Cover Story: Saraki in the battle of his life

[caption id="attachment_31546" align="alignnone" width="600"] Senator Bukola Saraki: faces battle at several fronts[/caption] AYORINDE OLUOKUN/ABUJA Abubakar Bukola Saraki, the President of the Nigerian Senate had for many years now sustained a tradition of observing the Muslim Eid-el-Kabir festival with all pomp and pageantry during which he also dished out gifts to the pauperised people of Ilorin, the capital of Kwara State where he was a governor for eight years. But as this year’s celebration of the festival usually marked with the slaughtering of animals approaches, for Saraki, the prospect of the usual grand celebration seems to be receding by the minute. Going by the ruling of Mr Danladi Umar , chairman of Code of Conduct Tribunal, CCT on Friday, rather than the Eid-el-Kabir celebrations, the former Governor’s mind is more likely to be preoccupied with the possibilities of his being the first chairman of the Nigerian National Assembly to be tainted with the infamy of being docked on criminal charges. Justice Umar had ordered the Police to arrest Saraki and bring him to court on Monday, three days to the Muslim festival to defend himself against a 13-count criminal charge bordering on false declaration of assets preferred against him by the Federal Government. The Federal Government had, on 11 September, filed a 13-count charge of false declaration of assets against Saraki while his arraignment was fixed for Friday. Government had alleged in the 13 count charge that the Senate President failed to declare or made anticipatory declaration of his assets in the assets declaration form he submitted to Code of Conduct Bureau when he served as Kwara State Governor between 2003 and 2009. The Senate President was accused of failure to declare his property on Plot 2A, Glover Road, Ikoyi, Lagos; No 1, Tagus Street, Maitama, Abuja (Plot 2482, Cadastral Zone A06, Abuja) and failure to declare property No 3, Tagus Street, Maitama, Abuja (Plot 2481, Cadastral Properties Limited). He was also accused of claiming to own property on No 42, Gerard Road, Ikoyi and earning N110, 000,000 per annum at a time the property was under construction; failure to declare N375m GTB loan converted to 1.5m Pound Sterling which used to purchase property in London; operating a foreign bank account; transfer of $3.4m from GTB to foreign bank account during his tenure as governor and failure to declare leasehold interest in No. 42, Remi Fani-Kayode Street, Ikeja. In the same vein, the Senate President was alleged to have made anticipatory asset declaration of a house in Ikoyi in his asset declaration form he submitted to the CCB in 2003. As contained in the charges, Saraki claimed that he owned and acquired No 15A and 15B McDonald Road, Ikoyi, Lagos, through his company, Carlisle Properties Limited in 2000, when the said property was actually sold by the Implementation Committee of the Federal Government landed properties in 2006 to his companies, Tiny Tee Limited and Vitti Oil Limited for the aggregate sum of N396,150,000, 00. Thus, the Senate President was accused of gross violation of the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, as amended and breaching Section 2 of the CCB and Tribunal Act, an offence punishable under section 23(2) of the Act and paragraph 9 of the said Fifth Schedule of the 1999 Constitution, as amended. Some of his alleged offences which are said to be punishable under Section 15(1) and (2) of the CCB and Tribunal Act, Cap C15, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004, were allegedly committed between October 2006 and May 2007. Ahead of the sitting of the Tribunal on Thursday, Saraki had sought the shield of the Federal High Court, Abuja to stop his arraignment. Mahmud Magaji, the lawyer to the Senator had approached the court presided over by Justice Ahmed Mohammed asking for an ex-parte order restraining the CCT, the Code of Conduct Bureau, CCB and the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation, AGF from proceeding with his planned arraignment. In the substantive suit, the Senate President prayed the court to declare that the ministry has not complied with the provision of the 3rd Schedule of Section 24(1) of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act to act before proffering a charge against him. He argued that based on the provision of Section 24 of the CCB and Tribunal Act, it is the AGF or any officer directed by him (AGF) that must initiate charges against him (Saraki). Saraki contends that “in the absence of any substantive AGF in the time being, this court has the jurisdiction to direct parties to maintain status quo, pending the hearing of the motion on notice.” He also argued that since there is no substantive AGF, the charge against him by the official of the AGF before the CCT is void as the provisions of Section 24 (1) of the CCB and tribunal. But rather than expressly granting his request, Justice Mohammed who heard the motion in chambers had directed that the respondents- Federal Ministry of Justice, Chairman of the tribunal, Justice Umar and that of the Code of Conduct Bureau, CCB, Mr. Sam Saba, as well as Hassan who signed the charge against the Senate President should be put on notice and appear before the court on Monday to show cause why Saraki’s prayers, as contained in his ex-parte motion, should not be granted. He further ordered that the respondents be served with all the court processes, including the motion on notice for interim order or injunction, motion ex-parte and a hearing notice. The Senate President and his aides went to town proclaiming that the court had ordered a halt to the planned arraignment, even convincing some media houses to report so. Thus, when the Tribunal commenced sitting on Friday morning, the Senate President was not in court. Instead, his team of lawyers led by Magaji came to the court with a copy of the ruling of Justice Mohammed, an action which sets off a dramatic battle of wits between the Senate President’s counsel and the government team led by a deputy director in the office of the Attorney General of the Federation, Muslim Hassan. The Senate President’s lead counsel had asked the Tribunal to respect the court order directing the Chairman of the CCT, CCB, AGF and Saraki to appear before it next Monday. He further argued that the Tribunal should stay off the case since his client has challenged its competence to hear the case and the competence of the charges and that it is only the Attorney General of the Federation who has not been appointed that is competent to sign the charges. But he was countered by Hassan who argued that a Federal High Court cannot stop the work of CCT since it is not a superior court. According to him, Justice Mohammed lacked the powers to summon the CCB and CCT chairman, even as it accused Saraki of engaging in “forum shopping” in a desperate bid to scuttle his trial. He also argued that Saraki cannot sit in the comfort of his chamber and object to his trial in absentia. “It is not exclusive to the Attorney General to institute criminal proceedings. An officer in his department can do so as well,” Hassan said while arguing that since the high court does not have the supervisory jurisdiction over the Tribunal, the injunction being touted by Saraki’s lawyer does not exist.[caption id="attachment_31520" align="alignnone" width="300"] Senator Bukola Saraki: faces battle at multi-fronts[/caption] “We urge this court to issue arrest warrant for the arrest of the accused person because objection cannot be taken in absentia,” said Hassan. Umar ruled that in the absence of the AGF, other senior officers in the office can institute criminal charges against an accused. He also argued that the Solicitor General of the Federation on whose behalf Hassan is acting is competent to files the charges and could also exercise the power of AGF in criminal proceedings. He also ruled that the Tribunal is a court of a competent jurisdiction and would not be stopped on the order of a high court. Umar then adjourned for two hours to deliver his verdict on the demand for issue of bench warrant against Saraki. When the court resumed, Umar ruled that Saraki was duly notified of his impending trial, but chose to ignore the court. He added that the Senate President could not claim to be unaware of the implications of his actions. He therefore granted the request for issue of bench warrant directing the Police and other relevant agencies to ensure the arrest of the former Kwara State Governor and haul him before Tribunal for trial on Monday, the next adjourned date for the suit. An Attempt by Joseph Bodunrin Daodu, one of Saraki’s lawyer to get the Judge to vacate the order on the basis of Saraki’s position in Nigeria’s political hierarchy as well as his promise that he will ensure that the Senate President is present at the adjourned date failed. “We are going to promptly arrest the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki and produce him before the Code of Conduct Tribunal on Monday but the IGP is yet to get the directive. Since it is a bench warrant issued by a competent court, the order will be carried out without delay. We don’t want to pre-empt anything,” Bisi Kolawole, the Force Public Relations Officer said few hours after the order was given on Friday. But the Senate President had also immediately filed an appeal asking the Court of Appeal to set aside the order of the Code of Conduct Tribunal. Saraki asserted in the appeal that the tribunal erred in law and also acted without jurisdiction‎ by assuming jurisdiction over the criminal trial of the appellant at the Code of Conduct Tribunal for a charge which is being challenged at the Federal High Court. He further stated that as at the time the tribunal overruled the appellant's application to discharge the order for bench warrant for his arrest by the respondent, there was an order of the Federal High Court which was served on the tribunal. The Senate President also submitted that it was trite that when an accused files an application challenging the jurisdiction of a court/tribunal to adjudicate on a charge brought before it, the accused need not be in court. Also, in a statement issued by his spokesperson, Yusuph Olaniyonu on his behalf on Friday, the Senate President said he refused to appear before the tribunal because of the existing order issued by a Federal High Court on Thursday, directing that the case against him be halted. The Senate President also accused the tribunal of pursuing a political agenda, and said he was certain the court would give him justice. “It is also a surprise to us that despite the application by the lead counsel to the Senate President that he will produce Dr. Saraki on Monday and the personality of the person involved as the Number three man in the country, the Tribunal insisted on issuing a warrant of arrest as if its intention is simply to embarrass Dr. Saraki. We are not unmindful of the fact that the Tribunal is acting under political influence and external pressure,” the Senate President said in the statement. But this magazine gathered that Saraki kept away from the court out of fears that he may be ordered remanded in custody after his arraignment. Even as Nigerians wait for the continuation of the drama of his latest entanglement with the law, for Saraki, it has virtually been one week, one trouble since he outfoxed his party to emerge as the Senate President on 9 June. On Thursday, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission declared Saraki’s business associate, Kennedy Izuagbe, wanted for alleged N3.6 billion money laundering offence. Izuagbe, is the managing director of Carlisle Properties and Investment Limited, a company used to buy some of the property listed in the charges against the Senate President by the CCB. Izuagbe was alleged to have conspired with others to launder the said amount while he was the Managing Director of the defunct Societe Generale Bank of Nigeria, where Saraki was a director before he became the Governor of Kwara State.[caption id="attachment_31458" align="alignnone" width="486"] Kennedy Izuagbe[/caption] “Izuagbe, 45, who is being investigated in a case of conspiracy and money laundering to the tune of over N3.6 billion, has gone into hiding and all efforts to reach him have proved abortive. He is linked to the several shady deals and gross financial misconducts that took place in the bank, in which several millions of Naira were granted as loan without due diligence,” EFCC said in the statement. The hunt for Izuagbe is a continuation of the anti graft agency’s investigations of corrupt dealings that led to the collapse of the bank majorly owned by Olusola, the father of the Senate President in 2005. EFCC had in 2013 grilled Saraki who was chairman of the Bank as well as Robert Mbonu, the former managing director of the Bank over alleged fraudulent dealings. Reports had indicated that Mbonu was quizzed over allegations NGS Securities Limited, one of the companies linked to Saraki, used funds from SGBN to purchase shares at the Southern Sun Hotels, formerly Ikoyi Hotels. The shares, according to the reports were later appropriated by Toyin, the wife of the Senate President. Apart from this, EFCC is also investigating many cases of corruption related to the Senator’s eight year tenure as governor of Kwara State in which his wife and family members have been allegedly indicted. The anti-graft agency, through it spokesperson, Wilson Uwujaren had told journalists that Saraki has eight major matters pending before the EFCC. The Commission had on 13 May arraigned a former Senior Special Adviser on Millennium Development Goals to Saraki, who was then Commissioner for Information in the Abdulfathah Ahmed administration, Prince Olatunji Oyeyemi Moronfoye, before an Ilorin Federal High Court, for offences bordering on abuse of office, awarding contracts to his cronies, embezzlement, diversion of public funds, and money laundering. Also docked by the anti-graft agency is Ope Saraki, cousin and Senior Special Adviser on MDGs to Governor Ahmed. Moronfoye is alleged to have used his position as the Senior Special Adviser to the former governor to enrich himself by awarding contracts worth over N200million for the renovation of Ijagbo Primary Health Centre and the supply of medical equipments to Health Centres and Specialist Hospitals within the state, to a company in which he has interest and was sole signatory to the account. He is also alleged to have abused his office and laundered state funds for his personal benefit by awarding inflated contracts to companies owned by his cronies. In one of the transactions involving the purchase of Ambulance buses for hospitals in the state, EFCC alleged that Saraki duped the people of Kwara State by procuring 13 Hiace buses from a local car dealer and converting them to ambulance in place of factory built ambulance for which a contract of N171, 990,000.00 was awarded to a company identified as Chemiroy Nigeria Limited. The suspects pleaded not guilty to the charges and the suit is still on trial. The anti-graft agency further extended its dragnet into Saraki’s household when it grilled his wife over alleged involvement in a multi-million Naira misappropriation of bank loan and laundering of funds from the Kwara State Government while her husband served as the Governor of the state on 28 July. Toyin who was grilled by operatives of the anti graft agency for about six hours. In a statement issued by her NGO, Well Being Foundation, after her interrogation, she pledged to support and cooperate with the EFCC in ensuring credible investigation into the allegation.[caption id="attachment_31596" align="alignnone" width="600"] Toyin Saraki[/caption] Sources indicated that the allegations against Saraki and his wife may have been partly derived from investigations of the Senate President’s eight-year governorship tenure by the Special Fraud Unit of the Nigeria Police Force, which was then headed by Commissioner of Police, Tunde Ogunsakin who is now an Assistant Inspector General of Police. A report by SFU had detailed how during his tenure as Governor, Saraki regularly withdrew millions of naira from some bank accounts as loans granted to his companies by the banks. The SFU had stated in the report that: “the [stolen] funds were mostly washed overseas to fund Dr. Bukola Saraki’s American Express Card No. 374588216836009,” with conclusion that about $4,560,871.27 was transferred to the account of the former Governor between May 18th 2009 and May 5th 2011, mostly cash lodgments and a couple NIFT Transfers. But it is not only in financial matters that the integrity of the Senate President has come under attack. The Senate President and his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu as well as the Clerk of the National Assembly may be hauled before the court anytime from now over forgery of Senate Standing Orders used to elect principal officers when the 8th session of the legislative body was convened on 9, June. Senator Sulaiman Hunkuyi of Kaduna state and a member of Unity Forum had petitioned the Police, alleging that some parts of the 2015 Senate Orders were different from the one ratified by the 6th Senate in 2010, which was used by the 7th Senate, as Standing Orders 2011. Specifically, the Senator had complained that the 2015 Senate Standing Orders, Rule 3, as contained on page four of the document, which has to do with the election of presiding officers was altered to accommodate electronic voting and secret ballot, whereas secret ballot and ballot papers were not mentioned in the 2011 Standing Orders. The Senate Order 3 (e) (ii) of 2011 states, “Voting shall be conducted by the Clerks-at-the Table, using the Division List of the Senate with the Tellers in attendance. The Clerk of the Senate shall submit the result of the division to the Clerk of the National Assembly. (iii) The Clerk shall then declare the Senator-elect who has received the greater number of votes, elected as President of the Senate.” But the section was altered to read “Voting by secret ballot which shall be conducted by the Clerk-at-Table using the list of the Senators-elect of the Senate, who shall each be given a ballot paper to cast his vote with the proposers and seconder as Teller. The Clerk of the Senate shall submit the result of the voting to the Clerk of the National Assembly who shall then declare Senator-elect who has received the highest number of votes as Senate President-elect,” in the 2015 Standing Order. Also, the Kaduna State Senator also pointed that Order 95 of the 2011 rule on the chairmanship and membership of the committees was also altered in the 2015 version. Whereas, in the 2011 document, provisions in Order 95 read, “The membership of all committees shall not be less than 11 and not more than 13 senators. (2) No senator shall serve in more than three committees (3) No committee chairman shall serve in more than one other committee, ” a new insertion in the 2015 version reads, “The appointment of Senators as Chairmen and members of committees shall be carried out in such a manner as to reflect the six geopolitical zones of the country and there shall be no predominance of senators from a few geo-political zones.” The two strange provisions, it was believed, was smuggled into Standing Orders at the height of bargaining between Saraki and PDP Senators over Senate leadership. It was believed that the inclusion of the secret ballot was designed to give Senators, especially those elected on the platform of APC the necessary shield to vote against their party choices in the then impending elections of principal officers. In the same vein, the alteration of order 95 of the Standing Order was believed to make it easy for Saraki to compensate the PDP members he was then relying upon to be elected as the Senate President. Some APC Senators had said a faithful implementation of this provision will lead to nearly equal sharing of committees’ leadership position between the majority APC and minority PDP. Hunkuyi and others Senators who were part of the 7th Senate had told the Police during investigations of the petitions that there was no time a decision was taken to amend the Standing Order during the tenure of the former National Assembly. “I made proposal for amendments between 2011 and 2015, I laid the report on the floor, but we did not consider the report. We did not amend the Standing Orders. Before we left, I had approved the reprinting of the Standing Orders and the reprinting did not include inserting anything which was not in the old one. Reprinting is, simply reproduce what we have because there are no more copies,” Senator Ita Enang who was the former Chairman, Senate Committee on Rules and Business said in a statement to the Police seen by this magazine. The Police had in the course of its investigations interrogated the leadership of the 7th Senate, including former Senate President, Senator David Mark; his deputy (now Saraki’s deputy), Ike Ekweremadu; former Senate Leader, Victor Ndoma-Egba; and the Clerk to the National Assembly who is regarded as custodian of the Senate Standing Order. The Police had in its report indicted the management of the National Assembly, especially the Clerk, Salisu Maikasuwa and recommended the prosecution of four suspects over the forgery. Indeed, the Police said in its report that the Clerk of the Senate, Benedict Efeturi, who doubles as the Deputy Clerk of the National Assembly confirmed in his statement that the Senate Standing Order 2015 as amended was produced on the orders of the Senate leadership without following the amendment procedures as contained in the Senate Standing Orders 2011 as amended. Police said it has forwarded the report of the investigation to the office of the AGF for further action. Some analysts have argued that the confirmation that the 8th Senate was proclaimed with disreputable Standing Orders has rendered the election of Saraki and that of the principal officers null and void. As a result of the manner of his emergence and his deal with PDP which led to emergence of a member of the opposition party as a deputy Senate President, this magazine gathered that President Muhammadu Buhari has been keeping Saraki at arm’s length. The relationship between Buhari and the former Kwara State Governor became strained following the emergence of Saraki as senate president against the zoning of principal officers in the senate by the leadership of his party, APC. The Senate President, unlike Speaker Yakubu Dogara who was also elected the Speaker against the wish of his party further worsened his situation with his refusal to abide by the party’s choice for the positions of the majority leader and deputy majority Leader of the Senate and the deputy majority chief whip. Sources said President Buhari is also not happy with Saraki over the deal with the PDP which led to the emergence of Ekweremadu as the Senate President. It was gathered that the President still considers the emergence of Ekweremadu as high treachery. He has since not been on speaking terms with the senate President, despite several efforts to break the ice. The President, this magazine gathered has insisted that Saraki should comply with the party’s position in the choice of the four principal officers while the emergence of Saraki remains unacceptable to him. While the Senate President seems hemmed in on all sides in Abuja, back home in Ilorin, his election as a senator is also being fiercely contested by the PDP candidate for Kwara Central senatorial election, Alhaji Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq. Abdulrazaq in a petition marked NAT/LEG/EPT/IL/2/2015 filed before the tribunal sitting in Ilorin is challenging Saraki’s victory in the March 28 polls. The petitioner, his aide, Oloyin Adebayo, a forensic analyst, Mrs Nkolly Asika Obumse and state INEC Head of Legal Team, Tunde Salako, had all testified before the tribunal. It is not certain if the election petition tribunal will annul the election of the Senate President, a move which may force him out of the third highest position in Nigeria. But Saraki with the support of mostly PDP Senators is fighting back. Sources told this magazine that some supporters of the Senate President who are virtually baying for blood are advocating the strong arm tactics of forcing the President to succumb to the whims of the upper chamber by ensuring that his bills, especially the impending screening of Ministerial nominees were denied smooth sails. Some PDP Senators are also talking about violation of constitutional provisions in some of the appointments recently made by the President. It was also believed that the recent probe into the activities of EFCC were part of the moves by Senators to cut the ground off the feet of institutions and personalities they regarded as tools being used by the Presidency and other political interests against Saraki. Sources said this line of response may not work, as many APC Senators, especially from the Northern part of the But as Saraki’s hold on the position of the Senate presidency becomes increasingly tenuous by the day with new allegations of corruption and impending trial by the Code of Conduct Tribunal, how long can his friends sustain him in the office?