‘Buhari can’t stop Saraki’s trial’

President Muhammadu Buhari

 

 

 

 

The spokesperson for the South-East Caucus of the All Progressives Congress, Mr. Osita Okechukwu, has said President Muhammadu Buhari cannot stop the ongoing trial of the Senate President, Bukola Saraki.

Saraki is standing trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal for allegedly falsifying his asset declaration.

Okechukwu told newsmen in Abuja, on Tuesday, that those seeking to arm-twist the President into treating the issue as an APC “family affair” were unfair to Nigerians.

According to him, one of the pillars of Buhari-led APC administration campaign promises is the commitment to fighting corruption.

He said, “Mr. President on one hand cannot be fighting corruption and, on the other hand, telling the CCT to stop trying the Senate President.”

Responding to recent claims made by Alhaji Kawu Baraje, one of the party’s chieftains, over the trial, Okechukwu said, “Baraje should know that we have a four-year mandate and in the first year, Mr. President has two critical elements; one is the corruption that made us not to have new refineries.

“I have the sympathy of Baraje that our friend, the Senate President, is at the tribunal; there is nobody who would not be concerned about it.

“He (Baraje) belongs to the school that alleges that Mr. Senate President couldn’t have been tried, if he did not become the Senate President.

“That there are other senators, ministers and other public officers who have one skeleton or the other in their cupboard, I am not dismissing that.”

The party chieftain further explained that others have accused the President of being selective in his anti-graft war.

He said such people were probably victims of selective amnesia, because most of those being tried were those who betrayed public trust.

Okechukwu said it would be a disservice to the Nigerian people for the present administration to shy away from calling those who allowed the looting of our common patrimony.