Saraki’s trial threatens to split APC

The trial of the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, may have started having a negative effect on the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, as its Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Timi Frank, has faulted the trial and accused the party of turning a blind eye to it.

The latest development is coming after noticeable but subdued internal wrangling in the party that it has been trying to cope with lately.

The party, in the course of the week, has had to convene a national caucus meeting and its National Executive Council, NEC, meeting in an apparent move to stem the the growing crisis within its fold.

However, Frank, who has been critical of the national leadership of the party, especially over the refusal to allow him act in place of the former spokesman of the party, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, who is now the Minister of Information and Culture, described Saraki’s travail as worrisome in view of the manifest flaws and in the processes leading to his arraignment.

In a statement personally signed by him, Frank said it was dangerous “that the leadership of the APC has decided to sit on the fence and watch Saraki swim or sink in this trial.

“I sincerely hold that the current trial of Saraki is not only underserved, but amounts to paying a good man with evil. I also want to say that the leaders of our great party have unfortunately remained quiet in the face of evil.

“I don’t believe we have forgotten that the victory of the APC during the last general elections could not have been possible without courageous strategists like Saraki who lent their political weight in favour of the APC at the risk of their own lives.

“I don’t think we have forgotten how Saraki as a Senator in the 7th Senate brought the attention of Nigerians to the fraud perpetrated by the the last administration in the name of fuel subsidy.

“I don’t think we have forgotten too soon how Saraki led five other governors of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) into the APC – a development that successfully turned the political tide against the PDP and eventually tipped the electoral scale against them during the 2015 general elections.

“I don’t think we have forgotten how Saraki led scores of Senators to cross over to the APC on the floor of the Senate.

“I don’t think we have also forgotten what he gave of his time, personal resources and energy to ensure that the APC emerged victorious both at the National, State and Local Government level.

“The question is: Why is the case of Saraki being treated differently at the CCT that in 2011 struck out the case against one of our national leaders because he was not given the opportunity to deny or admit the alleged discrepancies in his asset declaration forms in line with Section 3(d) of the CCB/CCT Act unlike 11 other ex-governors who had similar cases of irregularities whose cases were dropped by the CCB after they were invited by the agency.”

“For the avoidance of doubt, Section 3(d) of the CCB/CCT Act which has been so undermined by the CCT in its Thursday ruling states that the CCB shall: ‘Receive complaints about non-compliance with or breach of this Act and where the Bureau (not the AGF or EFCC) considers it necessary to do so, refer such complaints to the Code of Conduct Tribunal established by Section 20 of this Act in accordance with the provisions of Sections 20 to 25 of this Act: provided that where the concerned makes a written admission of such breach or non-compliance, no reference to the Tribunal shall be necessary”.

“It is pertinent to mention that when this section of the Act was pleaded in the defence of one of the leaders of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria in 2011, the selfsame Justice Danlandi Umar struck out the case for lack of jurisdiction to entertain the suit when he ruled that that “…On Section 3(d), I feel compelled by the argument of the learned SAN for the accused. It is a condition precedent for referring a charge to this Tribunal that the Accused ought to have been invited to either deny or admit the allegations against him. This is missing in this case as the Complainant has no such evidence of a prior invitation. It would be proper for me at this stage to simply decline further exercise of jurisdiction having held that the co diction precedent to the instituting of charges against the Accused has not been complied with. I hereby resolve this issue in favour of the Accused.

“It is based on the above precedent that I want to ask why Saraki’s case is different? Why is the judiciary suddenly giving in to apparent blackmail by refusing to do their job as required by law?

“Already, the Senate President has told the world that the trial has nothing to do with corruption but that he is being persecuted for emerging as the Senate President. To me the ominous silence of our leaders since the day he was arraigned until now serves to validate the claims of the Senate President that he is being persecuted.

“Or where else in the world will the number three citizen of a country be hulled before a tribunal over alleged irregularities in his asset declaration forms 13 years ago, and the hierarchy of the ruling to which he is a bonafide member will not come out to show solidarity or defend him?

“If it is true that the trial of the Senate President is not borne out of genuine desire to fight corruption but is being carried out for selfish political ends, then who is next?

“I think the party need to be courageous enough to speak out against this unwholesome trend whose outcome will definitely not augur well for the overall development of our party and by extension the country at this hour”, Frank said.

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