FEATURE ARTICLE

Temple Chima UbochiSaturday, November 28, 2015
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BUKOLA SARAKI'S TRAVAILS:
WHO REALLY CROSSED UP BUHARI SHOULD KNOW THAT HE HAS INCURRED A DEBT HE WILL PAY ONE DAY, NO MATTER HOW LONG IT TAKES (5)

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Continued from Part 4

Judges must be free from political intervention or intimidation (Stockwell Day)

If you want to control someone, all you have to do is to make them feel afraid (Paulo Coelho)

Leadership is based on inspiration, not domination; on cooperation, not intimidation (William Arthur Ward)

ike he's doing to Sambo Dasuki, President Buhari have subdued the senate president, Bukola Saraki, through intimidation and prosecution. Those who accused President Buhari and the APC of despotism and desperation to remove Senate President Bukola Saraki, from the beginning, were right. PDP noted, albeit rightly, that what was happening was part of a larger script to commence a major onslaught against federal lawmakers perceived to hold divergent views to those of the Presidency, irrespective of party affiliations, a situation that would ensure a subdued legislature. Buhari has really started subduing the national assembly to the chagrin of many Nigerians.

Saraki wanted to prove "stubborn"; then, his Party, the APC, and President Buhari made life a "bit" uncomfortable for him. Saraki then turned 180 degrees and started being a "good boy" by making sure that all the ministerial nominees were confirmed without too much of a hassle. All of a sudden, the "sun" starts shining again for him, Saraki, as on November 12, 2015, The Supreme Court granted an order of a stay of proceedings in his trial before the CCT. The Supreme Court ruling, putting on hold further action pending the determination of his appeal, forced the Code of Conduct Tribunal, CCT, to suspend the trial of the Senate President.

Something seems fishy here; just as someone wrote on Facebook (I lost the name): "The FG only succeeded in deceiving their less intelligent supporters who couldn't see through the silly charade. For a thousand times, the so-called anti-corruption war is a ruse, a deception, mimicry of reality, a parody and a cheap farce. Saraki has acquiesced in some areas and put pressure in other areas and the case is on the way to the legal mortuary. Since we've elevated deception to national culture under this administration, let's move on to other dramas. This one has come to a denouement. Next will be Dasuki's!" Ochereome Nnanna also wrote that "Saraki, who was determined to blindside "the party", was however, forced to bow to Buhari when his assets declaration issue suddenly surfaced at the Code of Conduct Tribunal, CCT, with the Tribunal's Chairman, Danladi Umar seeming determined to nail him. If not for Saraki's case at the CCT, Buhari might have found it difficult to get some of his prized ministerial nominees, especially Babatunde Fashola and Rotimi Amaechi, approved by the Senate as ministers. Saraki became so eager to please the President that he not only beat a smooth path for the screening and approval of ALL the nominees, he also personally submitted the list to the President in an elaborate but brief ceremony at the Presidential Villa. Like magic, Saraki got a big, though temporary reprieve at the Supreme Court. Federal Government lawyers prosecuting him became less recalcitrant, which allowed the apex court to halt proceedings at the CCT to enable it look into Saraki's appeal. Some even believe Saraki might be let off the hook if he continues to play ball as he did in the easy passage of Buhari's ministers. However, that might prove to be a mere small battle in an overall big war".

Was the ruling of the Supreme Court here correct? Some lawyers have kicked against it, and we learnt that the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Mahmud Mohammed, is to set up a fresh panel that will hear the appeal filed by the Senate President, challenging the jurisdiction and competence of the charges by the Code of Conduct Tribunal over alleged false asset declaration preferred against him. The CJN wants to do the review due to a number of contentious issues in the appeal filed by Saraki in his appeal. The Chief Justice has disbanded the Justice John Fabiyi-led five-member panel, which on November 12, 2015, granted the order of a stay of proceedings in the Senate President's trial before the CCT. Justice Fabiyi, who headed the panel of Supreme Court judges who gave the ruling, retired on November 25, after attaining the retirement age of 70. We learnt that the decision to disband the panel is partly due to the outcry generated by the Supreme Court's ruling, and the imminent retirement of Justice Fabiyi from the bench on November 25. The Punch tells us that the Chief Justice of Nigeria was on an official trip abroad when the Supreme Court's ruling was delivered on November 12, and he would likely head the fresh panel to be constituted. A lawyer confirmed that: "It is the practice of the Supreme Court that when a number of contentious constitutional issues are raised in an appeal such as this one (Saraki's case), the CJN is likely to head such appeal panel." Something is not clear here! But in all and all, Saraki has achieved his aim, as the CCT, which had on November 5, adjourned till November 19, for the commencement of his trial, must await the decision of the apex court. Who knows when and how it will come? To refresh here: Saraki is facing a13-count charge of false asset declaration to which he pleaded not guilty.

Although Buhari may not have directly influenced Saraki's case in the first place, but, he gained from it, and he hijacked it to settle his score with Saraki. It might still not be over yet, despite the seeming truce prevailing now between the presidency and the senate. Buhari still needs the senate for the passage of his budget, especially, the 2015 supplementary budget that will partly be used in paying the petroleum subsidy in order to alleviate the hardship and suffering Nigerians are going through because of the scarcity of fuel. Know that 88 percent of the supplementary budget will be used to offset the N410 billion the government owes licensed importers for the third quarter of 2015, which is the reason the scarcity lingers.

On Wednesday, November 25, President Buhari hosted the senators to a dinner at Aso Rock. The dinner enabled Buhari to familiarize with both senators of APC and the PDP, and The Tribune puts it that "in what looks like the beginning of rapprochement ahead of the presentation of the 2016 budget, President Muhammadu Buhari, on Wednesday, Nov. 25, hosted senators to a dinner. The dinner, held at the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja, was the first meeting between the senators and the president. The National Assembly had run into turbulent waters under Buhari, following the emergence of the Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki, against the expectation of his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC). The president of the Senate, Saraki, led his colleagues to the dinner at 7.30 p.m.".

Who really started Saraki's travails, before Buhari hijacked it for his selfish end, was the former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Ibrahim Larmode, who has refused to honor an invitation from the senate. Was he working in concert with Buhari? The outgone EFCC Chairman has failed, three times, to appear before the senate to explain how more than a trillion Naira recovered from looters by EFCC disappeared under his watch - case of a thief stealing from thieves. Kayode Lawal in Abuja (published by 247 Report) wrote detailed accounts of how the former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Ibrahim Larmode, manipulated the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) and Tribunal (CCT) to instigate the trial of the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, on spurious charges of false assets declaration have been uncovered. Saraki's sudden trial, initiated more than 13 years he left office as governor of Kwara State, was said to have been orchestrated by Larmode to hit back at Saraki over the insistence of the senate to probe him on the alleged diversion of about one trillion naira recovered as loots from convicted fraudsters. It was revealed that the sacked EFCC boss put the embattled chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal, Mr. Danladi Yakubu Umar, under intense pressure to convict the Senate President within one week. Larmode, who had been shielding the CCT Chairman from probe over a N10m bribery scandal since 2012, was said to have summoned Justice Umar to his office and instructed him to do the alleged hatchet's job or risked being exposed on his dirty past and face prosecution. The ploy of Larmode was aimed at embarrassing the Senate President to influence his colleagues in the Senate to drop him as the Senate President.

The case gets more complicated when one reads that even the man incharge of prosecuting Saraki, is himself not clean. How can a criminal try a fellow criminal? The Senate, on Thursday, November 19, ordered the investigation of the Chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), Danladi Umar, over alleged corruption. What happened? According to 247ureports, the saying: "He who must come to equity must come with clean hands" has eventually caught up with Danladi Umar, who has been running from pillar to post to cover up his transgressions since the news of his 10Million Naira bribery scandal broke out. The guiding principle in the anti-corruption fight will be totally lost if the "almighty arbiter" in a corruption case is found enmeshed in corrupt practices, and yet, wants to prosecute other corrupt persons. Read more:

https://247ureports.com/danladi-umar-and-his-baggage-of-corruption-by-abubakar-issa/

But, who is this Bukola Saraki?

* He was born on December 19, 1962, and is originally a medical doctor.

* His father was Dr. Abubakar Olusola Saraki, a onetime Senate president (1979 - 1983) in Nigeria.

* He studied medicine at the London Hospital Medical College of the University of London from 1982 to 1987, and practiced as a medical doctor at Rush Green Hospital in London.

* His political career kick started when he was appointed by the former president Olusegun Obasanjo his special assistant on budget issues in 2000.

* He was the one who initiated the Fiscal Responsibility Bill and served on the Economic Policy Coordination Committee.

* In 2003, under the umbrella of the then ruling party, the Peoples Democratic Party, he ran for and won the governorship of Kwara State.

* He was Kwara state governor for two terms, from 2003 till 2011, and had mostly positive reviews of his job.

* He was the first Nigerian governor to be awarded the national honour, a Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON).

* Many governors have tried to copy Saraki's community health insurance scheme, environmental 'Clean and Green' scheme and agricultural transformation scheme, which have been praised as one of the reasons Kwara is a profitable and clean state.

* Before becoming a senator, he was the former chairman of the Nigerian Governor's Forum (News 24)

There's no Kwara state without the Sarakis, and there are no Sarakis without Kwara State. The Sarakis are power drunk and have made Kwara State their personal estate, in that they call the political shots in the state, as nobody can win any important election there without their blessing or endorsement. Bukola Saraki took a lot after his father; his father was a medical doctor, so also is Bukola Saraki; his father was trained in England, so also was Bukola Saraki; his father was a senate leader during the second republic, and Bukola is now the senate president; his father was the undisputed godfather of Kwara Sate, upon his death, Bukola Saraki automatically became the godfather of that state; his father was dogged with controversy, and had allegations of corruption against him when he was alive, Bukola Saraki also has plethora of allegations against him. Bukola Saraki have succeeded in controlling the direction of Kwara politics as his father did, but, he's confronted with the fight of his life now. Nobody knows how the Code of Conduct Tribunal trial will go for him.

The Ilorin Info of November 5, 2015, wrote that "As we published earlier in the year, apart from Akinjide, Shagari, Kashim Ibrahim, Akintola, Fani-kayode, Mbadiwe, Ajasin families, Awolowo and a few others, the Olusola Saraki family of Kwara State, has remained politically relevant in the annals of Nigerian history from the First Republic through the military era to the present political dispensation that began in 1999. However, this exalted position hitherto graciously occupied by the Saraki family is now irredeemably threatened by alleged inordinate ambition and politics of Dr. Bukola Saraki, the eldest son of Honourable Olusola Saraki, prided strong man of Kwara politics, the scion of the dynasty who died about two years ago. Latest events in the state show that the people of Kwara State have resolved to secure their political freedom through the ballot box next year".

https://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/11/buhari-batters-dasuki-while-we-watch/

To be continued!

TIT BITS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MXapKZ06v4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1X8khX9JSmo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Var4AQWRL2o&index=15&list=PLmk8JQKenmuBfhimuXhyFMP_t_Noi0BQD

THE THANX IS ALL YOURS!!!

Continued from Part 4

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IMAGES IN THE NEWS