SAN FRANCISCO, April 23 (THEWILL) – Contrary to the widespread supposition that the emergence of Senator Bukola Saraki as Senate President against the wish of the leadership of his party, the All Progressives Congress, APC, caused his travails at the Code of Conduct Tribunal, CCT, the Senate President has revealed that his opposition to a Muslim/Muslim ticket for the APC in the last presidential election is largely responsible for what he is passing through.
Saraki, who made this revelation while replying an article published last Saturday by Dele Momodu in his Pendulum column, squealed that the position he took on the running mate issue was his “original sin”, adding that those whose ambition were truncated by the position had been doing everything possible to frustrate him.
Prior to the 2015 presidential election, national leader of the APC, Bola Ahmed Tinubu was widely criticised for scheming to become the running mate to then Candidate Muhammadu Buhari. The criticism was essentially arose from the fact both of them are Muslims and the mood of the country then was way different from that of 1993 when a Muslim/Muslim ticket of Abiola and Kingibe was able to win the presidential election.
However, when opposition mounted both from within and outside the then opposition party over Tinubu’s ambition to run with Buhari, the former Lagos governor nominated his key ally, Yemi Osinbajo, who is a Pastor, to run as the APC vice presidential candidate.
Apparently referring to this scenario, Saraki explained that Tinubu’s political camp was of the view that since he conspired to frustrate the ambition of their benefactor, he must not then be allowed to realize his own ambition as well. He however, averred that he had no regrets taking that decision as he doubted whether the APC would have won the election if Tinubu was allowed to have his way.
Hear him: “I have also been accused of helping to frustrate some people’s opportunity to emerge as President Muhammadu Buhari’s running mate. But I have no problem with anybody. My concern was that it would not be politically smart of us to run with a Muslim-Muslim ticket.
“I doubt if we would have won the election if we had done this, especially after the PDP had successfully framed us a Muslim party. I felt we were no longer in 1993. Perhaps, more than ever before, Nigerians are more sensitive to issues of religious balancing. This was my original sin.
“What they say to themselves, among other things, was that ‘if he could conspire against our ambition, then he must not realise his own ambition as well.’ For me however, I have no regrets about this. I only stood for what I believed was in the best interest of the party and in the best interest of Nigeria.”
The Senate President further clarified that contrary to the view held by Momudu and many others, he never entered into any deal with the opposition PDP to produce a candidate for Deputy Senate President and blamed APC leaders for Ike Ekeremadu’s emergence.
According to him, “I did not do any deal with the PDP. I did not have to because even before the PDP Senators as a group took the decision to support my candidature on the eve of the inauguration of the 8th Senate, 22 PDP Senators had already written a letter supporting me.
“What I did not envisage was a situation where some members of my party would not be in the chambers that day, especially when the clerk had already received a proclamation from the President authorising the inauguration of the Senate.
“Pray, if a team refused to turn up for a scheduled match and was consequently walked over, would it be fair to blame the team that turned up and claimed victory?
“I believe those that made it possible for PDP to claim the DSP position were those who decided to hold a meeting with APC senators elsewhere at the time they ought to be in the chambers.
“What the PDP Senators did was to take advantage of their numerical strength at the material time. They simply lined up behind Senator Ike Ikweremadu while those of us from APC voted for Senator Ali Ndume. It was a game of numbers, and we were hopelessly outnumbered.
“If the PDP had nominated their own candidate for the Senate Presidency position that day, they would have won. It was as simple as that,” he said
Saraki also chided his party for the role it has played so far in his trial. He said: “Let me make this point clearly. I do not expect to be shielded from prosecution because of my contribution to APC, if there was genuine basis for such action to be taken against me. But I have every reason to expect not to be persecuted by the party that I contributed so much to build. The New PDP may not have given APC victory in 2015, but it was an important factor in the dynamics that produced that victory.
“And with all sense of modesty, I was an important factor in the formation of New PDP; in leading that group to the APC; in ensuring our group’s support for the candidate during the primaries and in mobilising substantial resources for the election. For these, I have not expected any special compensation. Rather, I only expect to be treated like every loyal party member and accorded the right to freely aspire.”
He said further that his ongoing trial was not about corruption: “I am happy that since my trial started, people who have followed the proceedings have now understood better what the whole thing is about. I have had opportunity to declare my assets four times since 2003. Over those years, the Code of Conduct Bureau had examined my claims. There was no time that they raised any issues with me on any item contained in my declarations over those twelve years. This is why you should be surprised that while I am being tried by the Code of Conduct Tribunal, the witness and the evidence supplied against me were all from the EFCC.
“Like you, I have an abiding faith in the judiciary. May God forbid the day that we would give up on our judicial system. However, the onus is not on me to prove that I have confidence in the judiciary; the burden is on my prosecutors to prove to the world that justice is done in my case. If the process of fighting corruption is itself corrupt, then whatever victory is recorded would remain tainted and puerile.
“Let me end by observing that I am not alone in this trial. On trial with me in this process is the entire judicial system. On trial with me is our entire anti-corruption institutions and our avowed commitment to honestly fight corruption. On trial with me is our party’s promise to depart from the ways of the past, a promise that Nigerians voted for. And I dare say, on trial with me is our media and their ethical commitment to report fairly and objectively. In the end, it is my earnest hope that whatever we do will ultimately ennoble our country.”
