Saraki: The unfolding drama. By Michael Egbejumi-David

Date: 2015-09-28

YOU know that saying: 'Be careful what you wish for, because you might get it?' Well, current Senate President, Bukola Saraki is experiencing that feeling at the moment.

I say 'current Senate President' because the way things are going, the fine chap might not be presiding over the Senate too much longer.

How did things get to this sorry pass? There was (is) a change agenda in the firmament but Saraki got the wrong script. First, he put himself up for the presidency of the Senate against the expressed wish of his current Party, the All Progressives Congress (APC). But that wasn't his main crime. What the APC found most objectionable was that Saraki used the enemy - the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) - to accomplish that feat. He had gone too far.

Additionally, there is real fear in some high quarters of what Saraki and his co-conspirators in the PDP could do if they put their minds to it. Unwittingly, we have been pitched the politics of one-up-manship and blackmail. Only a careless President and a crazy ruling political Party will leave its future and fortunes to chance giving the situation in the Senate. So the APC has been obsessively doing one thing after the other to protect its flank.

Act one, scene one, was to drag Saraki's wife to the Economic & Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in July to answer some nebulous charge of fraud and corruption. That case is still pending. Scene two. The government began formal investigations of various Saraki's businesses. This, similarly, is ongoing. Then one Kennedy Izuagbe, a former director of Societe Generale Bank and the Managing Director of Carlisle Properties and Investment Limited, a Saraki company, was declared wanted by the EFCC.

The latest scene is unfolding now at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT). The APC has only gone and exhumed a presumably tainted thirteen year old Asset Declaration Form and hung it inelegantly around Saraki's neck. Of all the ex-governors in Nigeria and more than a decade after the fact, it's only been discovered that Saraki may have falsely declared his assets. We have seen this script before: In October 2011, right in the middle of his transformation into a proper Asiwaju, the PDP and Jonathan dragged Tinubu to the same CCT, placed and displayed him in a newly built, finely polished witness cage. It was a clumsy attempt to stop Tinubu from becoming the bona fide godfather of Southwest politics. It didn't work then.

Now? Who knows. Unfortunately for Saraki, and contrary to most legal expectations, the Court of Appeal dealt him a quasi fatal blow. It unceremoniously told Saraki to go and tango with the CCT. It is one dance too many. Saraki is being systematically overwhelmed by his own Party.

Act two would follow shortly enough. You can bet your lunch money that there would be something else. We all know the routine: if any government decides to go after you, they'll find something. It could be that time when you snuck your girlfriend into the back of the Science block for some dry and inconclusive kiss. Anything!

So you can see where things are headed for brother Saraki. It goes without saying that no one wants a Senate President who is entangled in a criminal trial - even his colleagues at the Senate would draw the line at that. Impeachment could be a real possibility if this hot potato is not handled with delicate care. Resignation is another dreadful possibility. All the options available to Saraki appear to be ugly ones. All that energy and guile of sleeping and hiding out in his car at the National Assembly parking lot are bringing him a different set of results today.

As these things go, Saraki's pool of friends and supporters is drying out fast. Monies, in Dollars, no less, are being alleged to have come from APC strongmen to induce Senators to abandon him. This flies directly in the face of President Buhari's anti-corruption agenda. But 'change' is at stake here and Saraki is apparently not a part of it. The worse bit is that Saraki is in danger of seeing his 2019 presidential dream crumble even before the referee blows the whistle. This is the nature of Nigerian reptilian politics.

But Saraki is a fighter, a survivor. He wouldn't have got to where he is today if he wasn't. He cut his teeth in ultra-conservative Nigerian politics eons ago. Surely he would push back against the daunting forces arrayed against him? A tragic-comedy of ambition and raw power unfolds. Get your popcorn...

D

r. Michael Egbejumi-David, a medical practioneer wrote from London.

Source

 

Cloud Tag: What's trending

Click on a word/phrase to read more about it.

Wahab Egbewole     Olaoye B. Felix     Allocation     Abdulmalik Bashir Mopelola Risikatullahi     Saliu Tunde Bello     Kwara State Television (KWTV)     Alumni Association Of The Federal Polytechnic Offa     Islamiya Abdulraheem     Abdulrasheed Na\'Allah     Olomu Of Omu-Aran     IDPU     College Of Health     Mustapha AbdulGaniyu     IF-K     Toun Okewale-Sonaiya     Hajj     Hamidat Sulyman-Yusuf     Gbugbu International Market     UNILORIN Alumni     Segun Ogunsola     FOMWAN     Moshood Bakare     Vasolar Consultoria     Apaola     Mubarak Oladosu     Gambari     Salau Kabiru Abdullahi     Usman Rifun     Niyi Ogundiran     Ibrahim Abikan     Jumoke Monsura Gafar     Special Agro-Industrial Hub     Atunwa     Onilupeju Of Ilupeju     Kola Ologbondiyan     Kabir Shagaya     Abdulazeez Arowona     Modibbo Kawu     Gbugbu     Rihanat Ajia     Council Of The Wise     Gobir Organization Foundation     Abdulrazaq Solihudeen     Government House     Rafiu Ibrahim     Saidu Isa     SARS     Ibrahim Oniye     Adewuyi Funmilayo     Chief Imam Of Offa     Saad Belgore     AbdulRahman Saad     March 18     Afolasade Opeyemi Kemi     Abdulazeez Uthman     Kola Shittu     Okoolowo     Adegoke Bamidele     Women Radio     Abubakar Kawu Baraje     Toyosi Thomas     Wahab Kunle Shittu     Ghali Alaaya     Patience Jonathan     Societe Generale Bank Of Nigeria     Oba Abdulraheem     Mutawalle     Yakub Lai Gobir     Ajidagba     Abdulrazaq Aiyelabegan     Lanre Olosunde     Hamidu Olowo     Garba Ado Sanni     March 28     Saidu Yaro Musa     Abubakar Atiku     Belgore    

Cloud Tag: What's trending

Click on a word/phrase to read more about it.

Sheikh Ridhwanullah     Ridwan Agboola     Tanke     Albert Ogunsola     Memunat Monsuma     Bank Of Industry     Sanitation Exercise     International Vocational Centre     Musbau A. Akanji     Tsado Manman     Christopher Ayeni     Laduba     Anilelerin     Sarafadeen Kayode Akorede     Deji Ajani     Ishola Abdullahi     James Ayeni     Ibikunle Ogunleye     Chief Of Staff     Salau Kabiru Abdullahi     Emir Of Ilorin     Bamidele Adegoke Oladimeji     Sheriff Olanrewaju     GANZY     Binta Abubakar Mora     Bamidele Aluko     Dairo Kunle Paul     Suraj Tunji Oyewale     Issa Oloruntogun     Dan Masanin     Saidu Kawu     Ganmo Power Sub-Station     Kwara State Government     Kazeem Adekanye     Code Of Conduct Tribunal     Nigerian Medical Association     Olusegun Adeniyi     Babs Iwarere     Park     Oja-Oba     Joseph Yemi Ajayi     Societe Generale Bank Of Nigeria     Ilorin Emirate     Ahmed \'Lateef     Academic Staff Union Of Universities     Student Learning Support Helpline     Magaji Are     Basic Education Certificate Examination     Obasanjo     Hussein Oloyede     Soffiyyallah Kamaldeen     Mahee Abdulkadir     Idowu Aremu     Federal College Of Education (Special), Afon     Temitope Ogunbanke     CLAY POT     Stephen Fasakin     Ijagbo     Neo Mundo Ltd     Yahaya A Paniyaro     Oluranti Idowu     Naira Redesign     Saheed Popoola     Olupako Of Share     Agboola Abdulraheem     V.O. Abioye     AbdulRazaq AbduMajeed Alaro     Illyasu Abdullahi     Dauda Adeniran Adeshola     Aisha Ahman Pategi     Shururat Olatinwo     Bola Ahmed Tinubu     Minister     Iponrin     Toyin Saraki     ER-KANG     Ibrahim Taiwo Road