SENATE President, Dr Bukola Saraki, has denied hiring George Uboh to smear the integrity of chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). Saraki, in a statement by his special assistant (Online Media), Bamikole Omisore, said "it is pertinent and with all sense of responsibility and commitment to state unequivocally that the story is far from the truth. A fabricated story that cannot sell to dent the image of Senator Saraki.

"The general public is fully aware that the said online platform which published the false story has been an agent of media attack on the person of the Senate President and that all allegations made by the online platform against him have fallen flat on their face as bare lies, concocted with malicious intention.

"To set the record straight, nobody can rightfully claim that Senator Saraki engaged the services of the petitioner or any other person for that matter.

"There are about four different petitions from individuals, groups and corporate organisations written against the EFCC and submitted to the Senate.

"Most of these petitions dated between July 27 2015 and July 31, 2015, while some bother on issues of 2013, 2014 and 2015. "There are petitions that are directly written and received by the Senate while, in some, the petition was written to the president and the Senate were copied.

"Further to the above, EFCC is not the only government agency that has petition against it pending before the Senate. "There are pending petitions against the Comptroller-General of Customs, FIRS chairman and NPA, amongst others.

"Is it also Senator Saraki that hired or engaged people to do this? What evidence does the online medium have that links Senator Saraki to all these petitions before the Senate? "The Senate President has no relationship whatsoever with Mr Uboh in any capacity or in the course of his emergence as Senate President.

"If anybody has any proof of a relationship between Senator Saraki and the said Mr Uboh, let him or her say it now," the statement read.

It added that investigation showed that Uboh's petition had been in public domain since 2013 and that the details had been reported in national newspapers as well as cited in court proceedings. "The Senate president could not have said to have hired anyone to write a petition for him, as he has no issue to sort out with any individual, group of people or an organisation," it added.

Saraki, therefore, said any insinuation he was attempting to prevent EFCC from carrying out its constitutional responsibility "is a hoax and an imagination of the writer."