The drama that unfolded last Tuesday when Senate President, Bukola Saraki, was docked at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) in Abuja over alleged falsification of assets declaration in 2003 while he was Kwara Sate governor was an unmistakable act of judicial imbecility and a national embarrassment that is disgraceful and totally condemnable. The macabre spectacle of a sitting President of the Nigerian Senate inside a wooden cage labeled “accused box” in front of the world’s media, facing cross-examination like a petty criminal was cheap publicity informed by sheer public relations and all level headed Nigerians ought to feel a sense of shame and outrage by such contrived humiliation of a man who incarnates state authority and state institutions. The needless show of shame was senseless, unimaginable, unacceptable and devoid of any perfunctory exaggeration. The kangaroo process was a mockery to Nigeria and all her pretences to being a democracy. Little surprise the embarrassing photos went viral on the internet. The CCT should spare the nation further embarrassment.
Saraki’s appearance at the tribunal came after he failed to get the courts to stop his prosecution by the CCT, which had issued a warrant for his arrest. Aside the fact that the Code of Conduct Bureau; (CCB) which brought the charges failed to follow due process before the matter was taken to the CCT, this blight on the toga of Nigeria’s floundering democracy is indeed lamentable, signposting as it does; the institutionalization of the abusive use of state power for political score-settling that has become the official currency of governance of the Buhari administration. This is not what Nigerians voted for.
Saraki pleaded not guilty and was allowed home on bail without any condition. The prosecution led by Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), allege Saraki filed four different asset declarations; the first in 2003, the second in 2007, third also in 2007 with the fourth in 2011 after he left office as governor. Jacobs also claimed Saraki made anticipatory assets declaration, and failed to declare other assets acquired while he was governor. He also alleged Saraki operated two foreign accounts in Britain, while governor, and made huge deposits in foreign currencies into the accounts via Guarantee Trust Bank (GTB). The prosecution plans to tender the four declarations as exhibits and will call five witnesses to testify against Saraki.
Justice Danladi Yakubu Umar adjourned the case till October 21, but announced that the tribunal will hear all the motions filed by Saraki challenging the tribunal’s jurisdiction before going into the main issue. “It is in the interest of justice that we will hear all the motions in one way or the other before going into the main case,” Justice Umar said. The question then becomes: was it really necessary to subject the Senate President; and by extrapolation, the Legislative arm of government to such humiliation? It certainly is incongruous and unacceptable for Saraki to be put in the dock, only for Justice Umar in unapologetic, somewhat languid statements of regret and self-vindication to grant the same relief Saraki had sought in motions that were rejected by the courts.
Without availing itself of due process, the effrontery and brazen rancor with which the CCT publicly humiliated Saraki, is all the more sickening because it was nothing other than a remotely controlled vendetta against Saraki for defying his party to contest and win election as Senate President. The fact that 15 other Senators led by Saraki’s Deputy, Ike Ekweremadu, were at the tribunal in solidarity with Saraki, indicate that this is just the beginning of a protracted legal fracas. The headache that this issue has unleashed on the relationship between the executive and the legislative arms of government is indeed lamentable. The lamentation of an expectant public is understandably loud and deafening.
Not only did it shred Saraki’s reputation and impugned his integrity; it brought opprobrium upon the high office of President of the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, which he occupies, and by extrapolation, the entire nation, thereby aggravating the national shame. Viewed along other incidents such as the DSS siege and humiliation of former NSA, Sambo Dasuki; the recent search of Akwa Ibom government house by DSS operatives; the EFCC harassment of Saraki’s wife, amongst others; this is a grievous embarrassment taking on a pattern. This indeed is sad. After over a decade of democratic experiment, there should be no more room for such disgraceful conduct.
The unacceptable spectacle of Saraki in the dock approximates the insidious political intolerance that has come to define Nigerian democracy. To the extent that the case is over power and ego, the fact that Bola Tinubu will stop at nothing to get Saraki out of the Senate presidency has pushed to the foreground the self-seeking motives of APC leaders over and above the interest of the country at large and forecloses the yearnings of Nigerians for the change they voted for. The Presidency and the APC have denied any involvement in the travails of Saraki, but whether or not Buhari or his party is behind the gale of harassment and utilization of desperate tactics to emasculate political opponents, what cannot be denied is that these things are happening under Buhari’s watch, and he cannot pretend not to know.
Beyond the embarrassment to the nation is the weighty censure that the country suffers before the international community. A public humiliation of the President of the Nigerian Senate by the criminal justice system would be read as judicial barbarism taken too far; there has to be a better way. Indeed, the conduct of the CCT has lowered the nation’s prestige in the comity of nations. And the admiration of Nigeria’s democracy which nudged towards a higher level of respectability by virtue of the last election seen as largely credible has been dented.
Most important, the hostility of the APC leadership towards Saraki puts a question mark on the role of party supremacy in a democracy. It raises fundamental questions over the leadership recruitment process which is not only faulty, but denies the very best in the country the opportunity to serve their fatherland while simultaneously entrenching mediocrity in the scheme of things. The consequence of this prevalent political phenomenon is that the country loses all opportunities for greatness.
The point must be emphasized that the anti-corruption war is to get justice not vengeance. So, Saraki as a Nigerian citizen is entitled to due process. Guilty or not; the jury is out already whether due process was respected in this case. The question now is: how will Saraki’s removal as Senate president provide the dividends of democracy and fulfil that very cardinal duty of government as outlined in Chapter II Sect. 14 (2)b of the 1999 constitution that: “the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government?” In a proper democracy, the rule of law is supreme, and it is consistent in application, no matter whose ox is gored. By their show of shame, the CCT and the ruling APC party have embarrassed themselves and betrayed the people’s trust.
