The presidency yesterday said President Muhammadu Buhari has no hand in the trial of Senate President Bukola Saraki at the Code of Conduct Tribunal, CCT.
A statement issued by Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media mad Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu said attempts to link the ongoing trial of Saraki to the Presidency are unacceptable.
According to Shehu, views to the effect that the Code of Conduct Bureau, CCB, and CCT can only act upon external instigation are equally uninformed.
He stated that there is no place in law that the Bureau and the tribunal should take instructions from any quarters.
Shehu pointed out that as an independent institution equal to any superior court of record, the tribunal is set up by the constitution to determine issue of default, false declaration or forgery in assets declaration, stressing that it was purely a judicial process and has nothing to do with the presidency.
If anyone has an axe to grind with what they are doing, they should do it in a judicial manner by challenging those actions in a proper court of law. Let them hire a good team of lawyers to prove their innocence.
Government has no desire to persecute anybody. The President has vowed to respect the rule of law and this is what he is doing by staying out of this matter. He has said times without number that the war against corruption has no sacred cows.
Even if the President wants to help, there is no way he can do anything. Is he going to ask the judge to stop the trial?
It is purely a judicial process, the types of which are routinely dealt with by CCB and CCT. There are many cases like this that are going on.
The President has sworn to an oath to protect the constitution and will not violate that oath,” Shehu said.
But, Ilorin Emirate Descendants Progressive Union, IEDPU, said the ongoing travails of the Senate President was pure political motivation.
A statement from Government House in Ilorin, yesterday, said the President of IEDPU, Alhaji Abdulhamid Adi said this while speaking on the recent visit of the union to Senator Saraki at the National Assembly complex, Abuja,
The National President of the IEDPU, Alhaji Abdulhamid Adi wondered why the Code of Conduct Bureau failed to raise any issue concerning the Senate President’s asset declaration forms since 2003.
The 12 years interval to unearth the alleged issue by the Code of Conduct Bureau and the way the Code of Conduct Tribunal is handling the issue is suspicious.
I see it more or less a political persecution. It is purely political. Maybe there are some political opponents that are trying to get at him,” Alhaji Adi said.
He said CCB should not allow itself to be used to achieve certain political gains but do its jobs without external influence.
The body expressed its solidarity with Saraki saying; “We believe he will come out of it. He is presumed innocent until proven otherwise.
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