Except if you are young in the study of the Nigerian
politics that things like these would catch you unaware. It was highly expected
since the emergence of Senator Bukola Saraki as the Senate President. Many saw
it coming including some of us who are relatively young in the study. A man who
has spent two tenures as a governor of a state cannot be regarded as a baby in
this game. I am certain he would have migrated from PDP to join APC to be down
trodden . His seat in PDP was not threatened either. His influence in the North
Central especially Kwara State and Kogi cannot be underrated as an opposition
if you must be relevant among the people. He single handedly truncated the
interest of His late father at the poll. Therefore, his aspiration to become
the Senate President might not have been an end itself but a means to that end. That
end is a case for another day God willing. Therefore, I guess he is ready to
fight to the end in this ongoing war. The process of His emergence as the Senate
President is one of the reasons the entire house is not standing today. It was
obvious that he was not the chosen one as far as the powers that be in the APC
are concerned. Fortunately, even at the moment, he seems to have the majority members of the
house on his side and this has been his strength so far. With what he is facing
at the moment, the PDP has consistently
THE LAW
I have said it couple of times that many of our politicians usually
robbed their bodies with oil. So, it is always difficult to hold them. They seem
to be finding their way out of the web. The war against corruption is so difficult
to fight as these guys have developed various ways of getting out. It is not
enough to ask them for asset declaration. You just have to put other things in
place to checkmate their menace. If you asked a public officer to declare his
or herself asset, and he goes about to have a deal with Asset Managers including
real estate managers and tie some assets in his name with all the legal documentations being put in place and he present
to CCB as his assets at the inception with a primary motive of stealing. Then pays
back in his first or second year as an office holder. How would you know? Which
means the stealing has been perfected even before he resumes office. Stealing in
advance I call it. This is exactly what the current Senate President, Bukola
Saraki is being accused of at the moment. He is currently alleged to have
registered some assets in the value of 396 Million Naira in 2003 and which he eventually
paid for in 2006 when he was already ruling as a governor of a state. Many of them do it. So,
it is not about just asset declaration.
Some have tagged his current travail as a mere witch-hunt
from the executive and the party as a result of his emergence as the senate
President. If that is true or not should not be the concern of the law. So he
must answer those questions and the law must be allowed to have its way. I can
remember clearly during the era of the former President Obasanjo. Mallam Nuhu
Ribadu was the sheriff in town then. The administration then was accused of witch-hunting.
But the question I kept asking then was that, did the accused actual steal or
not? Unfortunately, most of the accused actually stole. So, if Senator Saraki
truly manipulated his files with CCB, he should be allowed to face the law. No
one should be above the law.
THE POLITICS
According to the data at my disposal. CCB at the moment has
nothing less than 18,600 public holders asset files with them since 1999. How
come it was Senator Bokola Saraki file that was due for investigation at this
time? Remember, this allegation is currently reported to have been committed
far back 2003.Why was his file not treated immediately he left the office as a
governor? What was CCB doing since then? Who was the head of CCB then? Didn’t he
represent the same assets again at the beginning of his second term and when he
finished as a governor? Was CCB not supposed to cross check the assets again
immediately when he left office? Even if it was by random selection, what was
the probability of his file coming up for investigation? Or does that mean the
rest of the past governors and public officers are clean of this? These are questions
yearning for answers but answers may never come. But I want to believe somebody
somewhere is not using his office to abuse the public institutions to carry out
hidden agenda. But that is not the business
of the rule of law.
The MORALLITY
As it is done in developed countries, a public officer is
expected to have resigned from his seat for the sake of the integrity of that office.
This is an environment where integrity is held in high esteem. They value their
names more than the beautiful seats. Was senator Bukola Saraki not supposed to
have resigned and allowed the law to have its way? Was he meant to remain on
that seat up till now? Nigerian politicians do not resign. It is alien to our
culture. A taboo in its entirety. Well, should I blame him for not resigning? I
should not. In short, as far as I am concerned, any public office holder that
resigns on allegation in the Nigeria of today is foolish and does not have a
future for himself. This is because; we live in an environment where allegation
can come out from nowhere. It has been abused. It is so bad that anybody can
decide in the corner of his room to allege his political opponent. It is so bad
that even international communities do not take our allegations serious again.
The former Finance minister, Dr Okonjo Iweala was an example. With all the loot
she was alleged to have influenced, she was still given beautiful jobs abroad. It
is that bad.
It is so bad. But how the saga will end, is for me and you
to draw our pop corn closer and enjoy the remaining part of the soap opera.
God bless Nigeria
Tunde Adenuga
Twitter: @tunde_adenuga
No comments:
Post a Comment