EZREL TABIOWO examines what the political future holds for the embattled Senate President, Bukola Saraki, against the backdrop of his current travails stemming from the alleged false declaration of assets in 2003 which culminated into 13 count corruption charges by the Code of Conduct Tribunal.
As the Senate resumes today from a six weeks break it embarked on last month, incidents of the last two weeks leaves a dark clouds of uncertainty as to whether or not the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, would survive the growing pressure being mounted on him to resign as President of the Eighth Senate.
The political fortunes of Senator Saraki took a nosedive a little over two weeks ago when the Code of Conduct Bureau slammed a 13-count corruption charge against him over false declaration of assets in 2003.
Despite frantic efforts by Senator Saraki to stop his trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal through the intervention of the Federal High Court and Court of Appeal, respectively, his recourse to both courts regardless failed to halt his arraignment last week Tuesday before the Danladi Umar led Tribunal. The Senate President, though granted bail after last Tuesday’s trial, was however asked to appear again before the CCT on October 21, 2015.
But two days after his trial, the unimaginable happened in Senator Saraki’s home, Ilorin, where it was alleged that he was attacked alongside some political figures at the Eid Prayer ground by persons identified by the police as hoodlums.
Reacting to the development, the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Kwara State had alleged that the said hoodlums were sponsored from Lagos and neighboring states to disrupt the Eid prayers and publicly embarrass the embattled Senate President.
A statement signed by the party’s Publicity Secretary, Sulyman Buhari, had raised alarm that external forces and desperate politicians mobilised miscreants and thugs to the Ilorin Eid praying ground last Thursday in a failed attempt to embarrass the personality of the Senate President.
Also, reports have alleged another plot in the offing to effect Saraki’s removal as principal officer of the upper chamber through sponsored protests that would pre-empt his resignation or impeachment, either way.
Even worrisome is the fact that there are already clandestine moves by some Senators who were initially opposed to his emergence as Senate President in the first place to have Saraki impeached following the criminal charges brought against him by the CCB.
The anti-Saraki Senators who belong to the Unity Forum, a group which supported the Senator Ahmad Lawan candidacy for Senate President, it was gathered, have commenced intense lobbying of lawmakers in the opposition Peoples Democratic Party who were not carried along by the Senate President.
With Saraki’s popularity dwindling by the second, there are heightening fears that he might bow to the pressure of resigning as President of the Senate in a bid to salvage what is left of his flattened reputation.
Recall that the resignation option, which saw Senator Adolphus Wabara out of office as Senate President in April 2005, barely two years after he assumed office, was resorted to after allegations surfaced that he and others took a $400,000 bribe from the education minister, Fabian Osuji.
Wabara was forced to throw in the trowel after Senators moved to investigate him in May 2004 over alleged corruption, a move which was backed by former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
The senators had accused Wabara of exceeding his authority by handing out various contracts without the knowledge or approval of the relevant Senate committee.
Also, Nigeria’s second Senate President between 1999 and 2003, Senator Chuba Okadigbo, was impeached after he refused to heed calls on him to resign following corruption allegations leveled against him.
The call on Okadigbo to resign came in a motion, and his subsequent impeachment passed by 81 votes to 14.
Okadigbo’s deputy, Haruna Abubakar, and the majority leader Samaila Mamman, took the path of resignation following the outcome of an internal investigation which stated that the principal officers in the Senate were guilty of gross abuse of public office.
Despite his insistence that he was innocent of the allegations leveled against him, Senator Okadigbo who maintained a resilient posture that he would not be “stampeded” out of office,was left with the option of stepping aside to allow the debate on the corruption allegations, which he refuted, to go ahead. He was later impeached through voting.
Against the backdrop of the Senate’s position as regards corruption involving principal officers, incidents of the past suggest a clear indication that Senator Saraki may be left to choose between the Wabara and Okadigbo alternatives.
However, there is a third dimension to the Saraki saga which could unfold a whole new plot that may outwit the scheming of Senators against his continued stay in office as Senate President.
In a bid to get a clear feel of the mood in the upper chamber, it was gathered that Senators belonging to the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, have reached an agreement to resist any move to have Saraki kicked out as President of the Senate.
One of the lawmakers who spoke on condition of anonymity disclosed that the decision of opposition Senators to maintain their resolve is aimed at keeping the legislature and its members immune from executive interference and persecution.
Dismissing insinuations that Anti-Saraki Senators had infiltrated the rank of PDP in the upper chamber, the source disclosed that the lawmakers would be dealt a shocker if they made any move to impeach the Senate President.
According to him, the Senate under the eight years leadership of Senator David Mark, had developed a common sense of purpose to understand that the Legislature as an institution must be shielded from the manipulations of political parties and the executive arm of government.
This, he added, became imperative especially in view of how allegations were used in the past to frustrate and get out of power, principal officers of the Senate, particularly any President of the upper chamber who was perceived and marked as a political foe by a sitting President of the executive arm of government.
The source said: “I do not think Senator Saraki can be removed from office by having him impeached. If the Senate President decides to resign, that becomes a different thing; but I’m very sure he won’t, especially knowing that the allegations of false asset declaration is just a mere distraction that will come and go.
“As for those against his emergence as Senate President, I am so sorry for them because they are simply fighting a lost battle. I can confirm to you that no PDP Senator will buy into or support any plot to have Saraki removed. The way we surprised the Lawan’s group during the inauguration is the same way we will shock them if they ever try to have the Senate President removed.
“Let me tell you something, the legislature has matured to the point where nobody can dictate what happens within its walls. The National Assembly is a democratic institution, so no undemocratic means can be used to impose or remove a leader as things stand today.
“The Peoples Democratic Party laboured so hard for sixteen years to grow the legislature, so no one will take us back to the stone age by desecrating the only symbol of democracy and hope of the common man. We do not compel the executive to accept our resolutions. Let the executive arm of government mind their own business and not interfere in the leadership of the National Assembly.
Reacting to the Senate President’s trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal, the source expressed confidence that Senator Saraki would in time be vindicated by the judicial process.
He added that the corruption allegation slammed against the Senate President was a mere distraction which will fizzle away in no distant time, adding that same lacked the potency to bring Saraki any where near political perdition.
