The immediate-past Senate President and ex-Kwara State governor, Dr Bukola Saraki, is not new to battles and appears not battle-shy.
A practised political schemer, in June 2015, Saraki outwitted the ruling All Progressives Congress, of which he was then a member, to emerge the President of the 8th National Assembly. Because his ascension to the coveted Senate President seat was against the calculation of his party, the APC saw to it that Saraki’s stay in office was like the case of the proverbial chicken which perched on a rope – the rope had no peace and the chicken had no peace.
Shortly after the charges at the CCT, the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation also filed forgery charges against Saraki and then Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, before the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory in Jabi, Abuja. For 16 years running in his political sojourn, Saraki had a string of victories. But the tide appears to have begun to turn, when, last year, he failed to secure re-election into the Senate. He was beaten at the polls by Ibrahim Oloriegbe. For the medical-doctor-turned-politician, who had not stayed out of public office for 16 years at a stretch, this was a big blow.
Last week Thursday, his lawyer, Mr Kehinde Ogunwumiju , stood on his feet for over two hours marshalling arguments as to why Justice Rilwan Aikawa must dismiss the application filed by the EFCC for the forfeiture of Saraki’s house, located at Plots No. 10 and No. 11 Abdulkadir Road, GRA, Ilorin, Kwara State.
The law, he explained, stipulates that a governor who serves two terms would be entitled to “a well-furnished five-bedroom duplex.” “I know as a fact that this land was acquired by the interveners long before the Kwara State Governor and Deputy Governor Law 2010 was implemented. “He, however, clearly stated that he would bear the differential between the cost of the building proposed by the government and his desired concept.
He said, “At no point did Enptech Nigeria Limited apply for and/or present a quotation to the Kwara State Government as falsely claimed by the Head of Service. Oyedepo said Saraki also had the burden of explaining to the court the source of the over N700m which he added to the N252m released by the state to build the N1.09bn house.
He pointed the court’s attention to the affidavit filed in support of the application seeking the forfeiture of Saraki’s properties, in which an officer of the EFCC, Bilikisu Buhari, said investigation by the anti-graft agency revealed that Saraki diverted N100m on a monthly basis from the federal allocation to Kwara State.
“In this scheme of fraud alone, about N10bn was fraudulently diverted from the treasury of Kwara State Government.
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