Date: 2017-06-16

The Youth Stakeholders in the All Progressives Congress APC in Kwara South senatorial district of the state has called on the federal government to use the victory of the Senate president, Dr Bukola Saraki, in the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) to establish synergy among stakeholders in the fight against corruption in the country.

This is just as a sociopolitical organization in Kwara state, Movement for Genuine Change (MGC), has criticised the acquittal judgement passed by the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) on the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, saying that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has killed its anti-corruption campaign.

Speaking at a mass rally in support of the Senate President in Ajase Ipo in the Irepodun local government area of the state on Thursday, the APC chairman, Kwara South, Alhaji Jimoh Balogun, called on the federal government to ensure better working relationship with the National Assembly to ensure economic recovery and success in war against corruption.

"This is the time for President Muhammadu Buhari to bring everyone on board and collectively tackle corruption. There's no more time for political crisis. We want food on our table and end to recession. War against corruption cannot be fought by persecution, vendetta or bickering. Senator Bukola Saraki is a man of peace and integrity with zero tolerance for corruption", he said.

Alhaji Balogun, who described Senator Saraki as a true democrat, enjoined Nigerians to support the National Assembly in its effort at improving democracy and ensuring national development.

The Movement for Genuine Change (MGC), which said that the acquittal judgement passed by the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) on the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, was wrong, added that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has killed its anti-corruption campaign.

Speaking with journalists in Ilorin on Thursday, members of the group, led by the director, Strategy and Communication, Alhaji Tunde Mohammed, said the group rejected the ruling, described it as kangaroo and subversion of justice.

"Going through the grounds for the dismissal of the matter by the tribunal, we are forced to reach the conclusion that the ruling is a manifestation of a mindset to deny justice to the people of Nigeria. This is more so because we believed that the federal government has unassailable facts before drawing the 18-count charge. The charges do not disclose that there would be a no-case in the allegations"

Alhaji Mohammed said that the "no case acquittal of the Senate president was like acceding to the request of the ruling APC".

"Nigerians would have been more comfortable if the entire matter went through the rigour of trial with eventual final acquittal. But with the termination of the case before defense on no-case submission makes us believe that there is a compromise with the ruling APC and the tribunal.

"The evidence leading to this became clearer when the leadership of the Senate visited the APC headquarters and demanded that for the Senate to cooperate and work with the executive, all the charges preferred against the Senate President must be dropped.

"The people of this country have long yearned for a genuine self-rule and as well renewed their confidence in the judiciary. This process we feel should not be structured to reward bad behaviour. It is sad that when the weak transgress the law, its full weight through its punitive mechanism is crushingly brought to bear on then; but when the powerful, the mighty and the rich offend the law, they do so with relish and without the mildest punitive reactions from their enforcers.

"The situation we face in this country today is indeed like a war but a completely unconventional kind. One cannot be won in a conventional way. We will not win the battle against corruption unless we win at the level of our values, discipline and the enforcement of the rule of law."