The trial of Senate President, Dr. Olusola
Saraki, began at the Code of Conduct
Tribunal (CCT) two days ago (Tuesday
5 th April, 2016). Since then, shocking
revelations have been made at the
proceedings. But the last nail in the
coffin is the implication of Saraki in the
recent Panama papers where the Senate
President allegedly has hidden assets in
safe havens abroad.
The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) is
constrained to call the attention of
honourable members of the Nigerian
Senate to the serious and damning
implication of this ugly development. The
integrity of Senate is at stake here and
something needs to be done and very
urgently too.
It is on record that more than sixty
senators accompanied Dr. Saraki to the
CCT on his first day of appearance. The
picture has been largely the same during
other appearances. The business of
Senate was grinded to a halt on each
occasion with the attendant waste of
tax-payers' money.
While we salute senators for this
manifestation of camaraderie, several
attempts by the embattled senate
president to resist trial suggest that he
probably has skeletons in his cupboard.
The recent revelations during court
proceedings where staggering amounts
of money were alleged to have been
surreptitiously deposited in bank
accounts or siphoned outside this
country by the Senate President through
his agents also call for caution, concern
and sober reflection.
The fact that huge sums were reportedly
split into smaller amounts and paid fifty
(50) times into the same bank account
on a single day is quite worrisome.
Somebody somewhere knew that the
source of the money he intended to
deposit in a bank account was illegal.
Somebody somewhere wanted to avoid
detection. Somebody somewhere knew
that he could be detected if the whole
amount was paid in bulk and at a go.
Somebody somewhere has been a smart
Alec.
Can honourable members of Senate beat
their chests and tell Nigerians that this
somebody somewhere is not occupying
the highest seat in the hallowed
chamber? Is this not desecration of the
highest office in Senate? We know that
there are honest men and women in
Senate. We know there are people of
integrity who occupy well-deserved
seats in our Senate today. Are our
senators waiting until Nigerians start
judging all senators by the same
parameter? Are our Senators tarrying
until Nigerians start invoking popular
proverbs like "Birds of the same
feather…?"
MURIC therefore calls on Senate to do
the needful. The Nigerian public is
disenchanted with a legislature that
cannot satisfy all righteousness. A
legislative arm which condones stinking
corruption at the leadership level can
never be in tandem with Nigeria's new
elixir for anti-corruption.
Saraki must go. Those who come to
equity must come with clean hands. We
cannot afford to have an icon of
credibility at the Nigerian apex of the
executive only to have the exact
opposite in the higher chamber. Perhaps
that is why very little progress has been
made since May 29, 2015. Saraki is a
Trojan horse.
The Nigerian masses will know their true
friends in Senate in the next few days.
They will know those who are ready to
sanitise the system and those who are
in Senate to pursue the wicked agenda
of the super rich against extremely poor
Nigerians. The practice whereby
'monkey dey work, barboon dey chop'
must stop.
Workers' salary cannot take them home
even on the day they receive it. Some
states are yet to pay the N18,000
minimum wage. Some states also owe
as much as three months salary arrears.
Our graduates of ten years ago are still
roaming the streets. There is hunger and
starvation in the land. The average
Nigerian lives on less than one dollar ($1)
per day. Our per capita income is less
than $300. More than 70 million Nigerians
are poor.
How then can the masses stomach
reports of a single person depositing
between N600,000 and N900,000 fifty
times in a single day? This wide gap
between the rich and the poor is nothing
short of social economic injustice. It is
responsible for the rise in violent crime,
particularly armed robbery. Robbers see
no difference between robbing with the
pen and stealing with the gun. It kills
workers' morale and frustrates the few
honest people we still have around.
Students use this same socio-economic
disequilibrium as an alibi for jettisoning
academic pursuit. The youths use it as
justification for going into Yahoo-Yahoo
and other fraudulent activities.
MURIC therefore calls on senators to
save Nigeria from the impending doom.
Our senators must prove to Nigerians
that no single person is greater than
Nigeria. It is time for pendulum swing.
Distinguished Senators, are you going to
be loyal to a particular person or to
Nigeria?
As a concluding remark, countries like
Switzerland and the United States with
questionable latitudes in their banking
laws which allow kleptomaniacs from
Africa to hide their loots must own up,
stop the eye service and take urgent
steps towards transparency, probity and
accountability. Those who make it easy
for thieves to hide their loot (and also
benefit their economy from the
proceeds of looting) live with a moral
burden.
Saraki, began at the Code of Conduct
Tribunal (CCT) two days ago (Tuesday
5 th April, 2016). Since then, shocking
revelations have been made at the
proceedings. But the last nail in the
coffin is the implication of Saraki in the
recent Panama papers where the Senate
President allegedly has hidden assets in
safe havens abroad.
The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) is
constrained to call the attention of
honourable members of the Nigerian
Senate to the serious and damning
implication of this ugly development. The
integrity of Senate is at stake here and
something needs to be done and very
urgently too.
It is on record that more than sixty
senators accompanied Dr. Saraki to the
CCT on his first day of appearance. The
picture has been largely the same during
other appearances. The business of
Senate was grinded to a halt on each
occasion with the attendant waste of
tax-payers' money.
While we salute senators for this
manifestation of camaraderie, several
attempts by the embattled senate
president to resist trial suggest that he
probably has skeletons in his cupboard.
The recent revelations during court
proceedings where staggering amounts
of money were alleged to have been
surreptitiously deposited in bank
accounts or siphoned outside this
country by the Senate President through
his agents also call for caution, concern
and sober reflection.
The fact that huge sums were reportedly
split into smaller amounts and paid fifty
(50) times into the same bank account
on a single day is quite worrisome.
Somebody somewhere knew that the
source of the money he intended to
deposit in a bank account was illegal.
Somebody somewhere wanted to avoid
detection. Somebody somewhere knew
that he could be detected if the whole
amount was paid in bulk and at a go.
Somebody somewhere has been a smart
Alec.
Can honourable members of Senate beat
their chests and tell Nigerians that this
somebody somewhere is not occupying
the highest seat in the hallowed
chamber? Is this not desecration of the
highest office in Senate? We know that
there are honest men and women in
Senate. We know there are people of
integrity who occupy well-deserved
seats in our Senate today. Are our
senators waiting until Nigerians start
judging all senators by the same
parameter? Are our Senators tarrying
until Nigerians start invoking popular
proverbs like "Birds of the same
feather…?"
MURIC therefore calls on Senate to do
the needful. The Nigerian public is
disenchanted with a legislature that
cannot satisfy all righteousness. A
legislative arm which condones stinking
corruption at the leadership level can
never be in tandem with Nigeria's new
elixir for anti-corruption.
Saraki must go. Those who come to
equity must come with clean hands. We
cannot afford to have an icon of
credibility at the Nigerian apex of the
executive only to have the exact
opposite in the higher chamber. Perhaps
that is why very little progress has been
made since May 29, 2015. Saraki is a
Trojan horse.
The Nigerian masses will know their true
friends in Senate in the next few days.
They will know those who are ready to
sanitise the system and those who are
in Senate to pursue the wicked agenda
of the super rich against extremely poor
Nigerians. The practice whereby
'monkey dey work, barboon dey chop'
must stop.
Workers' salary cannot take them home
even on the day they receive it. Some
states are yet to pay the N18,000
minimum wage. Some states also owe
as much as three months salary arrears.
Our graduates of ten years ago are still
roaming the streets. There is hunger and
starvation in the land. The average
Nigerian lives on less than one dollar ($1)
per day. Our per capita income is less
than $300. More than 70 million Nigerians
are poor.
How then can the masses stomach
reports of a single person depositing
between N600,000 and N900,000 fifty
times in a single day? This wide gap
between the rich and the poor is nothing
short of social economic injustice. It is
responsible for the rise in violent crime,
particularly armed robbery. Robbers see
no difference between robbing with the
pen and stealing with the gun. It kills
workers' morale and frustrates the few
honest people we still have around.
Students use this same socio-economic
disequilibrium as an alibi for jettisoning
academic pursuit. The youths use it as
justification for going into Yahoo-Yahoo
and other fraudulent activities.
MURIC therefore calls on senators to
save Nigeria from the impending doom.
Our senators must prove to Nigerians
that no single person is greater than
Nigeria. It is time for pendulum swing.
Distinguished Senators, are you going to
be loyal to a particular person or to
Nigeria?
As a concluding remark, countries like
Switzerland and the United States with
questionable latitudes in their banking
laws which allow kleptomaniacs from
Africa to hide their loots must own up,
stop the eye service and take urgent
steps towards transparency, probity and
accountability. Those who make it easy
for thieves to hide their loot (and also
benefit their economy from the
proceeds of looting) live with a moral
burden.
COMMENTS