The deputy National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Timi Frank, has said it is\u00a0 dangerous for the leadership of the APC to \u201cchose to sit on the fence and watch Bukola Saraki swim or sink in his trial\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI sincerely hold that the current trial of Saraki is not only underserved, but amounts to paying a good man with evil. I also want to say that the leaders of our great party have unfortunately remained quiet in the face of evil”, he said in a statement on Friday.<\/p>\n
Saraki is facing a 13-count charge of alleged false declaration of assets.<\/p>\n
On Thursday, the Code of Conduct Tribunal rejected Saraki\u2019s argument that the case against him was flawed, and ordered the trial to continue.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t believe we have forgotten that the victory of the APC during the last general elections could not have been possible without courageous strategists like Saraki who lent their political weight in favour of the APC at the risk of their own lives and personal survival,\u201d. Frank said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think we have forgotten how Saraki as a Senator in the 7th Senate brought the attention of Nigerians to the fraud perpetrated by the the last administration in the name of fuel subsidy.
\n\u201cI don\u2019t think we have forgotten so soon how Saraki led five other governors of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) into the APC \u2013 a development that successfully turned the political tide against the PDP and eventually tipped the electoral scale against them during the 2015 general elections.
\n\u201cI don\u2019t think we have forgotten how Saraki led scores of Senators to cross over to the APC on the floor of the Senate.
\n\u201cI don\u2019t think we have also forgotten what he gave of his time, personal resources and energy to ensure that the APC emerged victorious both at the National, State and Local Government level,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Frank wondered how the case of Saraki was being treated differently at the CCT, which in 2011 struck out the case against one of the national leaders of the party \u201cbecause he was not given the opportunity to deny or admit the alleged discrepancies in his asset declaration forms in line with Section 3(d) of the CCB\/CCT Act unlike 11 other ex-governors who had similar cases of irregularities whose cases were dropped by the CCB after they were invited by the agency\u201d.
\n\u201cFor the avoidance of doubt, Section 3(d) of the CCB\/CCT Act which has been so undermined by the CCT in its Thursday ruling states that the CCB shall: \u2018Receive complaints about non-compliance with or breach of this Act and where the Bureau (not the AGF or EFCC) considers it necessary to do so, refer such complaints to the Code of Conduct Tribunal established by Section 20 of this Act in accordance with the provisions of Sections 20 to 25 of this Act: provided that where the concerned makes a written admission of such breach or non-compliance, no reference to the Tribunal shall be necessary’\u201d.<\/p>\n
Frank said it was pertinent to mention that when the particular section of the Act was pleaded in the defence of one of the leaders of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria in 2011, the same chairman of the tribunal, Justice Danlandi Umar struck out the case for lack of jurisdiction to entertain the suit when he ruled that \u201c\u2026On Section 3(d), I feel compelled by the argument of the learned SAN for the accused. It is a condition precedent for referring a charge to this Tribunal that the Accused ought to have been invited to either deny or admit the allegations against him. This is missing in this case as the Complainant has no such evidence of a prior invitation. It would be proper for me at this stage to simply decline further exercise of jurisdiction having held that the co diction precedent to the instituting of charges against the Accused has not been complied with. I hereby resolve this issue in favour of the Accused\u2026\u201d
\nHe added: \u201cIt is based on the above precedent that I want to ask why Saraki\u2019s case is different? Why is the judiciary suddenly giving in to apparent blackmail from a section of the media by refusing to do their job as required by law?
\n\u201cAlready the Senate President has told the world that the trial has nothing to do with corruption but that he is being persecuted for emerging as the Senate President. To me the ominous silence of our leaders since the day he was arraigned uphill now serves to validate the claims of the Senate President that he is being persecuted.
\n\u201cOr where else in the world will the number three citizen of a country be hurled before a tribunal over alleged irregularities in his asset declaration forms 13 years ago, and the hierarchy of the ruling to which he is a bonafide member will not come out to show solidarity or defend him?
\n\u201cIf it is true that the trial of the Senate President is not borne out of genuine desire yo fight corruption but is being carried out for selfish political ends, then who is next?
\n\u201cI think the party need to be courageous enough to speak out against this unwholesome trend whose outcome will definitely not augur well for the overall development of our party and by extension the country at this hour.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The deputy National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Timi Frank, has said it is\u00a0 dangerous for the leadership of the APC to \u201cchose to sit on the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":43242,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47896","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n