Monday, 10 April 2017
Senate President Bukola
Saraki, has reacted to speculations that he is not loyal to President
Buhari and his administration. Speaking in an exclusive interview with
DailyTrust, Saraki said he is indeed loyal to the President.
According to him, loyalty isn't what people do in front of you, it is what they do behind your back.
"The
people who are saying that this Senate President is against President
Buhari, I say to them, when President Buhari was away for two months and
rumours were flying everywhere as to the real situation, President
Buhari received many guests [in London] but who was the person who came
out and said, ‘President Buhari is fine and is coming back home’? Tell
me, who was it? Senate President. Loyalty
is not what people do in front of you. It is what they do behind your
back. This propaganda is just to cause head-on collision and we know why
they are doing it. When the time comes, we will tell you why they are
doing it".
On
the Ali Ndume suspension, Saraki said the move by the Borno state
senator to speak on the certificate scandal and importation of Range
Rover SUV linked to Dino and himself, before the senate, only escalated
the issue. According to Saraki, Ndume knew better to call his colleagues
to ask in person if the allegations leveled against them were indeed
true or false. He said Ndume who is currently on a 6 months suspension,
only escalated the scandal and that he doesn't believe that referring
the case to the senate Committee on Ethics and priviledges gave them a
chance to clear their names.
" I
don’t think so because the issue of the car, when it came up, the
management issued a statement. When government appointees buy an
official car, it is not their car. Government provides a car to you by
virtue of your job. The National Assembly Management said no car was
imported in Senator Saraki’s name, and Senator Ndume knew that. Even if
you think that your colleague is not qualified, did he call him and say
‘Colleague, is it true that you don’t have a genuine certificate?’ There
are many ways of addressing these issues. Coming to the Senate floor
escalated the whole issue. What the committee was saying was did you
check this thing very well before you came to the floor and said your
privilege was... So it is not that he gave me an opportunity to prove it
because the management had already said that no car was brought in
under my name, and Ndume knew it. He brought the issue to embarrass both
myself and the institution. I am not an importer. I don’t agree with
you that he gave us a chance to clear ourselves because we had already
been cleared"he said
On whether he would forgive Ndume, Saraki said "I
wish I have all these powers. I am only the presiding officer. I was
not the one who approved his suspension with a memo, like they do in the
Executive Branch, so you cannot send another memo to me and say,
‘Please review it.’ He was suspended at the Senate plenary, so all the
senators must sit again and look at it. All I can say is that this
Senate has a large heart. We used to have dissenting voices before but
we are now back as one family. Sooner or later we may have a political
solution somewhere and Ndume may be back in the fold. That’s
another thing people are saying. That those senators that once opposed
to you, you gave them juicy committee assignments and they are silent
now".
Saraki
says there are so many factors that suggest that his ongoing trial at
the Code of Conduct Tribunal is abnormal and political
" As
I said from Day One, that case should never have gone to CCT. EFCC has
no business taking a case to CCT. CCB is saying all these things; we
don’t know anything about them. This is the first time that CCB will
take anyone to court without first asking him to come and write a
statement. This is the first time that EFCC will prosecute a case at
CCT. So many things in that trial are abnormal. People who have been
following that case already know that it has collapsed. So I have no
fear about it and we will not put it on the table. Certainly we were not
pleased by it, to see the head of one arm of government sent to a trial
that is more political than anything else. That was what those senators
were talking about. But for the last two years did it stop us from
working? We are carrying on, doing our best in working for people’s
welfare. So while senators are not happy, I don’t think we should
misinterpret what they said. This trial cannot be the reason for any
rift between the two arms of government"he said
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