#TrackNigeria – Immediate past Senate President ,Bukola Saraki has denied claims by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC that he is waging a media war against the anti-graft agency.
A statement by Saraki’s
media aide, Yusuph Olaniyonu, said on the contrary, “Dr. Saraki has been the one at the receiving
end of the media onslaught sponsored from the office of the EFCC”
The former Senate President’s statement
reads in full: “The attention of the Media Office of Dr.
Abubakar Bukola Saraki, has been drawn to the claims contained in the Press
Statement issued yesterday (June 30, 2019) by the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC) and we believe we should make some clarifications for members
of the public to have a better understanding of the issues raised therein.
“Dr. Saraki has not engaged in any media war. Rather, Dr. Saraki has been the
one at the receiving end of the media onslaught sponsored from the office of
the EFCC. Various documents and court processes from the agency have been
given to a particular newspaper for publication. In fact, while the EFCC
distributed copies of its letter to the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court
immediately it was submitted, we are still surprised how Dr. Saraki’s response
written early May found its way into a newspaper last Sunday. It should be
known that if we were interested in leaking the letter, we would not wait for
seven weeks to do that. Dr. Saraki believes he is on firm ground on the points
of law and has nothing to be afraid of. He is innocent of the charges.
“We need to reiterate that Dr. Saraki is not interested in obstructing any
investigation by the EFCC or any security agency. While the EFCC claims that it
is investigating the Office of the Senate President between 2015 and 2019, we
make bold to say that it is just on a wild goose chase. That Office has nothing
to do with contract awards and handling of the finances of the National
Assembly. These are functions of the bureaucracy of the National Assembly,
otherwise known as the National Assembly Management.
“On its persistent probe of the tenure of Dr. Saraki as Governor of Kwara State
between 2003 and 2011, we maintain that all the issues the EFCC are presently
raising were the same issues that are contained in four of the charges filed
before the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) and taken before the Court of Appeal
and the Supreme Court. The CCT case went beyond the subject matter of asset
declaration. They raised issues about the assets, how and when they were
acquired, the sources of their funding and the banking transactions of Dr. Saraki.
That is why we maintain that since the issues have been determined by the
courts up to the Supreme Court, the EFCC is just on a persecution and smear
campaigns with its current investigations.
“At the time the CCT charges were filed, it was generally believed some of the
charges should not have been lumped up with the asset declaration issues.
However, in their desperation to nail Dr. Saraki, some of the charges that
contained insinuations that Kwara State funds were paid into accounts owned by
him and companies in which he has interests were filed. And twice, the charges
went before the highest court in the land and he was discharged and acquitted.
“It is also the reason that Dr. Saraki believes that the current investigation
constitutes an infringement on his fundamental human rights. And in the
exercise of his belief in the judiciary, he filed a case seeking the court’s
intervention for the protection and enforcement of the rights.”
