear that not even the fact that Dr Saraki was "forced" to take his plea "from the DOCK" will be sufficient to make his trial before the CCT a criminal trial, even though his conviction by the CCT may lead to his vacating his office as Senate President, as is shown by section 18 (2) of Part 1 of the 5th Schedule to the Constitution".

  4. It was reported that APC is shopping for Saraki's replacement. According to National Mirror (Wed 23rd Sep, 2015), fresh reports emerging have indicated that the All Progressives Congress has started looking for replacement for the embattled Senate president, Bukola Saraki. The Paper wrote: "Indications have emerged that the All Progressives Congress may have wrapped up plans to replace the beleaguered Senate president, Bukola Saraki, who is currently facing trial before Code of Conduct Tribunal over false assets declaration. However, according to National Mirror, the ruling party is considering former minority leader in the 7th Senate and former governor of Benue State, Senator George Akume and the wife to the national leader of the party, Senator Remi Tinubu, as likely replacement for Saraki. Also being considered are two ranking senators from the South-West zone. National Mirror reports that Saraki might be asked to resign his position on moral grounds in order to have ample time to concentrate on his trial. It was also gathered that if Saraki refused to obliged, he might be impeached. According to multiple sources, the new arrangement has favoured the South-West zone as the search might likely be limited to the zone. This new deal has shut out South-East and South-South from reckoning as there is no APC senators from these zones".

To be continued!

TIT BITS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRFEz2MjZgg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFGh8nJEHtU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZFMArW2b6g

THE THANX IS ALL YOURS!!!

Continued from Part 1

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IMAGES IN THE NEWS