They want me out because "I resisted Muslim/Muslim ticket": Saraki

Bukola Saraki, has revealed that heis pres­ently standing trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), over alleged false assets decla­ration mainly because he op­posed the ruling All Progres­sives Congress’ (APC) move to field a Muslim/Muslim ticket in the 2015 presidential election.The Senate President made the claim in an article he wrote in reaction to an opinion article by thepublisher of Ovation Magazine, Mr.Dele Momodu, on the matter.In his rebuttal, Saraki de­bunked allegations that he in­curred the wrath of the APC following a deal he struck with the opposition Peoples Demo­cratic Party (PDP) tocling the senate presidency.Saraki did not provide details of theplans by the APC to field his claimed Muslim/Muslim ticket, butspeculations were rife that the APCnational lead­er, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinu­bu, had schemed to bethe run­ning mate of then presidential candidate, General Muham­madu Buhari, which would have presented Nigerians with a Muslim/Muslim ticket.Said Saraki: “My dear broth­er, mostpeople talk about the Senate Presidency position, but this was not my only of­fence. I have also been accused of helping to frustrate some people’s opportunity to emerge as PresidentMuhammadu Bu­hari’s running mate. But I have no problem with anybody. My concern was that it would not be politically smart of usto 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 a Muslim party.“I felt we were no longer in 1993. Perhaps, more than ever before, Nigerians are more sen­sitive to issues of religious bal­ancing.“This, my brother, was my original sin. What they say to themselves, among other things, was that if he could conspire against our ambition, then he must not realize his own ambition as well”.The Senate President who said he had no regrets for hold­ing the position, insisting he felt it was best for Nigeria, also revealed how he emerged the Senate President against the wishes and preferred candi­date of his party, saying that he never struck any deal with the PDP. He blamed the APC for the turnout of events.“I feel the need to make some clarifications on some of the is­sues you raised. One of them was that in seeking to be Senate President, I struck a deal with the PDP and made it possible for one of them to be the Dep­uty Senate President. I know this is the dominant narrative out there, but it is far from the truth.“I did not do any deal with the PDP.I did not have to be­cause even before the PDP Senators as a group took the decision to support my candi­dature on the eve of the inaugu­ration of the 8th Senate, 22 PDP Senators had already written aletter supporting me. “What I did not envisage was a situation wheresome members of my party would not be in the cham­bers that day, especially when the Clerk had already received a proclamation from the Presi­dent authorizing the inaugura­tion of the Senate.“Pray, if a team refused to turn up for a scheduled match and was consequently walked over, would itbe fair to blame the team that turned up and claimed victory? I believe those that made it possiblefor PDP to claim the DSP position were those who decided to hold a meeting with APC senators elsewhere at the time they ought tobe in the chambers.“What the PDP Senators did was totake advantage of their numerical strength at the mate­rial time. They simply lined up behind Senator Ike Ekwerema­du, while those of us from APC voted for Senator Ali Ndume.“It was a game of numbers, and wewere hopelessly out­numbered. If the PDP had nominated their own candidate for the Senate Presidency posi­tion that day, they would have won. It was as simple as that,” he stressed.Saraki equally shed light on the genesis of his face-off with former President Goodluck Jonathan and explained that it all started when he blew the lid on the N2.3trn fuel subsidy racket.According to him, he became a marked man after he exposed the shady fuel subsidy deal on the floor of the senate chamber.“My real problems with Presi­dent Goodluck Jonathan? I have had a touchy relationship with him, but the turning point was in September, 2011, when I moved a motion on the floor of the Senate that exposed the N2.3 trillion fuel subsidy racket.“I remain proud that I was the Senator that blew the lid on the most elaborate corruption scheme ever in this country.“But after that, I became a marked man. My security was withdrawn. I was invited and re-invited by the EFCC and the Special Fraud Unit (SFU). I was even declared wanted at a point. I believe I am still one of the most investigated former gover­nors in this country.“I have no doubt that if the Jonathan government was able to find anything against me, they would not have allowed me to go unpunished,” he added.Saraki, who said he did not expect to be persecuted by a party he helped to attain vic­tory, metaphorically noted: “on trial with me are our entire anti-corruption institutions and our avowed commitment to honest­ly fight corruption. On trial with me is our party’s promise to de­part from the ways of the past, a promise that Nigerians voted for. And I dare say,on trial with me is our media; and their ethi­cal commitment to report fairly and objectively.”Meanwhile, the Economic and Financial Crimes Com­mission (EFCC), has concluded plans to next week, invite Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, former Minister of Aviation; Chief Olu Falae, the National Chairman of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), and some other persons over alleged illegal receipt of funds belonging to the federal government, during the lastpresidential campaign.Competent sources informed our reporters that the EFCC was said to have,Thursday re­visited investigations into the funding of the 2015 presidential campaign of former President Jonathan.According to sources in the anti-graft agency, with the ar­rest ofNenadi Usman, for­mer Finance Director of the Goodluck Jonathan Campaign Organisation, the agency may have reopened investigations into the funding of ex-presi­dent Jonathan’s campaigns.It was learnt that with the reopening of investigations as many people as were listed in the investigation, would be in­vited to state their roles in the campaign.While Fani-Kayode, who was Jonathan’s Presiden­tial campaign organisation’s spokesman during the last election, was alleged to have received N840m, Falae re­ceived N100m through a com­pany, Marreco Limited, where he is chairman. The former Secretary to the Government of theFederation (SGF) is not denying this fact, but said it was not for the purpose EFCC alluded.The EFCC, it was learnt, would alsoinvite ex-political adviser to Jonathan and for­mer National Publicity Secre­tary of PDP, Prof. Rufai Ahmed Alkali, who was the Coordina­tor of the Goodluck Support Group (GSG), for allegedly col­lecting N320m from former Na­tional Security Adviser (NSA), Dasuki Sambo.Chief Falae who reacted to the planned invitation, said he had never been invited by the EFCC or any anti-graft commission, adding that his company had never been probed by the anti-graft commission.