Fresh probe of Saraki is mere vendetta, Frank tells EFCC

FORMER Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Timi Frank, has reacted to a fresh move by the anti-corruption agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to probe the Senate President, Dr Abubakar Bukola Saraki.

A national newspaper, ( not Nigerian Tribune) has reported that the EFCC has written to the Kwara State Government, demanding for all details of salaries, allowances, or any other entitlement enjoyed by Dr Abubakar Bukola Saraki, the President of the Senate, during his tenure as Governor of Kwara State between 2003 and 2011.

Frank in a statement in Abuja on Wednesday dismissed the move by the anti-corruption agency as another orchestrated plot to witch hunt the Senate President and noted that it would be another circus trial “which will again collapse like a pack of cards at the end of the day.”

He wondered why the agency continues to single out the President of the Senate among former Governors and present political office holders, for needless investigation and trial, “if not to cook up evidence to again drag him before the courts on frivolous charges with a view to liquidate him at all cost now that his tenure as President of the Senate is about to end.”

He said: “Granted that no man is above the law and Saraki has never claimed to be a saint, suffice to say that the repeated criminal investigation and trial of his person by Buhari and EFCC show that they want to make him kiss the dust through foul means.

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“Come to think of it, Saraki is not the only former Governor in Nigeria. He is not the first person to be President of the Senate. How many ex-governors and Presidents of the Senate has Buhari and the EFCC dedicatedly probed or tried in the last four years as they have done to Saraki?

“Why are Buhari and the EFCC shy of investigating the former Governor of Edo State who is now the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Adams Oshiomhole?

“To think that the EFCC has not lifted a finger against the APC’s boss notwithstanding the litany of petitions against him calls the sincerity of an administration that claims to be all out against corruption to question.

“What about former governors Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Rauf Aregbesola, Rotimi Amaechi and Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje of Kano State, known to have a plethora of corruption allegations against them?

“Only recently, allegations of corruption to the tune of $2.5billion was made against the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and there are also reports of massive corruption activities ongoing at the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) under its present leadership.

“Yet the EFCC would rather engage in shadow boxing by instituting a fresh probe against Saraki just to justify its continuous spending of taxpayers money in needless probes, in furtherance of a highly selective and dubious anti-graft war, being waged by the Buhari regime against top opposition elements in the country.”

The chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) alerted the international community to note the vendetta and hate-filled attempt by Buhari and the EFCC against Senator Saraki as he prepares to exit his position as Senate President.

“In view of the renewed onslaught against Saraki following a recommissioned investigation of his days as Governor of Kwara State, and his present position as President of the Senate, I call on Nigerians and the International community not only to witness but to hold Buhari and the EFCC responsible should any harm befall Saraki in the coming days.”

He insisted that Buhari and the EFCC were not fighting corruption but rather engaging in targeted persecution of Saraki for political reasons.