*Oga couldn’t have meant negative for Nigeria – Senate President’s aide
*Proves boss also interested in President, can’t support Atiku’s ambition
*He has ulterior motive for declaring terrorist classification of IPOB unconstitutional – Nigerian Senator
*Hints Senators will shame Saraki upon resumption of plenary
The senator said: “Saraki issued the statement because of the pressure from Ekweremadu and other Southeast senators who constitute his support base. I think it was because of the pressure they mounted on him. He bowed to it because he does not want to lose their support. Believe me, it’s more of political consideration than the procedural flaw he raised. We are not happy with him at all. If the issue is raised when we resume, we will shame him.”
Facts have emerged on why the Senate President, Senator Abubakar Bukola Saraki, chose to stand by secessionist Independent People of Biafra (IPOB) against Nigeria where he is number three citizens, when recently the group was declared by the Nigerian Armed Forces as “militant terrorist organization”, saying the military was wrong as, he claimed it did not follow due process.
Saraki had Monday shocked the nation when he described the proscription and declaration of IPOB as a ‘terrorist organization’ as unconstitutional and illegal.
It was seen as a thing of shock such pronouncement was coming from a public figure of the stature of Saraki considering the position he occupies in the country. This came as many watchers of events since his inauguration in June 2015 observed that 90 percent of Saraki’s contributions to the effort by government of the party on which platform he emerged has been negative.
They argue that it was hard to place when the former Governor of Kwara State, son of late former Senate Leader, ever did anything that could be said to be in support of the Change Regime that he claimed to be part of.
“Recall the statement that he has up till now failed to denounce: when he said he would shutdown the Buhari’s government 72 hours if the cabals in the Aso Rock Villa pushed him to the wall. Recall also the war he persistently waged against the EFCC boss Ibrahim Magu simply because Magu was fighting a just course towards returning Nigeria sanity to Nigeria’s economy devoid corruption.
“I hope you have not forgotten how he vacated his seat for his Igbo and PDP deputy, Ike Ekweremadu, to rubbish President Muhammadu Buhari in Col. Hameed Ali’s effort to cleanse the Nigeria Customs of Service of corruption and therefore bring cub illegal importations of things that have posted threats to security and safety of lives and properties of Nigeria and Nigerians in recent years until the emergence of the current APC government?
“If Saraki appears this morning to be cooperative toward the executive led by Buhari, don’t expect him to remain so till evening time. One of it was what happened when, after it was thought that he had sheathed his sword pointed towards the Presidency of Buhari, he suddenly and reportedly said one day that he would move a motion on the floor of the Senate that Hameed Ali can wear short nicker and t-sirt (mocking the Customs Comptroller-General) if he can end smuggling in Nigeria.
“For that statement to come from Senate President of any country, another person should have been on that seat before now. Why do I say so? What Saraki is saying is that, all the positive achievements by Customs under Hameed Ali which has reduced level of influx of dangerous weapons into the country through customs corruption-induced importation and stoppage of larger percentage of smuggling activities which has upped the non-oil earnings of the country to the cries of now Benin Republic, all of these mean nothing to Saraki, including the interception of now over 2,600 pump action guns and detaining of customs officers who aided the importers.
“If you observe very well you will see that only Saraki and former Vice President Abubakar Atiku have given this government problem more than any APC members since 2015 and that is why Saraki is supporting him in all the anti-government effort,” one of the respondents listed Saraki’s negative contributions to the government.
He added that, “The latest now is for him to just stand up and attack the Nigerian Armed Forces that were only carrying out their constitutional responsibility of clearing the country of some fresh terrorist elements that Nnamdi Kanu’s IPOB represents. With this objection coming from Saraki and his deputy, who is the highest Igbo officer in government, Ike Ekweremadu, is it not clear the claim that your media outfit (The DEFENDER) had repeatedly made that IPOB is creation of opposition and that it has enjoyed the full support of governments and traditional institutions in the South East region?”
However, further investigations particularly revealed that all the negative contributions of Saraki towards this government might not have been personal will of the Senate President.
This was so as it was gathered that Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu and other Igbo Senators in the Eighth Senate have always been the ones mounting pressures on him to carry out the anti-government activities that he displayed including the attempt to declare himself as Acting President during the medical vacation of President Muhammadu Buhari and the Acting President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo was away on diplomatic assignment in Ethiopia.
Political watchers who are of this observation however retorted that it serve the Senator Bukola Saraki well as, according to them, it is the consequences that he must suffer for choosing to pitch his tenth with opposition considered by many Nigerians to be their enemies and therefore voted out of power for plunging Nigeria into economic and security mess, against his the political party on which platform he emerged to the position he never ever dreamed of getting in his life before.
An Abuja source said, “For now, Saraki will have to live with that shame that he continues to bring to himself as a result of his dealt with corrupt and impunity people of South East and PDP which he did just for his personal ambition to come to fruition against the national interest that should have been his priority in office.”
Political watchers, according to a media report, further corroborated the findings of this medium as they too outlined underground reasons for the Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki’s opposition to the position of the Nigerian Army and the Southeast governors on the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
The military had declared IPOB a terrorist organization followed shortly after by the Southeast governors who proscribed the group to douse tension caused by their activities in the region.
Barely 72 hours after the military and the governors took their positions, Saraki in his first official reaction, said: “I wish to state that the announcement of the proscription of the group known as IPOB by governors of the Southeast states and the categorization of the group as a ‘terrorist organisation’ by the Nigerian military are unconstitutional and does not follow due process.
“Our laws make clear provisions for taking such actions and without the due process being followed, such declaration cannot have effect. I am sure the president will do the needful by initiating the right process. This will go a long way in demonstrating to the world at large that we are a country that operates by laid down process under every circumstance. So, those who have been hammering on this point should maintain their cool.”
The statement created uproar in security circles, among his colleagues in the Senate and in the polity in general, the report stated.
Impeccable sources at the National Assembly reportedly also said the reasons for which Saraki took the position were far from the procedural issues he adduced.
The sources said in the media report that the issue of violation of due process which he hinged his opposition on was nothing but a smokescreen.
One of the sources, a Senator, said the Senate President took the position following pressure from Southeast senators who are his support base at the Upper chamber.
Saraki rode on the strength of the opposition senators mostly from the Southeast to emerge the senate president on June 9, 2015 when the National Assembly was inaugurated.
His romance with the opposition senators led to the clinching of the Deputy Senate President’s seat by Senator Ike Ekweremadu (PDP,Enugu).
The Senator said: “Saraki issued the statement because of the pressure from Ekweremadu and other Southeast senators who constitute his support base. I think it was because of the pressure they mounted on him. He bowed to it because he does not want to lose their support.
“Believe me, it’s more of political consideration than the procedural flaw he raised. We are not happy with him at all. If the issue is raised when we resume, we will shame him.”
Another Senator said for Saraki to describe the decision as illegal meant that there were more things to it than the issue of due process.
The ranking Senator said: “Saraki should have focused on the issue of procedure (due process) but for him to go as far as describing it as unconstitutional means he has an ulterior motive”.
He added: “But what I can assure you is that he is on his own. We are in total support of the categorization and even the military intervention in the Southeast. He should stop playing politics with it. But the procedures of categorization in line with the Terrorism Prevention Act should be followed.”
Another source who also wants to remain anonymous for now, said the reason Saraki took what he described as the ‘deadly’ position was for 2019 with the sole aim of garnering the support of the Southeast.
“Like one of his political mentors in the person of former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, Saraki is aligning himself with the course of the Southeast because of 2019. You know Atiku has been an ardent promoter of restructuring in the country, a brainchild of the southerners,” he said.
To douse tension among his colleagues, Saraki has been holding marathon meetings. He started with the Southeast Senators on Tuesday and was said to have met with northern senators on Thursday.
It was hours after Saraki met with the Southeast senators that they issued a communiqué rejecting the categorization of IPOB as a terrorist organization.
In the communique jointly signed by Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe (PDP,Abia) and Chukwuka Onyema, the Igbo lawmakers said: “We condemn all acts of terrorism. In the case of IPOB, we reject the branding of any organisation in Nigeria without cause or following due process where such cause does exist.
“We take this position because of the implication of such branding on innocent citizens from the area who may be affected by the consequences. This branding, we believe, will foreclose any dialogue that will bring about a peaceful end to the activities of such group”.
Contacted, the spokesman of the Senate, Senator Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi said the senate president was not in any way against the categorization of IPOB as a terrorist organization, saying, “All he was saying is that the procedure should be followed.”
Explaining further, a top source in Saraki’s office said the position of the Senate President was not politically motivated, but was rather to douse tension created in the country by the military operation in the Southeast.
“No, it is not politically motivated, what are the entire votes of the Southeast that we will throw away the North for? Oga took the position solely in the interest of the unity of the country and nothing more. That’s why he devoted five paragraphs in the statement to preach peace.”
On Atiku, he said: “Oga has no business with him. Do you think the position Atiku is looking for Oga is not interested in it? At the peak of Oga’s Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) saga, did Atiku support him?”
