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| Senator Bukola Saraki |
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.
Media
report continues:
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 reporters 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 a leading
investigative Nigerian publication, PREMIUM TIMES, 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 civilized 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.”
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