APPEAL COURT JUDGEMENT IS A PLOT TO COW SARAKI

The Court of Appeal judgement of Tuesday 12 December, 2017 that ordered the retrial of Dr. Bukola Saraki on three charges out of the eighteen preferred against him may at best be a grand plot to cow the Senate President. It would be recalled that after the initial drama and melodrama at the Code of Conduct Tribunal, the Danladi Umar led Panel eventually acquitted and discharged Saraki of all the eighteen count charges preferred against him. No sane person would have contested the powers and rationality of the federal government to have appealed the CCT judgement in view of public opprobrium that greeted outcome of the case.

But, it is rather coincidentally worrisome that ruling of the Court of Appeal Panel led by Justice Tinuade Akomolafe-Wilson had upheld  charges 4, 5 and 6 only a day after the Senate President congratulated Prince Uche Secondus on his victory as the new National Chairman of the PDP. Although the Appeal Court Panel deserves commendation for vindicating Dr. Saraki in fifteen out of the eighteen wrong charges brought against him. The Panel's dismissal of fifteen charges is also an indication of the unfair and unjust persecution rather than prosecution of the Senate President all along. It is a general belief that the weak and unfounded charges preferred against Dr. Bukola Saraki were as a result of his firm resolve to have stood his ground by contesting the Senate presidency election which he eventually won. We need not deceive ourselves that there would never have been any charge against Saraki in any CCT or any other court if he had not gone ahead to test his popularity amongst his colleagues at the upper legislative chamber; contrary to the position on his political party, the APC.

From all intents and purposes, the latest recommendation of the Appeal Court Panel is nothing but a fall out of permutations for 2019 presidential election. It is an  obvious fact that the APC led federal government has indeed been rattled by the defection of Alhaji Abubakar Atiku to the PDP. Also, going by the roles played by Alhaji Atiku in the emergence of Dr. Saraki as the Senate President, the presidency is prepared to deploy all instruments of coercion to prevent the senate president from yielding to the appeal of his benefactor to join him in the PDP.

Aside the support given to Dr. Bukola Saraki by Alhaji Atiku which contributed to his emergence as the Senate president, the duo have been enjoying years of robust relationship as allies since their political paths had crossed in the PDP. It must also be noted that the emergence of Dr. Saraki as the Senate President was partly actualized by the support of PDP senators in the upper legislative chamber. All of these  coupled with the appeal made by Alhaji Atiku to Dr. Saraki and all other that had dumped the PDP to join him in the party have simply precipitated the the fresh order of retrial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal.

The calculation is that the retrial order of Dr. Saraki will serve as a sufficient coercive force and legal encumbrance to prevent him from even thinking of joining forces with Alhaji Atiku or any of his old allies in the PDP. The game plan is also to use the retrial order as a big legal stick to railroad the Senate President to a compulsive operations at the whimsical caprices of the APC led federal government.

Inasmuch as the anti-corruption war of President Buhari is very much welcome majority of Nigerians, but it should not be a preemptive instrument of coercion targeted at silencing opposition and dissenting opinions. Nigerians will truly appreciate a comprehensive and blind anti-corruption war that will not recognize any friend or foe. The good intention of combating hydra headed corruption will be roundly defeated the moment the war is reduced to settling political scores.

The recommended retrial of Dr. Bukola Saraki at the Code of Conduct Tribunal is notwithstanding a good development for the Senate President. The retrial has in a way presented Saraki with another opportunity to prove his innocence and detach his name from the toga of corruption in the court of public opinion. It will only be appreciated if the retrial is conducted without any political motive so that at the end justice would be seen by Nigerians to have been done in good conscience.