Saraki To appears In Court Today

Today’s scheduled resumption of the trial of the President
of the Senate, Senator Bukola Saraki at the Code of Conduct
Tribunal undoubtedly affirms the present administration’s
mantra that no one is above the law. However, the political
drama that shadowed the emergence of Saraki as the
country’s number three citizen also paints the matter of
politics as an issue in the trial.
By Emmanuel Aziken, Political Editor
Saraki is being tried on a 13 count charge including
failure to declare his assets, operating a foreign bank
account among other charges bordering on the violation
of the code of conduct for public officers.
Today’s formal resumption of trial follows Saraki’s failed
efforts to cut short the trial on the basis of what he cited
as bias and political persecution. The Senate President
had approached several courts reaching the Supreme
Court, which all refused to stop the trial.
The Senate President had among others, cited the fact
that the authorities failed to abide by the provisions of the
CCT Act which in Section 3 (d) stipulates that the Code of
Conduct Bureau, CCB should, first of all, notify a public
officer of any issue the bureau may have against him or
her before taking the case to the CCT. The Supreme
Court, however, refused to consider that provision as it
ruled that Saraki should face trial. Besides, Saraki had
also sought to affirm the fact that the CCT as presently
constituted does not form a quorum to try a case.
Political witch-hunt
But beyond the legalese is the whispering claim by
associates of the Senate President that the case against
him simply arose out of political witch-hunt. Their claim
is that if Saraki had not become Senate President that the
issues surrounding his assets declaration when he was
governor more than six years ago would not have arisen.
They have also sought to point at the fact that of the
more than 5,000 public officers expected to declare their
assets to the CCB that only a few have been brought to
trial; remarkably, the last high profile person to have been
brought to trial was the former Lagos State governor,
Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, whose case in 2011 was
generally alleged to have been a scheme by the former
Goodluck Jonathan administration to browbeat the then
opposition leader.

Given Tinubu’s pre-eminence in the former opposition
camp, it was alleged that the Jonathan administration
wanted to humble him by making him face the CCT on
issues that arose almost six years after he had left office.
Remarkably, the Jagban as he is famously hailed by
political associates overcame what was alleged to have
been the political persecution of the Jonathan
administration by citing Section 3 (d) of the CCT Act, to
wit, to say that he had not been previously served by the
CCB on any anomalies on his assets declaration.
The Saraki team according to sources are also hoping to
project that fact when his case comes up today. But
beyond the trial is the unfolding snare for the ruling All
Progressives Congress, APC in the continued trial of
Saraki. A conviction for Saraki could further destabilise
the Senate to the amazement of the APC.
Unbeknown to many operatives of the APC, the party’s
majority in the Senate outside senators aligned to Saraki
may not be defensible. With the balance of the parties
being APC, 59, PDP 44, and Labour 1 with four seats
outstanding, the propensity of the mainstream APC to
push through legislative proposals could be hampered
should the about 30 APC senators aligned with Saraki
team up with the opposition PDP.
It is a danger that the leaders of the APC have yet to
contemplate. President Muhammadu Buhari, who could
suffer the backlash the more according to sources, may
not have serious issues with Saraki.
“Buhari’s problem is the presence of Senator Ike
Ekweremadu in the office of Deputy President of the
Senate and his anger is that Saraki helped Ekweremadu
to that office.” The president’s angst against
Ekweremadu is said not to be personal but rather,
ideological. The president, sources said, is still miffed
with the PDP and what the party did to him in his years in
the opposition.
Should Saraki lose out in the emerging case, the Senate
could be headed for a fresh leadership election in which
the PDP now revitalised after its bruising losses in 2015,
could as well challenge whosoever the APC could
produce. Even with the lack of unity in the APC with its
senators divided between the Unity Forum and Like
Minds, it could become an enticement for the PDP to
dare the APC by entering the fray with the assurance that
APC senators inclined to Saraki could align with them.