Serious Tension As Bukola Saraki Keeps Date With Destiny

As we await the resumption of plenary at the senate and the commencement of the trial of Bukola Saraki, at the Code of Conduct Tribunal, any moment from now, PUNCH's Sunday Aborisade reports that uneasy calm pervades the atmosphere at the upper chamber of the nation’s federal parliament.


The last straw which seemed to have broken the camel’s back, however, was during the

screening of the ministerial nominees. Both the Like Minds senators and their colleagues in the Senate Unity Forum closed ranks and worked closely to ensure that all the candidates were cleared despite opposition from the PDP senators, who supported Saraki during the first phase of his trial.

Saraki consolidated the stability which he achieved during the ministerial nominees’ screening exercise when all the SUF members he appointed into key committees as either chairmen or members gladly grabbed the posts with the exception of Marafa who turned down the chairmanship of the committee on National Identity and National Population allocated to him.

So, many observers saw the Supreme Court verdict that Saraki must face trial as an anticlimax coming at a time when membership of the SUF had suffered a great depletion with only a handful of them appeared to still be showing strong commitment to take Saraki out of the seat he grabbed.

Investigations revealed that the SUF had stopped holding regular meetings for a very long time before the apex court ruling which gave the members a ray of hope that their ambition might be realised after all if Saraki should lose his case at the court.

Further checks also revealed that the SUF had now regrouped and are perfecting strategies to draw local and international attention to the implication of Saraki still presiding over the affairs of the senate while facing criminal prosecution.

Marafa, who after the verdict of the apex court last Friday, demanded the immediate resignation of Saraki to enable him to concentrate on his trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal.

He nevertheless explained that Saraki was free to return as a presiding officer after his case at the CCT. He noted that the image of the Senate and the entire senators would continue to be battered in the public if Saraki continues to preside over the affairs of the red chamber while answering criminal charges.

Marafa said, “We really pity Senator Bukola Saraki, but I think this issue has dragged for too long. We have indulged him thus far because we believe that he is presumed innocent until otherwise decided by a competent court of law.

“Now that the Supreme Court has decided that he has a case to answer, I think that the best thing for Senator Saraki is to resign in order to face his trial.

“He could, however, return and contest as a presiding officer in the chamber if he is declared innocent by the court, but at the moment, the leadership of the senate should ask him to step aside.

“At the moment, the image of the senate does not worth anything in the eyes of Nigerians because of the attitude of its president, who ordinarily should have resigned in a sane clime."

A good number of the lawmakers believed that Saraki should have resigned while others asked him to stay on until his fate would have been decided by the CCT.