The All Progressives Congress has kept mum over allegations of political witch-hunting by Senate President Bukola Saraki.
Bukola Saraki
Saraki,in an article published in a national daily on Saturday,had attributed his trial by the Code of Conduct Tribunal to political persecution for advising the party against fielding a Muslim-Muslim ticket in the run-up to the 2015 presidential elections.
The article published by THISDAY newspaper, reads in part,”My concern was that it would not be politically smart for us to run with a Muslim-Muslim ticket. I doubt if we would have won the election if we had done this, especially after the PDP had successfully framed us as a Muslim party. This was my original sin.”
Attempts to get comments from the National Chairman APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun were futile as of 8:54pm.
Repeated calls to his mobile phone were neither picked nor returned. A total of nine calls were made to the APC chairman, the first being at 3:38pm and the last at 8:53 pm. A response to a text message sent to him was still being awaited when this report was filed.
Similar calls made to the party’s National Secretary, Mai Mala Buni, indicated that it was switched off. A response to a text message sent to him was still being awaited as of 9:02pm
Calls also made to the party’s Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Timi Frank, were neither picked nor returned and he did not respond to a text message sent to him.
When contacted, the zonal Publicity Secretary of the APC (South East), Osita Okechukwu, said, “No comment.”
Also, the party’s Deputy National Vice Chairman (South), Segun Oni, neither picked nor returned calls to his line. A response to a text message sent to him was still being awaited as of 9:26pm.
Senate President, Bukola Saraki, on Friday, ordered the immediate reversal of the appointment of Mr. Mohammed Sani-Omolori as the Acting Clerk to the National Assembly.
Bukola Saraki
Saraki, who is also the Chairman of the National Assembly, has therefore directed the withdrawal of the letter of appointment already issued to Sani-Omolori.
This is contained in a memorandum entitled, “Withdrawal of letter of appointment of Acting Clerk of the National Assembly”, dated April 22, 2016, and obtained by our correspondent.
The development, according to some National Assembly sources, would definitely create a major division in the bureaucracy of the federal parliament.
The letter was addressed to the Executive Chairman, National Assembly Service Commission, Dr. Adamu Fika, and signed by Chief of Staff to the Senate President, Senator Isa Galaudu.
Sani-Omolori was appointed on Tuesday to replace Alhaji Salisu Maikasuwa, who is scheduled to proceed on terminal leave on May 14, 2016.
There has been an uneasy calm among parliamentary staff since the appointment of Sani- Omolori.
The parliamentary staff had argued that seniority was not followed in the appointment.
Saraki, in his letter, questioned how the Commission ignored the directive that it should follow due process and ensure that seniority was adhered to in the appointment of a new clerk of the National Assembly.
He said the Commission, had also ignored the directive that the Deputy Clerk to the National Assembly, Mr. Benedict Efeturi, who had acted as the Clerk of the National Assembly, should be the first to be considered.
The letter reads, “We present to you the compliments of the President of the Senate and Chairman of the National Assembly, Distinguished Senator, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, CON.
“Please recall that during your last meeting with the President of the Senate on April 20, 2016, the procedure of the appointment of the Acting Clerk of the National Assembly was discussed.
“The Commission was directed to follow due process and ensure that seniority is adhered to. Of course, Mr. Benedict Efeturi, who is the Deputy Clerk of the National Assembly, and who has previously acted as the Clerk of the National Assembly, should be the first to be considered.
“Most importantly, you have been directed to confer with the President of the Senate the outcome of the Commission’s meeting before a letter of appointment is issued and regrettably, that did not happen.
“The President of the Senate and Speaker of the House of Representatives were informed that Mr. Efeturi was not considered for the appointment because he was not duly appointed as Deputy Clerk of the National Assembly.
“On further enquiries, we found he was duly appointed by the National Assembly Service Commission.
“Consequently, I am directed by His Excellency, the President of the Senate, to inform you that the letter appointing Mr. Sani-Omolori as Acting Clerk of the National Assembly be withdrawn immediately for further consultations.”
Our correspondent learnt that the failure of the National Assembly Service Commission to follow seniority in the appointment of the Acting Clerk, was capable of causing serious bureaucratic crisis in the federal parliament.
A senior management staff said, “This is an affront on the guiding principles of the appointment and promotion in the National Assembly.
“Even if Efeturi was not going to be appointed on the grounds of seniority and the fact that he is Deputy Clerk of the National Assembly, reasons should have been provided by the appointing authorities in order not to create bad blood in the system.”
The civil servant, who is an assistant director, added that it was not clear how the issue would be resolved.
Umar had earlier before the proceedings began on Monday, that the trial would proceed henceforth 10am to 6pm on daily basis.
Bukola Saraki
While adjourning the trial at about 5pm on Monday, Umar rejected a request by Saraki’s lawyer, Chief Kanu Agabi (SAN), for the tribunal to skip Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday which are the days of the week which the Senate sits.
The request was opposed by the lead prosecuting counsel, Mr. Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), warned that the Senate should not be into the trial.
“The Senate is not on trial. The persons that is on trial is the defendant. The Senate should sit. It’s a disgrace to our nation to be saying that.”
In his response, the tribunal chairman reiterated the same point, asking the Senate to continuing siting while the Senate President is allowed to face his trial.
Umar said, “The Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is not on trial, the Senate should sit. The only thing is that the personality of the defendant who happened to be the Senate President. The Senate should continue to sit.”
The trial was adjourned till Tuesday for cross-examination of the first prosecution witness., Mr. Michael Wetkas.
The Chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal, Danladi Umar, has directed that the trial of the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, will henceforth proceed day to day from today (Monday) until the conclusion of the case.
Bukola Saraki
He said the trial will begin 10am and end 6pm everyday.
Umar, who gave this directive at the resumed hearing in the case on Monday, said his decision to conduct the trial day to day was in line with the provisions of section 396(6) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act.
He gave the directive in response to a request for one hour stand-down by the lawyer who represented the prosecution on Monday, Mr. Gabriel Esegine.
Esigine told the tribunal that the lead prosecuting counsel, Mr. Rotimi Jacobs asked for the stand-down to enable him to appear briefly before the Court of Appeal in Abuja.
But in response, Umar, who was not satisfied with the request for stand-down warned that the tribunal would no longer wait for anybody.
He said, “By virtue of 396 (6) the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015, criminal trial of a defendant after arraignment shall proceed day to day.
“This is what the tribunal intends to do. I’m saying this to both the prosecution and the defence, this tribunal will not wait for anybody.
“We will start by 10am till about 6pm till the conclusion of the case.
“For the benefit of those who want to pray we will give a break for about 15 minutes. By 4pm, we will give another 15 minutes break to enable people to stretch their legs.”
The lead defence counsel, Chief Kanu Agabi (SAN), however joined the prosecution in pleading with the tribunal to grant the stand-down.
The CCT chairman then reluctantly stood the case down till 12pm.
But as of the time of filing this report at 11.11am, Jacobs had arrived the tribunal.
The trial is to continue today with the testimony of the first prosecution witness.
During the short court proceedings, Saraki, decked in a white traditional attire with a cap to match, sat in the dock, while a number of senators sat in the audience.q
The secret distribution of the first batch of the brand new 108 Sport Utility Vehicles to 36 senators last Thursday has started generating tension and ill-feelings among members of the upper chamber.
Bukola Saraki
Investigations by our correspondent revealed that each senator from the 36 states had collected the keys to the Land Cruiser jeeps.
A senator who craved anonymity, confided in our correspondent on Sunday, that only identified members of the pro-Saraki’s Like Minds Senators were favoured in the distribution of the vehicles.
He alleged that except for Lagos and Osun states where Saraki had no identifiable loyalist, his supporters in the South-West geopolitical zones were already in possession of the vehicles since Thursday.
He said, “Those who collected their keys to the vehicles were identified Saraki supporters who had been following him to the courts since his corruption case started. So, they were being rewarded for their loyalty.
“The beneficiaries from Ondo, Oyo, Ogun were die-hard loyalists of Saraki but the beneficiaries from Lagos and Osun states were not members of the Like Minds. The senators who collected from Lagos and Osun, had the consent of their two other colleagues.
“I know they would push some of us to the last batch but we are not bothered. They met with us seeking our cooperation to move the Senate forward being members of the same party but see the type of injustice they are perpetrating now?”
The senator denied the campaign by the Saraki loyalists that members of the SUF wanted to sell their own jeeps to create an impression before their constituents that they rejected them.
He said, “There is no way anybody could have sold the vehicles because they are properties of the National Assembly. They were purchased by the management and they remained the National Assembly properties until we decide to buy them after the end of our tenure.”
The Senate spokesperson, Sabi Abdullahi, refused to make any comment on the issue when contacted by our correspondent on Sunday.
Abdullahi said, “I don’t want to make any comment on the issue either relating to the distribution or the process of procurement. “
Efforts to get the reactions of some of the beneficiaries failed on Sunday as none of them picked their calls while text messages sent to their mobiles were not replied.
• Why we can’t intervene in Sen. President’s ordeal
If embattled Senate President, Bukola Saraki, is indeed innocent of the corruption charges leveled against him at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), he should embrace the trial and prove his prosecutors wrong, says the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Bukola Saraki
In a chat with The Guardian, yesterday, the National Vice Chairman of the party, Chief Hillard Eta, dismissed suggestions that the party should have moved in to rescue the Senate President.
Eta argued that doing so would amount to violating the principles on which the party was founded.
He said: “Why would the party do that when it came on the platform of the rule of law, that everybody is equal in the eyes of the law? Are we saying that some are more equal than others? Are we living in Animal Farm? Are you saying that because he is the Senate President, he should not have an opportunity of absolving himself from allegations? Is that what you are saying?”
Earlier, in an interview he granted one of the nation’s online publications, party chairman, Chief John Oyegun, had ruled out the possibility of any political solution to Saraki’s tribulation, stressing President Buhari will not be drawn into the matter either.
He is quoted as having said: “What political situation in a legal matter? Are the judges politicians? The President is certainly not the type who will interfere in a judicial matter. I think we know him very well. Everybody must know him. Things must be done normally. And that is part of the change mantra; we must play by the rule, so that we don’t truncate processes.
“People don’t seem to internalise what change is. If the President says, ‘court, free that man’, the same President can say, ‘court, imprison that man’. Is that the Nigeria you want? No! Change means allowing the law to take the proper course. I can tell you the President won’t interfere. The President is straight and firm in all facets.”
Asked why APC national leader, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is not being hounded by the CCT, Eta said: “Tinubu was not taken to the tribunal as a member of the APC. We have never had a situation where our members have been given a soft landing by the government that is in control.”
On whether he thinks the Saraki saga is an indication of infighting within the APC, Eta replied: “Why do we always view conspiracy theory about matters that have absolutely nothing to do with conspiracy? The Code of Conduct has accused Saraki of violating the provisions of the law. What is incumbent on Saraki is go to the court and absolve himself, prove his case, prove his innocence. All of these conspiracy theories would do no good to the delivery of justice in Nigeria. If it is conspiracy, the court will arrive at that conclusion. But if it is a fact that what he has been accused of is indeed correct, then the law should be no respecter of anybody.”
Toeing the same line, APC chieftain, Mr. Osita Okechukwu, argued that interference would run contrary to the ongoing anti-graft war of the Buhari administration.
Okechukwu, who is the party’s spokesperson for the South East caucus spoke on the heels of calls by the deputy national publicity secretary, Mr. Timi Frank, on need for the party to save Saraki from trial at the CCT.
Meanwhile, House of Representatives member, Mr. Zakari Mohammed, yesterday, faulted media reports that he orchestrated the recent power outage at the sitting of the CCT during the trial of Saraki.
The lawmaker, in a statement, described the publication as not only false but also outright balderdash, sheer rubbish and a deliberate attempt to tarnish his hard-earned reputation.
Mohammed, who is a member of the APC from Kwara State, wondered why he should be blamed for the outage, even when it is commonly known that he has no stake in the nation’s power sector.
He said: “To set the records straight, I had no hands in the outage at the CCT. I have no relationship with any staff or technicians at the tribunal, which would have made me to influence the outage.
“I also do not work with or own shares in Abuja Electricity Distribution Company to have wielded contacts to disrupt power supply to the tribunal. I have never met with technicians in charge of the alternative source of power for the tribunal.”
A Federal High Court in Abuja has dismissed the suit filed by the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, to stop his trial on charges of false asset declaration before the Code of Conduct Tribunal in Abuja.
Bukola Saraki
Saraki had asked the court to quash the charges and nullify the proceedings before the CCT on the grounds that they were initiated in violation of his rights to fair hearing.
But in his judgment on Friday, Justice Abdukadir Abdu-Kafarati held that the suit, filed under the fundamental human rights enforcement rules, lacked jurisdiction to entertain it and that it constituted an abuse of court process.
The respondents to the suit include, Attorney-General of the Federation, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN), the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission, and the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Solomon Arase.
Others are the Code of Conduct Bureau, the CCT; the CCT chairman, Umar; the second member of the CCT panel, Mr. Ataedzeagu Adza, CCB chairman, Mr. Sam Saba and the Director of Public Prosecutions of the Federal Ministry of Justice, Mr. Mohammed Diri.
The judge, who upheld the respondents’ preliminary objection to the suit without considering the merit of the case, ruled that the court lacked jurisdiction to entertain the suit as the prayers sought were not available under Chapter 4 (which deals with fundamental human rights) of the Constitution.
The judge also ruled that the suit constituted an abuse of court of process the Supreme Court having earlier validated his trial before the CCT and Saraki having filed similar application before the CCT.
The court ruled that granting the prayers sought by Saraki, would amount to interfering with the powers granted the respondents to investigate crimes and prosecute offenders.
He ruled, “A careful examination of the reliefs sought showed that if grant it will amount to interference with the powers of the respondents.
“The prayers are not captured under Chapter 4 of the Constitution.
“I cannot also do anything that will interfere with the powers of the respondents to prosecute crimes which the Constitution has given them the power to do.
“Since the apex court has ruled that the prosecution of the applicant before the Code of Conduct Tribunal is in order it is not appropriate for the respondents to approach this court to seek reliefs quashing the charges.”
The judge also ruled that the allegation of political humiliation on which the suit was anchored was merely a sentiment lacked legal basis.
The judge recalled that as of the time of hearing the suit, the applicant had filed an application before the CCT asking for similar prayers as contained in the suit.
“If I go ahead to grant the reliefs it will be in conflict with the decision of the Code of Conduct Tribunal,” the judge ruled.
In view of the above findings I hold that the court lacked jurisdiction to hear the suit because the reliefs are not available under Chapter 4 of the Constitution.
The judge ruled, “The originating motion constitutes an abuse of court process.
“The suit is liable to be dismissed and it is accordingly dismissed.”
Saraki, through his lawyer, Mr. Ajibola Oluyede, asked in the suit for an order halting his ongoing trial before the Code of Conduct Tribunal on 13 counts of false and anticipatory assets declaration.
The Senate President alleged in the suit that the charges preferred against him before the CCT infringed on his right to fair hearing.
He sought an order nullifying the charges and the proceedings of the CCT on the grounds that they allegedly fell short of the requirements of Article 3 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights and Section 36 of the 1999 Constitution.
The verbal fireworks between civil society groups and the embattled Senate President, Bukola Saraki, continued on Sunday with the Transition Monitoring Group releasing yet another scathing statement urging Nigerians to remain steadfast in their quest to kick the top lawmaker out of office.
Bukola Saraki
The TMG said it has continued to watch with keen interest as the Senate President reacts to its previous calls for him to step down amid corruption scandals.
In a statement sent to PREMIUM TIMES by its chairman, Ibrahim Zikirullahi, on Sunday, TMG said Mr. Saraki’s strategy to wait out the public outrage over his alleged false assets declaration trial as well as the new revelations about his ties to offshore businesses in tax havens as contained in the Panama Papers has backfired.
“In the last 48 hours, the Transition Monitoring Group (TMG) has observed closely as heavily tainted Senate President, Bukola Saraki struggles to rationalize his decision to sit-tight in the face of damning revelations from his trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal and the leaked Panama Papers.
“Like a drowning man, Saraki is advertising his willingness to hold on to any straw. Since TMG released its widely circulated statement calling on him to immediately step down on account of damaging effects of his trial on the Senate as an institution, Saraki has cut a pathetic figure.
“His vile calculations that the Nigerian people would soon forget about the revelations, and move on, have boomeranged,” Mr. Zikirullahi said.
Following the commencement of his trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal and the PREMIUM TIMES investigations that exposed him as one of the most prominent clients of Mossack Fonseca, the Panamanian law firm at the centre of the Panama Papers leak, calls for Mr. Saraki’s resignation have been spearheaded by the Transition Monitoring Group, TMG, Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders, CACOL, Muslim Rights Council, MURIC, and other Nigerians.
A defiant Mr. Saraki said in a statement on Saturday that all efforts to stampede him out of office are being orchestrated by his political adversaries, vowing to continue the battle until his case is dispensed by the court of law.
“They believe that the on-going trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal provides them the opportunity to stampede Dr. Saraki out of office so that their defeated objective of getting their lackey into the office of Senate President will be realized. This is another desperate move by these spineless politicians to achieve through the back door what they failed to realize on the floor of the Senate,” his Special Adviser on Media, Yusuph Olaniyonu, said.
But the TMG rejected that position, arguing that Mr. Saraki has resulted to creating imaginary enemies for himself in order to court the sympathy of Nigerians.
“Saraki and his spin doctors are now running from pillar to post in a desperate last ditch effort to silence courageous voices. The result of this pathetic approach to clear questions of accountability, is a streak of hallucination that has led Saraki and his fellow legislooters to create imaginary enemies in order to conflate issues and deflect responsibility,” Mr. Zikirullahi said.
The TMG, therefore, reiterated its position that Mr. Saraki’s time as the President of the Nigerian Senate is up.
“Knowing that shame, contrition and conscience are alien to characters like these, it is not surprising that they continue to defy civilised standards in human conduct. Saraki should make no mistake about it; he is the man in the dock, having to face up to the consequences of his actions.
“Saraki is the one who has to cope with insomnia in this futile battle to erase the truth. He may bluff and bluster as much as he wants; the Nigerian people have made up their mind that his position is no longer tenable. There is no mistaking the fact that he has completely lost legitimacy.
“Like the exposed shell companies he secretly opened in Panama, he is now an empty shell. All his diversionary antics notwithstanding, TMG insists it is time for Saraki to go. That is the verdict of the Nigerian people; in due course, the voices of the people will prevail.”
The Senate President, Bukola Saraki has raised an alarm over plans by some politicians to sponsor protests marches and demonstrations in which some allegedly hired people would be given placards against him.
Bukola Saraki
This was disclosed by the office of the Senate President, signed by the Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Yusuph Olaniyonu on Saturday.
According to the statement, sponsors of the proposed protest primary intention is to pollute public opinion against the Senate President.
Olaniyonu said: “As part of their plan, they are already distributing money and other materials to some faceless civil society Organisations, market men and women associations and other shadowy groups with a view to instigate demonstrations in Lagos, Abuja and Ilorin starting from Monday, April 11.
“They believe that the on-going trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal provides them the opportunity to stampede Dr. Saraki out of office so that their defeated objective of getting their lackey into the office of Senate President will be realized. This is another desperate move by these spineless politicians to achieve through the back door what they failed to realize on the floor of the Senate.
“We are alerting members of the public to the antics of these desperate politicians which may result into breach of public peace, order and health. Dr. Saraki is a peace-loving and law abiding politician. The trial at the CCT is just beginning and while the prosecution’s witness has started giving evidence, he is yet to be cross-examined by the defence team. The defence has also not opened its own case. We urge members of the public to patiently wait for the conclusion of the case.
“Since the fundamental principle of our legal system is that an accused person is presumed innocent until he is found guilty, Dr. Saraki will not allow any distraction to take him away from his responsibility as President of the Senate and Chairman of the National Assembly,” Olaniyonu added.
Saraki has been in the glare of the media since he hijacked the leadership of the Senate against his political party, All Progressives Congress decision.
The Senate President has been facing 13-count criminal charge by the Federal Government
Senate President Bukola Saraki on Friday vowed not to succumb to calls for his resignation by Nigerians amid his corruption trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal and the revelations in Panama Papers.
Bukola Saraki
Saraki, while responding to a Premium Times report on Friday, blamed politicians for the increasing calls for his resignation over his recent scandals.
A text message sent to the online medium by Saraki’s Special Adviser on Media, Yusuph Olaniyonu, said the Senate President would not yield to the growing pressure.
The statement said, “There’s a case in the Tribunal and a resultant appeal at the Court of Appeal.
“The underlining philosophy of our legal system is that an accused person is presumed innocent until found guilty.”
“Those who are contemplating calls for resignation want to circumvent the judicial system. They are obviously being sponsored by some politicians.
“The Senate President is not contemplating any resignation. He will surely have his day in court.”
Fresh documents published by the online medium had revealed that Saraki’s wife, Toyin, is a business front for her husband contrary to claims by the Senate President that the assets allegedly linked to him by the Panama Papers belonged to his wife’s family.
According to Premium Times, new documents it got from the database of the Panamanian law firm, Mossack Fonseca, showed that assets in Toyin’s name in tax havens were held in trust for her husband.
It was alleged that about four assets belonging to the Saraki family, which include Girol Properties Ltd., Sandon Development Limited, and Landfield International Developments Ltd., were tucked away in secret offshore territories.
For instance, the report stated that Girol Properties was registered on behalf of Toyin by Fonsecca on August 25, 2004, in the British Virgin Island, a year after her husband became the Governor of Kwara State.
But the assets were allegedly not part of the ones declared by the Senate President or Toyin when Saraki became governor and after he was sworn in as the nation’s number three citizen.
A German newspaper, Süddeutsche Zeitung, had earlier released the Panama Papers, publishing online 11.5 million documents from Mossack Fonseca, which showed how world leaders, celebrities, athletes, FIFA officials and criminals hid money using anonymous shell corporations across the world.
Saraki, while reacting to the report, had said that he was not obliged to declare under the law the assets allegedly linked to him because they belonged to the family of his wife.
However, fresh report by the online medium insists that that the assets actually belong to Saraki and not to Toyin or her family estate.
The Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) in Abuja heard Wednesday that the Kwara State Government continued to pay about N1.2million monthly as salary and pension to its former governor, Bukola Saraki three years after he ceased to occupy the office.
Bukola Saraki
Saraki was Kwara State governor between 2003 and 2011. But a prosecution witness in his false assets declaration trial before the CCT said on Wednesday that, although Saraki has been a Senator since May 2011, after the expiration of his second term as governor, the Kwara State Government only “stopped crediting his account with N1,165,466.12 monthly as salary and or pension on the August 31, 2015.”
The state government however in a statement Wednesday night denied paying Saraki salary after he left office in May 2011.
Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Alhaji Isiaka Gold explained that Dr Saraki’s last salary was N291,474.00 for the month of May 2011.
The witness, Michael Wetkas, an official of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), who opened his testimony on Tuesday as the first prosecution, continued Wednesday.
Wetkas, led in evidence by lead prosecution witness, Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), testified for about five hours, during which he gave details of transactions in Saraki’s three accounts operated in naira, dollar and pound sterling with the Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB).
The witness gave details on how several funds, belonging to Kwara State, were allegedly diverted into Saraki’s private accounts both in Nigeria and abroad, with which he purportedly acquired property and liquidated some personal loans.
Wetkas, who drew the tribunal’s attention to some suspicious transactions in the defendant’s accounts with GTB, noted that during investigation, it was discovered that the identity of those making payments into the accounts were deliberately hidden by the bank.
The witness, who was part of the investigating team, said they discovered, during investigation, that most of the bank tellers for payment, were completed in similar hand writing, but without the address and phone numbers of the depositors.
A detective with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mr. Michael Wetkas, on Tuesday narrated to the Code of Conduct Tribunal how the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, allegedly diverted Kwara State Government’s funds as the governor of the state.
Bukola Saraki
The witness said Saraki, who was the governor of Kwara State between 2003 and 2011, used the proceeds of the loot to repay personal bank loans which the former governor allegedly expended on the acquisition of landed assets in Lagos and Abuja.
Saraki is being prosecuted on 13 counts of false and anticipatory asset declaration which he made at the beginning and at the end of each of his two terms as governor.
Wetkas was the Federal Government’s first prosecution witness in a trial which only commenced on Tuesday after about six months of delay caused by a series of interlocutory applications and appeals deployed by Saraki.
The witness said, “It was discovered that the properties were acquired through the loans.
“The loans were repaid, through cash lodgements collected from the defendant at the Kwara State Government House and made in GTB, GRA, Ilorin branch.”
Wetkas said it was discovered that some of the individuals, who lodged funds into the accounts, were bank officials.
He added that the bank officials and some aides to the former governor collected the funds lodged into the accounts directly from Saraki at the Kwara State Government House.
He explained that Saraki paid back the loans with Kwara State Government’s fund through his aides, one of whom lodged between N600,000 and N900,000 in the former governor’s account 50 times on a particular day.
He said, “Because of the suspicious inflows into the account, the bank (GTB) officials were invited. The reason for the invitation of the officials was that some of the individuals, who were making the cash lodgements into the account, were bank officials.
“One Oluwatujimu reported to the commission.”
From our interactions with him, we discovered that some of the lodgements were made through his superior at the bank, Bayo Daudu, who was the Relationship Manager of the account.
“In our interaction with Daudu, it was discovered that the cash sums were handed over to him by the defendant (Saraki) for lodgement in the account.
“According to Daudu, he goes to Kwara State Government House to collect the money from the defendant for lodgement into the account at the GRA Ilorin branch of GTB.
“We discovered one name, Abdul Adama, who made transaction 50 times into the account in a single day. The sum was broken down to N600, 000 and N900, 000 and was lodged in the same day.
“Subsequently, after that one, Ubi made a lodgement on the same day about 20 times in the same range of N600,000 and N900,000. Adama reported that the cash sums were handed over to him by the defendant and stated further that the cash sums that were lodged in by Ubi into the same account were from the defendant.
“Adama and Ubi were personal assistants to the defendant while he was governor. Further investigations revealed that other individuals, who made lodgements into the account, were fictitious.
“From the lodgements into the accounts, we observed and discovered that one Ubi (we don’t have his surname) made five lodgements of over N37m in cash.”
According to the witness, Saraki failed to declare many of the landed assets as of 2011 when he completed his second term as governor.
The prosecution, led by Mr. Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), crossed the last legal hurdle before it could call its first witness on Tuesday after the tribunal dismissed another request for an adjournment by the defence.
The defence team had sought another adjournment on the basis of a fresh application for stay of proceedings and appeals, both of which they only filed on Monday, against a ruling of the tribunal which had been delivered on March 24.
Wetkas, who was led in evidence by Jacobs, said the EFCC received a number of petitions, accusing Saraki of abuse of office, misappropriation of public funds and money laundering shortly after the Senate President completed his second term as governor.
The witness said this prompted the then Chairman of the EFCC, Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde, to set up an investigative team, which he (Wetkas) headed in 2014.
He said his team, which later harmonised its findings with another broad investigative team, comprising operatives of the Department of State Services and the Code of Conduct Bureau, revealed that Saraki operated a number of companies which had accounts with Zenith and Guaranty Trust banks.
He said investigation revealed that between 2005 and 2013, a GTB account of one of the firms had an inflow of about N4bn, with the major source of the fund coming from the N2.5bn loans which he took from the bank within the period.
He said between 2009 and 2013, the dollar account operated by Saraki’s firm, Tiny Tee Properties Ltd, had an inflow of $6m.
The witness said, “The commission received several petitions from various groups. One of the petitioners was Kwara Freedom Network. They brought several petitions all bordering on abuse of office by the defendant, misappropriation of public funds and money laundering.
“Sometime in 2014, the then executive chairman of the EFCC, Ibrahim Lamorde received intelligence reports of suspicious transactions involving the defendant. He set up a team of investigators. Our task was to investigate the intelligence reports.
“The investigation report was reviewed by my team. In the course of our investigation, we discovered that there were several companies which were linked to the defendant. Some of them include Carlisle Properties Investment Ltd, Skyview Properties Ltd, Limkars Ltd, and Tiny-Tee Ltd. Some of the companies maintain accounts with Guaranty Trust Bank, Zenith Bank, Access Bank and other banks.
“From the investigation, it was discovered that the defendant maintained three accounts with the GTB. The first account is a naira currency account, the second is a US dollar account and the third is a pound sterling account.
“The naira account was analysed and it was discovered that between 2005 and 2013, the account had an inflow of about N4bn. The major source of inflow into the account was loans taken from GTB within the period. The loans were about N2.5bn, and the other source of inflow into the account was massive lodgements by individuals. Other inflows into the account were from the companies.
“It was discovered that the money was used for the purchase of property. The dollar account was also analysed. The major source of inflow into the dollar account was Tiny Tee Properties Ltd, which was about $2m. Other source was from bureau de change companies. And the rest was cash lodgements by individuals.
“The cash in the dollar account between 2009 and 2013 was $6m. We discovered that up to $3.4m was wired to American Express Services Europe Limited, which was used to fund the defendant’s American Express Service New York card account number 374588216836009.
“The defendant wired over 1.5m pound sterling to Fortis Bank for the purchase of a property in the UK.”
He said Saraki failed to list the assets in his asset declaration form.
Wetkas added, “My team searched the office of Carslie Properties and Investment Limited in Lagos at 30 Saka Tinubu, Victoria Island, Lagos, where the team discovered documents containing the list of documents of properties linked to the first defendant.
“Some of them were purchased from Presidential Implementation Committee on Government Properties.
“Some were bought from the Central Bank of Nigeria. We had to write a number of land registries in Abuja, Lagos Land Registry and we also wrote the CBN.
“These properties were not in the asset declaration forms.
“In analysing the forms, some infractions were observed on some of the forms.
“We discovered that property, known as 15 Mcdonald, Ikoyi, Lagos, which was purchased through a company, Hitel Limited, was not declared in the forms. We also discovered that 17A and 17B of Mcdonald, Ikoyi, Lagos, were bought for aggregate sum of N497.2m in 2006.”
He said the Senate President failed to declare his property at Plot 2A Glover Road, Ikoyi, Lagos, which he bought for N325,000,000 between 2007 and 2008, through his company called Carlisle Properties.
He said the accused also failed to declare the property at 37A Glover Road, Ikoyi, Lagos, which he allegedly bought through Carlisle Properties.
He stated that the defendant failed to declare the property at No. 1 Targus Street, Maitama, Abuja, otherwise known as 2482, Cadastral Zone A06, Abuja, on September 16, 2003.
The accused allegedly failed to declare the property at No. 3 Targus Street, Maitama, Abuja, otherwise known as 2482, Cadastral Zone A06, Abuja, which he acquired from one Alhaji Attahiru Adamu.
He was said to have failed to declare his leasehold interest in No. 42 Remi Fani-Kayode Street, Ikeja, Lagos, which he acquired through his company, Skyview Properties Limited, from First Finance Trust Limited.
His asset declaration forms, which he submitted to the CCB at the beginning and at the end of each of his tenure as governor in 2003 and 2011, were admitted as exhibits.
Also admitted was the asset declaration forms he has submitted to the CCB as a senator since 2011.
The defence, led by Mr. Paul Usoro (SAN), said he would defer his objection to the admissibility of the documents in his final written address.
Saraki was accompanied to the Tuesday’s proceedings by some senators.
There are strong indications that the Peoples Democratic Party has begun fresh moves to reconcile with its former top members that defected to the All Progressives Congress before the 2015 general elections.
The PUNCH gathered on Sunday that among those being wooed by the PDP was a former Kano State Governor, Senator Rabiu Kwankanso, and the President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki.
It was learnt that the fresh moves, which began a week ago, formed part of the strategies the leadership of the former ruling party had mapped out to strengthen the PDP ahead of the 2019 elections.
The peace shuttle, it was learnt on Sunday, was also part of the action plan of the party ahead of its National Convention in May.
Kwankwaso, some former governors from the North and some Senators met behind closed-doors shortly before the wedding (fatiha) of the daughter of a former Governor of Niger State, Alhaji Abdullahi Kure, in the Lapai area of the state on Sunday.
Although the agenda of the meeting was not disclosed to newsmen, who had laid siege to the venue of the wedding, it was gathered that it was not unconnected with the current search for a northern candidate to fly the flag of the PDP in the 2019 presidential poll.
Some PDP supporters at the venue strengthened insinuations that the former Kano State governor was being pressurised to come back to the PDP.
The supporters, on sighting the dignitaries coming out of the closed-door meeting, chorused, “Sai Kwankwaso, Sai Kwankwasia, Sai Kadawo PDP, insha Allah” meaning “Kwankwaso, you must come back to PDP.”
Kwankwaso
Those who attended the meeting included the Chairman, PDP Board of Trustees, Senator Walid Jibril; Kure; immediate past governor of Niger State, Dr. Babangida Aliyu; a former governor of Kano State, Mr. Ibrahim Shekarau; Senator Philip Tanimu Ajuda, Senator Smart Adeyemi and Senator Isah Mohammed.
However, none of the PDP chiefs agreed to speak to newsmen after emerging from the meeting as they headed straight for the Mosque for the commencement of the wedding ceremony, administered by the Chief Imam of Lapai Central Mosque, Sheik Bashir Lapai.
The PDP BoT chairman confirmed that the party had zoned its Presidency to the North in 2019, saying the former ruling party was in search of a credible candidate for the race.
Jibril added, “We (PDP) have zoned the Presidency to the North but the Vice-President and other positions have not been zoned yet because we are still consulting.”
He stated that the party was on a reconciliation drive to ensure that all aggrieved members, including those that had left the PDP, returned to the party so that the PDP could win the 2019 presidential election.
But Kwankanso on Sunday denied holding any political meeting with some PDP leaders in Lapai, Niger State, on Sunday.
Kwankwaso, a Senator, spoke with one of our correspondents through one of his aides, who returned the ex-governor’s call, but failed to disclose his identity.
The aide said, “It is not true that Senator Kwankwaso held a meeting with PDP leaders after he had attended the wedding ceremony.
“Senator Kwankwaso and Alhaji Aliyu (Kure) were friends and they both served as governors in their respective states between 1999 and 2003 and they had remained close since then.
“There is no way that Senator Kwankwaso would be holding secret meeting with members of the opposition party when he remained committed to his party, the All Progressives Congress. He is a loyal party man, who would not engage in any anti-party activities.”
Saraki and Kwankwaso are currently having running battles with the APC.
The Senate President is undergoing trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal for an alleged false and anticipatory declaration of assets.
He has said on many occasions that his trial was political and that it might be because the party’s national leadership didn’t want him as the President of the Senate.
Saraki, who is now a chieftain of the APC, was governor of Kwara State for eight years as a member of the PDP.
Kwankwaso is engaged in a power tussle with his successor, Alhaji Abdullahi Ganduje in the Kano State APC.
It was believed that Kwankwaso was being cut to size in the party because he could be nursing a presidential ambition in 2019.
A chieftain of the party, who confided in The PUNCH on Sunday, said the PDP had realised the mistake it made by allowing Kwankanso and other former members, including the President of the Senate, to leave its fold.
He said the PDP had been meeting its former members, including Kwankanso and Saraki, so that they could come back to the party.
“We made a mistake by dismissing the influence of these politicians. You will recall that Kwankaso came second at the APC presidential primary. Saraki is also very influential. If we had won Kano and Kwara states in the last presidential election, the APC would not have produced the President,” the PDP chieftain reasoned.
Another PDP stalwart told one of our correspondents that since Kwankwaso had lost control of the party structure in Kano State and was facing stiff opposition from the incumbent governor, Abubakar Ganduje, the PDP was the likely option for him to turn to.
The source noted that Kwankwaso was originally a PDP man but only defected to the APC in 2014 when it was obvious that the PDP would not allow anyone to contest against Jonathan.
He said the party was aware of Kwankwaso’s presidential ambition and would woo him back to the party and guarantee him a level playing field.
The top party man, a former national officer of the PDP added, “Kwankwaso won two governorship elections on the platform of the PDP and also served as a minister; so, he is a PDP man through and through.
“He is being maltreated by Ganduje and the party has refused to help resolve the crisis. This governor was Kwankwaso’s handpicked man as his successor.
“We virtually have no presence in Kano State; so, if we can get a serving Senator with a huge following like Kwankwaso, it would be a game changer ahead of 2019.”
Another PDP leader told one of our correspondents that it was seeking to exploit the crisis in the APC rank in the Senate to bring some APC lawmakers to the PDP.
One of our correspondents gathered that the about-to-be-inaugurated Reconciliation Committee of the PDP would visit Saraki and a former Vice President and impress on them the need to return to the PDP.
The committee is headed by the Governor of Bayelsa State, Seriake Dickson.
Determined to retrieve power from the Buhari-led APC government in 2019, the PDP has already zoned its presidential ticket to the northern part of the country.
A source, who is a member of the NWC of the PDP, said, “We are no longer in power and the number of governors we have has reduced drastically.
“We therefore need someone who is rich and has the contacts across the country to help us wrestle power from the APC come 2019.
“We all know that only the likes of the ex-vice-president and former governors can do this for us. We want them back in our party.”
Authoritative sources told our correspondent that the committee would also visit Kwankwaso.
Jibril said he would want all PDP former members and new ones to return to its fold.
He told one of our correspondents that the doors of the party would remain open.
He added, “Any person, who wants to return to the party, including those you have mentioned, are free to return.
“We need them just the way we need many others who are not our members before.”
The National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Chief Olisa Metuh, said he was not aware of the meeting with Kwankwaso in Lapai on Sunday.
Attempts to get a response from the National Chairman of the APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, on the meeting in Lapai and the moves by the PDP to woo some APC members, proved abortive.
Calls to his mobile were not returned. A response to a text message sent to him was still being awaited as of the time of filing this report.
The Special Adviser, Media and Publicity, to the Senate President, Alhaji Yusuf Olaniyonu, believed newsmen were creating stories to the effect that his principal was on the radar of the PDP towards 2019.
“Why will the PDP ask the Senate President to join a party he left two years ago? For what benefit or purpose? There is no truth to that fiction,” Oloniyonu said.
At least four assets belonging to the wealthy and famous Saraki family of Nigeria, all tucked away in secret offshore territories, have been uncovered.
Bukola Saraki
But the President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, failed to declare them to the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) as required by Nigerian laws.
Mr. Saraki is yet to respond to PREMIUM TIMES’ request for comments. His spokesperson, Yusuph Olayinonu, did not return calls or respond to a text message seeking comments.
But in a written response to ICIJ, the Senate President insisted, through his UK lawyers, that he “declared his assets properly in accordance with the relevant legislation,” and that the charges against him “are both unfounded and politically motivated.”
Last September the CCB slammed false asset declaration charges on Mr. Saraki, accusing the Senate President, among other things, of failure to declare his assets in full.
Under the code of conduct law, a public office holder is required to declare his own assets, those of his wife as well as assets in the names of his children below the age of 18.
In his declaration form, Mr. Saraki listed property owned by his wife, Toyin Saraki, to include a plot of land at Lekki valued at N5 million, which he said was a gift he received in January 1989.
Mrs. Saraki was also listed as owner of a property at 15 Bryanston Square, London W1 and 69 Bourne Street, London.
While the first, which rental income was put at £48,000 with a value of £900,000, was acquired in January 1989, the second, which value was put at £2m and had rental value of £150,000, was acquired for business in April 2000.
However, a fresh investigation by PREMIUM TIMES and its media partners, has uncovered a hidden London property in the name of Toyin Saraki but which was left out among the assets declared by the Senate President.
The hidden property is located at #8 Whuttaker Street, Belgravia, London SW1W 8JQ. It has title number NGL802235.
Similarly, the Senate President stated in his assets declaration form that his wife held an account in Eco Bank Broad Street, Lagos, where she had N1.5 million at the time he became governor in 2003.
She also maintained an account in Coutts & Co Strand, London, where she owned £450,000 and $125,000 in addition to $3 million in Northern Trust International Banking Corporation Merrill Lynch Pierce Fenner.
Mrs. Saraki was also listed as maintaining substantial shares in European and American Trading Company, Tyberry Corporation and Eficaz Limited just as she held 500,000 shares, valued at £500,000, at P.C.C (U.K) Ltd. He was however silent on the number of shares the former first lady had in Haussmann and Tiny Tee (Nig) Limited.
Elaborate as the declaration in the name of Mrs. Saraki appeared to be, PREMIUM TIMES can authoritatively report that apart from the undeclared London property, three additional overseas assets in the name of the wife of the Senate President were hidden from the authorities and are missing from the assets declaration form.
Our investigations reveal that Mrs. Saraki owns secret companies in some notorious tax havens.
The hidden assets
The first, Girol Properties Ltd, was registered on August 25, 2004 (a year after Mrs. Saraki’s husband became governor of Nigeria’s north-central state of Kwara) in the British Virgin Island (BVI).
Company documents show that Mrs. Saraki owns 25,000 numbers of shares with a par value of US$ 1,00 each, and was appointed the first and only director of the company.
It however remains unclear what businesses Mrs Saraki transacted with the company. Mrs Saraki however, in a letter to ICIJ, through her lawyers, denies ever owning any shareholding in Girol Properties.
The second company, Sandon Development Limited, was registered in Seychelles Island on January 12, 2011 and has Mrs. Saraki and one Babatunde Morakinyo, (a long-term personal aide and friend of Mr. Saraki) of 11 Okeme Street, Lagos, as shareholders.
While incorporating that company, documents show, Mrs. Saraki bought a curious service from Mossack Fonseca & Co, the Panamanian firm that helped her to register the firm.
Perhaps to avoid being identified as the beneficial owner of Sandon, the Senate President’s wife asked Fonsecca to provide nominee directors for the company. Nominee directors are sometimes used in tax havens to conceal real owners of companies and assets.
She then made an undertaking indemnifying the Panamanian company “in respect of all claims, demands, actions, suits, proceedings, costs and expenses whatsoever as may be incurred or become payable by you in respect of or arising out of any member or employee or associate of your company or associated companies holding any office, directorship or shareholdings in the company or by reason of or in consequence of any act or decision made by any such person or company in connection with the management and/or administration of the said company.”
Shortly after the company was incorporated, Mrs. Saraki used it, in July 2011, to buy the property on Whuttaker Street, Belgravia, London SW1W 8JQ.
The property, acquired from Renocon Property Limited, a company registered in the British Virgin Island, was never disclosed to Nigerian authorities as required by the country’s code of conduct law.
The third hidden company in the name of Mrs. Saraki is Landfield International Developments Ltd., a company registered in the British Virgin Islands on April 8, 2014. It’s registration number is 1819394 while its registered office is 1 Akara Blog., 24 De Castro Street, Wickhams Cay 1, Road Town, Tortola, British Virgin Island.
According to Mossack Fonseca, the registered agent of the company, Mrs. Saraki, at least until January 27, 2015, was sole shareholder and beneficial owner of the company which had two nominee directors – Glaisd Alie Limited and NewGombe Limited – both appointed on September 2, 2014. Its agent says Landfield is authorized to issue a maximum of 50,000 no par value shares.
“In so far as is evidenced by the documents filed at the Registered Office, the Company is in existence and, in good standing,” Mossack Fonseca recently said of Landfield in response to an enquiry by one Laura Templeman, a Senior Associate for Ogier Group, a law firm based in the British Virgins Island. “According to the documents filed on the Company’s file as at 27th January, 2015, there are no actions, pending or threatened against the Company and no action has been taken to wind up the Company or to appoint a receiver or manager.”
Mrs. Saraki said she sold her shares in the company to a third party in January 2015, but PREMIUM TIMES is yet to sight any document to that effect.
In July 28, 2015, Mrs Toyin Saraki, who was the first lady of Kwara State between 2003 and 2011, was interrogated by Nigeria’s anti-graft agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), in relation to awards of contracts during her husband’s tenure as governor.
The EFCC has not taken further actions since her interrogation, and nothing has been heard of the case since then.
A troubled husband
Mrs Saraki’s husband, Bukola, who is Nigeria’s third most powerful official by virtue of his position as Senate President, is facing a 13-count charge of alleged false declaration of assets.
He is being tried by the Code of Conduct Tribunal, a special court that tries public officers for any contravention of the Code of Conduct for Nigerian public officers as spelt out in the Fifth Schedule of the Nigerian constitution.
The Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) and the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) were established to enforce “a high standard of morality in the conduct of government business, and to ensure that the actions and behaviour of public officers conform to the highest standards of public morality and accountability.”
The Code of Conduct Bureau had on September 16, 2015 slammed charges on Mr. Saraki, accusing him of offences ranging from anticipatory declaration of assets, to making false declaration of assets in forms he filed before the Bureau while he was governor of Kwara state.
The Senate President was also accused of failing to declare some of his assets, acquiring assets beyond his legitimate earnings, and operating foreign accounts while being a public officer – governor and senator.
The offences, the charge said, violated sections of the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, as amended.
Mr. Saraki is also said to have breached Section 2 of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act and punishable under paragraph 9 of the said Fifth Schedule of the Constitution.
The Senate President has denied wrongdoings, saying the case was politically motivated and that he was merely being persecuted for emerging the President of the Nigerian Senate against the wishes of his political party, the ruling All Progressives Congress, which preferred a different candidate.
But this fresh revelation regarding hidden assets in tax havens might fuel the allegations against Nigeria’s third most powerful official and strengthen the prosecution’s case against the politician.
The Saraki family and ownership of offshore companies
Apart from Toyin Saraki, another member of the Saraki family popped up repeatedly as PREMIUM TIMES and its partners conducted a year-long investigation into the leaked Mossack Fonseca internal documents, which contained 2.6 TB files, involved 214,488 entities, and revealed hundreds of details about how former gun-runners, contractors and other members of the spy world use offshore companies for personal and private gain.
Laolu Saraki, brother to Senate President Saraki, also has several footprints in offshore financial havens, documents show. A number of shell companies are connected to the younger Saraki.
He is sole shareholder in some of the companies while sharing ownership with some business partners in others.
For example, documents show that Laolu is the owner of Polly Capital Holdings Ltd registered in Niue, a small island nation in the South Pacific Ocean.
Another document showed that after some years, Laolu brought in another person as co-owner. The company is now co-owned with a certain Richard Pembroke, who has 25,000 equity shares, just like Laolu.
Laolu’s other offshore companies are co-owned with his associates. Among the co-owners are Kojo Annan, son of former UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan; Obi Asika; Olufela Ibidapo who are all known figures in Nigeria.
Laolu and Kojo Annan hold equal shares of 25,000 in Blue Diamond Holding Management Corp. The duo, along with Mr. Asika, also own Sutton Energy Limited, registered in the British Virgin Island.
Mr. Asika owns 15,000 units of shares, the same amount owned by Laolu Saraki and Kojo Annan. Mr. Asika was a Senior Special Assistant to former President Goodluck Jonathan, and is closely connected to the Sutton Group.
Mr. Asika’s profile on the website of the Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON), of which he is Board member, refers to him as Founding Partner & Executive Director, Sutton Group from June 1999 to October 2002.
The connection between Mr. Annan and Mr. Asika seems clear, as Mr. Annan sits on the Board of Mr. Asika’s another company,Dragon Africa. Additional documents show that the trio – Laolu, Kojo and Asika – also co-own Sapphire Holding Ltd., a company located in Samoa, a tiny Island of an estimated 194,320 people in the South Pacific.
Company documents also indicate that Ensol Limited (Environmental Solutions), registered in the Republic of Seychelles, with registration number 028376, partly belongs to Laolu.
The company is co-owned with Ama Annan, a relative of Kofi Annan (former UN Secretary General), who was appointed director on May 19, 2006 but ceased to be director on July 2, 2008.
Another Nigerian, Olufela Ibidapo, was then appointed to replace her on January 4, 2010.
Mr. Ibidapo is the current Head of Corporate Affairs at Heritage Bank, a successor bank to the defunct Societe Generale Bank of Nigeria, largely owned by the Saraki family but whose operational license was revoked by the Central Bank of Nigeria in January 2006 following the re-capitalisation policy in the banking sector.
The bank however returned with a new name (Heritage Bank) in 2012 following the order of the Federal High Court, compelling the central bank to restore its operational permit after it declared that it had amassed the required capital base to return to business.
It however remains unclear why the Saraki’s incorporated the offshore companies linked to them or what businesses they transacted with the entities.
While that may not be the case with the Sarakis, some business people in Nigeria and elsewhere are known to have created Shell companies offshore for a host of dodgy business reasons, which include hiding assets, avoiding tax or as fronts for illegal deals. Shell companies are however not entirely illegal, and not all owners use them for dubious purposes.
We have done nothing wrong – the Sarakis
Mr. Saraki and his wife denied any wrongdoing.
Responding to separate written demands for comments, the couple maintained that it is not illegal to hold shares in offshore companies.
In a letter to ICIJ by the London-based law firm of Discreet Law, Mr. Saraki said he declared his assets properly in accordance with the relevant Nigerian legislation.
Mrs. Saraki, in a separate letter to the ICIJ through another London-based law firm, Harbottle & Lewis, also insisted that she “made all required disclosures in relation to her shareholdings.”
In their separate letters, the couple threatened to sue should the ICIJ and its partners proceed to publish information about the undeclared offshore assets, with Mrs Saraki saying any publication concerning her private financial information infringes on her privacy and breaches the Data Protection Act 1998.
Will Fitzigibbon (International Consortium of Investigative Journalists), contributed reporting to this story.
There are fresh indications that the Peoples Democratic Party members in the upper chamber have perfected strategies to produce a successor to Senator Bukola Saraki as Senate President if he is removed as a result of his trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal.
Bukola Saraki
But the All Progressives Congress senators have vowed to resist any attempt by their PDP colleagues to take over the red chamber from them.
Our correspondent learnt that the PDP senators met for several hours on Monday night to take a final decision on the issue.
It was not clear whether the current Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, would be allowed to take over the top Senate seat.
A source at the meeting claimed that some people were of the opinion that Ekweremadu should resign alongside Saraki as a sacrifice while an APC senator from the North-Central would emerge as the deputy.
Confirming the development to journalists on Wednesday, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Peter Nwaboshi, said the PDP would produce the next Senate President.
He said, “Should the incumbent, Senator Abubakar Bukola Saraki, is forced to vacate the office, we have perfected necessary arrangements to take over the upper chamber.”
He said the PDP was ready to replicate the current system in the United States of America, where the Republicans are in charge of the parliament, while the Democrats are in control of the executive.
He said, “Well, I wish the APC the best of luck if they are on a wild goose chase. But I want you to mark what I am saying. I was the first to address the press in Port Harcourt and I told them that Saraki was going to win the Senate Presidency and I gave them my reasons.
“Then, nobody ever thought that Saraki was going to win. People were saying that APC had decided. But it was clear to me that he was going to win and I had to address the press. Eventually, we went there, he won. If, but God forbids, because we don’t see it coming, by chance, Saraki is removed, I can tell you that the PDP will produce the next Senate President.”
Speaking on how the PDP intends to get the support of other lawmakers to produce the next Senate President, Nwaoboshi said, “We only need three and we have them.”
He added, “The calculation is very clear to me; the calculation is very clear to the PDP. When I told them that Saraki was going to win, I did a lot of mathematical calculations based on the facts on the ground and it is even clearer to me now that the PDP will win it.
“If anybody is thinking that a PDP man is going to vote against a PDP candidate, he is telling you a lie. We have people and we know how to get the people from the APC. We will win and that will be very interesting. What is happening in America is going to happen in Nigeria. America has a Republican Senate but the executive is led by Democrats.
“In any case, my party, the PDP, we have resolved in our meeting to support him (Saraki). So, there is no basis for him to resign.”
However, senators, elected on the platform of the APC, are not taking the plot of their PDP colleagues lightly as they held a meeting last week in the house of a former Sokoto State Governor, Senator Aliyu Wammako, in Abuja.
Although the meeting was initially said to have been called with a motive to get all Senators of the APC to unite behind Saraki, it was later learnt that senators at the meeting were more concerned about the embarrassment disunity was causing the ruling party in the Senate.
According to sources close to the meeting, the lawmakers wanted a situation in which the interests of government would be promoted at all times in the Senate.
The meeting was said to have resolved to work in the interest of the party to ensure that the opposition party never had its way on any matter.
But the APC was sharply divided in the Senate along the lines of those supporting the Senate President and those against him.
The unity forum senators had worked against Saraki after he emerged the Senate President in a controversial election but the like-minded senators were on his side.
Spokesperson for the SUF, Senator Kabir Marafa, confirmed that the two factions of the APC in the Senate met last week to close ranks and resist any attempt by the PDP to call the shots in the red chamber.
He said, “We sat for four days last week, brainstormed, agreed and at the end of the day, we came out with a three-point agenda. We felt if they are agreed upon, the APC caucus in the National Assembly can become one.
“Number one issue is the illegality of our committees. We said we must constitute the committees in tune with the Standing Orders of the Senate. Number two is that the APC members, especially the Unity Forum elements, who are marginalised in the formation of the committees, should be accommodated.
“Number three is the issue of leadership and how it affects our party.
“President Muhammadu Buhari talked about party supremacy and how we must obey. These are the three issues that were deliberated upon.
“Number one item in the list was agreed upon. We agreed that we will amend the rules to accommodate all committees of the Senate. Number two on the agenda was also agreed upon; that is the issue of committees, with a view to giving our party members what they deserve.
“We have a government in place and we are senators elected with that government. We are under the same canopy. We have a moral duty to support our government, President and our party.”
The Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, says he has lost count of the records of charges of false asset declaration instituted against him before the Code of Conduct Tribunal.
Bukola Saraki
He also said facts about the charges were no longer fresh in his memory because they bordered on offences which he was accused of committing between five to 14 years ago.
Saraki stated this in an affidavit, which he personally deposed to in support of his fresh application seeking the quashing of the charges against him at the CCT and discharging him of the alleged offences.
“The facts relating to these matters are no longer fresh in my memory quite apart from the fact that I have lost many of my records pertaining to them,” he stated in the affidavit.
Saraki’s fresh application, which was dated and filed on March 4, 2016, seeks to halt his trial that had been validated by the Supreme Court through its judgement delivered on February 5, 2016.
He was arraigned on 13 counts of false asset declaration before the CCT on September 22, 2015.
A seven-man panel of the Supreme Court, led by the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Mahmud Mohammed, had in its judgement, dismissed Saraki’s objection to his trial.
The apex court, in the said judgement, affirmed the competence of the 13 counts filed against him and the jurisdiction of the tribunal to hear the case.
In the charges instituted by the Federal Government, Saraki was accused of making false asset declaration in his forms submitted to the Code of Conduct Bureau on assuming office and leaving during his two terms as Governor of Kwara State between 2003 and 2011.
The Senate President, who was said to have submitted four asset declaration forms, allegedly “corruptly acquired many properties while in office as Governor of Kwara State, but failed to declare some of them in the said forms earlier filled and submitted.”
He also allegedly made an anticipatory declaration of assets upon his assumption of office as governor, which he later acquired.
Saraki was also accused of sending money abroad for the purchase of property in London and maintaining an account outside Nigeria while serving as governor.
But in his fresh application, Saraki said the charges were not in the interest of justice, but politically motivated and filed in violation of due process as well as his right to fair hearing.
He also stated that the charges could not be valid since they were filed in the name of the Attorney-General of the Federation.
He said he was denied fair hearing as neither the CCB nor the Attorney-General of the Federation confronted him with any infraction in the four assets declaration forms.
He said he declared his assets first on assuming office as Governor of Kwara State in 2003 and on completing his term in 2011.
He said he subsequently made another asset declaration and submitted the form to the CCB upon his reelection in 2007 and on ending his second term in 2011.
He said had he been informed of any inconsistencies in his asset declaration forms, he would have corrected them.
He said, “I am not aware of any petitions challenging my declarations, and the bureau (CCB) has never drawn my attention to any. I would promptly have corrected or explained (the reason for) any alleged discrepancies or inconsistencies in my asset declaration had my attention been drawn to them.”
His prayers in the application include, “An order quashing and/or striking out the charges contained in Charge No: CCT/ABJ/01/2015 by the complainant/respondent against the applicant.
“An order pursuant to Paragraph 1 above, discharging the defendant/applicant herein.”
Saraki’s new lead counsel, Mr. Kanu Agabi (SAN), who led five other Senior Advocates of Nigeria and about 60 other lawyers in the Senate President’s legal team on Friday, is also challenging the jurisdiction of the tribunal to entertain the case against his client.
Saraki’s trial, scheduled to commence on Thursday, following the judgement of the Supreme Court validating it, was stalled on Friday.
The trial was stalled after Agabi introduced his client’s fresh application and insisted that it must be heard before the matter could continue.
But the lead prosecuting counsel, Mr. Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), described the motion as “a deliberate attempt to stop the trial from going on.”
“The defendant keeps saying that there is no case against him and that he is being persecuted; why doesn’t he let the trial start so that the whole world can see the persecution?” Jacobs asked.
The prosecutor, who said he had not been served with the motion, insisted that by virtue of the judgement of the Supreme Court delivered on February 5, which validated the trial, the day’s business was for the prosecution to open its case.
Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, succeeded in stopping his trial on charges of false assets declaration before the Code of Conduct Tribunal from taking off on Friday.
Bukola Saraki
The trial was scheduled to commence on Friday, but Saraki’s new lead counsel, Chief Kanu Agabi (SAN), informed the Danladi Umar-led tribunal that he had filed a motion which he said must be heard before trial could commence.
But the lead prosecuting counsel, Mr. Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), described the motion as “a deliberate attempt to stop the trial from going on”.
“The defendant keeps saying that there is no case against him and that he is being persecuted. Why doesn’t he let the trial start so that the whole world can see the persecution?” Jacobs asked.
The prosecutor, who said he had not been served with the motion, insisted that by virtue of the judgment of the Supreme Court delivered on February 5 which validated the trial, the day’s business was for the prosecution to open its case.
He added that by virtue of section 396 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015, even if the motion was heard, ruling on it could only be delivered along with the judgment in the case.
But Agabi, who apologised for the erroneous service of his motion on the Federal Ministry of Justice instead of the prosecution, said since his motion was challenging the jurisdiction of the tribunal, it must be heard before going into the substantive case.
Jacobs later accepted service of the motion in open court and the tribunal chairman resolved that the two parties should exchange other processes in relation to the motion before March 18.
The tribunal fixed March 18 for the hearing of the motion, adding that ruling on it would be deferred and trial would commence on the same day.
Saraki, was accompanied to the Friday’s proceedings by about 40 senators.
Some of the prominent senators who were at the tribunal included, Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, Stella Oduah, Danjuma Goje, Samuel Anyanwu, Tayo Alasoadura, Ben Bruce, Shehu Sani, Hope Uzodima and Dino Melaye.
Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, on Friday described his trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal as an act of persecution rather than a fight against corruption, saying he would not resign from his position because of it.
Saraki said this while delivering the keynote address at the StateCraft Masterclass series held during the Social Media Week in Lagos.
Bukola Saraki
The Senate President is standing trial for a 13-count corruption charge including an allegation that he made false declaration of assets on assumption of office as Governor of Kwara State in 2003.
Saraki, according to a statement by his Special Assistant on New Media, Mr. Bankole Omishore, however, said his trial was the handiwork of powerful people who were not happy with his emergence as Senate President.
He said, “We are public servants and you must fill your asset declaration form when you get in office and I did mine 13 years ago.
“The charges have nothing to do with corruption or money being stolen anywhere. I will have my day in court to prove my innocence of the charge pending against me because it is not about corruption.
“I don’t understand how the same organisation that cleared my asset declaration to be proper in 2004, 2009 and 2011 can now say that my record is faulted.”
He, however, did not mention the names of the persons said to be persecuting him.
Saraki also emphasised the growing influence of social media users in Nigeria’s political environment.
The Senate President encouraged the audience to continue to contribute to the development of Nigeria through their dialogue and debate on social media.
He said, “Without the involvement of social media, there is no way that we would have moved (away) from a non-performing government because now everything is out in the open unlike years ago.”
Saraki commended the online community, which he described as the real ‘Chairmen of INEC,’ for sourcing election results from polling stations during the general elections and ensuring that the manipulation of vote counts.
He said, “It is really thanks to social media that votes counted because you shared the results as they happened.”
The Frivolous Petitions Bill, sponsored by the Deputy Senate Leader, Bala Ibn Na’Allah, passed second reading on the floor of both chambers of the National Assembly in December last year while the Senate had fixed March this year for the public hearing.
The Senate President also at the event announced that the National Assembly would be more open in its accounts.
Saraki called for continued cooperation and conversation between the government and the public via the social media, and noted that the recent National Assembly Interactive session with Civil Society Organisations was a huge success.
Leaders of the All Progressives Congress met at the Aso Villa, Abuja, to decide on the party’s national convention.
Bola Tinubu
A reliable source told one of our correspondents that the meeting also centred on how to fill vacant positions in the APC’s National Working Committee.
A source said that the National Leader of the APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, and Senate President Bukola Saraki, among other leaders were present at the meeting.
The source said that some positions in the NWC such as the National Vice-Chairman (North-East) and National Publicity Secretary had become vacant due to political appointments.
While the party’s former National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, was appointed as the Minister of Information and Culture, the National Vice-Chairman (North-East), Babachir Lawal, was appointed the Secretary to the Government of the Federation by President Muhammadu Buhari.
The source said, “The meeting was strictly a party affair. Some positions in the NWC had been left vacant since the appointments of Lai Mohammed and Babachir Lawal. The positions they occupied have been zoned to the North-Central and North-East respectively.”
The question of who would emerge as the Chairman of the APC’s Board of Trustees was also said to have been discussed at the meeting.
Another source said, “The main issues were the vacant party positions. Members expressed the desire to fill the positions. This is to be achieved by also preparing for the convention of the party where these positions will be sorted out.”
A source in the Senate said that the meeting was for the members of the newly constituted APC caucus.
The source, a senator, said that 19 people were invited to the parley.
According to him, the Senate, the House of Representatives, the Presidency and the party leaders were represented at the meeting.
