Rejoinder: Is Bukola Saraki an Emergent Statesman? By Bamikole Banks Mrsoso Omishore Today, the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the whole world is focused on the hunt our 276 missing daughters. In the past week, the eyes of the world have been focused on our country and its contradictions: we held the World Economic Forum in Abuja, at the same time that we have been protesting the government’s seeming-inaction since the abduction our daughters by the Boko Haram. So far nearly six hundred people have been abducted, or killed in less than a month within our borders, and yet whilst this is occurring and the world is making frantic efforts at tackling the scourge of Boko Haram, there are those within our media space whose minds are too lazy for serious investigative journalism but prefer to spend their time in malicious allegations and rumors. Let it be clear: like every other politician and community leader, Bukola Saraki has shown that he is determined to do whatever is in his power to support the federal government, as well as work with national and international partners to tackle the snowballing scourge of terrorism wherever it occurs both within and outside our borders. Senator Saraki recently wrote a piece in the Guardian (UK) where he enumerated two key elements Nigeria would require in the circumstances to deal with the insurgence we are witnessing; leadership from the federal government and co-operation across all political and religious divides. In that piece he urged that we should work closely with international partners to fight this scourge. It my belief that Saraki’s views have not changed. More than likely, they have become more firm as Nigerians are massacred and our children are kidnapped. This is why regardless of the point the writer was struggling and twisting his tongue to put across (unconvincingly by the way), it is very disappointing that at this time when all concerned Nigerians are being urged to put aside politics and politicking and focus on bringing back our girls, some elements in our society still feel that it is appropriate to further pedal the caliber of rumours and political mudslinging over Saraki’s efforts at saving lives and saving our country, a trajectory to continue to reflect badly on our national and international reputation. This should not be the time and the moment. Let me put the story straight and counter those spurious allegations for record purposes and erase any doubts so we can all get back to the job at hand of finding our daughters and defeating the forces of destabilization. Firstly, the writer insinuated that the Senator’s gesture of donating blood to the victims of the April 14th Nyanya bomb blast was a “show off”. A mind bearing this notion in the mist of the carnage, death and destruction we witnessed in the Nyanya blast would need to be examined. Is the writer trying to suggest that the distinguished senator would risk the loss of over 1 litre of his blood and the possibility of contracting disease from blood donation just to “show off”? “Show off” what exactly? It is unthinkable and unimaginable in the 21st Century that any writer would pick up his pen and systematically condemn an altruistic gesture to donate blood for those that need it at a critical time of their lives as a “show off”. The writer may well be informed that the senator being a doctor himself knew the benefit of this gesture and encourage all his aides and like minded Nigerians to join him to donate their blood because the more blood the better. The idea of being photographed as all others were photographed was to show to others who are unconvinced to join the bus to donate more blood and a lot of people where touched and convinced and came by to donate their own blood. The writer had insinuated that over 20 senators, House members and leadership of the National Assembly came and donated their blood and did not make a show of it. Again, this flies on the face of the matter. Without necessarily drawing anyone into this matter, we would like to get evidence of this fact from the writer. If this were to be the case, I really think that Nigeria is on the road to self-recovery then. But the fact as we have it is overwhelmingly against this reckless postulation, which I daresay, is the pigment of the writer’s warped imaginations. To our dear Adamu Bello, or howsoever called, I would urge caution – always caution, in rushing to do the bidding of your patrician. You do not play with the lives of your fellow citizens who had survived a bomb blast of the magnitude witnessed in Nyanya and who are in critical conditions, needing blood to save them from impending death. It will also interest you to know that the Coordinator of the Centre had commended Senator Saraki and the Speaker of the House of Representatives as they where the the first legislators to have donated blood – aside the other dignitaries (who are currently not in government) that also visited the center. Both Saraki and the Honourable Speaker did call and encourage other Nigerians to lend a helping hand. It’s baffling that the writer will single out Saraki for condemnation and indignation for his daring to be compassionate and share with Nigerians in their moments of grief and despair. Was Saraki the only Nigerian that visited, donated blood and picked up by the media? Both he and the speaker released statements in the media urging citizens to come out to donate blood – so why pick on one and not the other? This clearly demonstrates the parochial interest the writer has over the senator’s issue. It clearly shows that this attempt to malign him is personal and subjective. Besides, it will be good to know if this same writer has ever given his own blood before to save the life of a Nigerian. I dare say your guess is as good as mine. The writer, had in furtherance of his agenda to deride the person of Senator Saraki, and paint him in a bad light amongst his peers in the Senate said that the Senator had been “criticizing the budget passed on the floor of the Senate”. This is hogwash journalism - the worst of its kind. If the writer needs education, Sen. Bukola Saraki’ comment on the budget passed by the Senate is in order as legislators all the world have the right to address their constituents on their stand on issues of public interest. The essence of legislative deliberation is not for everyone to speak with ONE VOICE. In fact a legislator’s greatest responsibility is to uphold the interest of his constituency and the country as a whole. In doing so, he is to apply his judgment to the moment and agree or disagree – but in the end, the majority must carry the day. This is a principal tenet of legislative practice. Which the Senator practices fully – as he is not one of those you would expect to be an “O-yes-member”. Senator Saraki would never lose his voice of reason on the fear of being seen as a dissenting voice. Everyone who is a fortunate to be acquainted with the distinguished Senator’s legislative activities – whether in the principal chamber or in committee sittings, can attest to his rich and in-depth contributions to the lawmaking process. Even in the United States - we have seen members of the federal legislature, who have not only disagreed with the budget, but who have gone ahead to produce and push alternative versions of the budget for consideration. A case in point is Congressman Paul Ryan. This member of the lower house of the United States legislature, in 2013 pushed to pass a separate budget other than the one sent by the president for passage. Even though Congressman Ryan’s budget did not pass, he has not stopped criticizing the federal budget. We may have an opinion on his reasons for criticizing the budget, but the point remains that his being a member of the congress did not stop him from criticizing the product of the final vote of congress. But do we even need to go that far? Whenever there is a budget being discussed in the country, economists have lent their voices to the growing call to revisit to our budgeting system and processes as it has become clear that the process needs to undergo reformation for efficiency and effectiveness-sake. Unfortunately for the writer, he had ventured to address a topic that he is soundly uneducated on - the Kwara State Budget. This is because while the distinguished senator was saddled with the affairs of the state up on till now, Kwara still holds an enviable record on budget performance and implementation. If the idea he had was to compare Kwara State’s budget of 47% capital budget expenditure, with that of the Federal Government – the logic adopted and the writer must be walking with its head upside down. If the idea was to attempt a performance evaluation based on the Federal Government’s – which has been running its budget on between 25-28% capital for 4 years in a row, then the president and his men have nowhere to hide as the difference is as conspicuous as day. For the record, Senator Bukola Saraki does not fly around in private jet paid either in part or in full by the state. The distinguished Senator has even before assuming public office been privileged enough to carter for his personal needs. The writer’s market-like rumours of the senator receiving a N100 million pension from the state is also untrue, and belongs in the mind of the writer and his fellow traducers. It does not take a close look to deconstruct the intentions of the writer. His goal is simple: to malign the senator beyond moral bounds. How else do you describe his insinuations that he has been suppressing cases against him in court? Discerning Nigerians can see through the veil – the vicious attempt to keep the man quiet through intimidations and cohesion but so far it has not worked because of his belief in the rule of law and the triumph of good over evil. Additionally, as a staunch believer in the adherence to the rule of law, Senator Saraki strongly believes that all public servants should be publicly accountable. He has and always will make himself available for public scrutiny. In fact he had earlier led the calls for public accountability – a fact that is on record. If he is a man that is tainted, as suggested by the writer, it is inconceivable within our political climate that he will be the one leading calls for the reform of the fuel subsidy management and several other investigative calls he has championed in his short stint at the National Assembly. As a former Governor of Kwara State, his administration was the first state in Nigeria to open all its accounts to public scrutiny. As a consequence of this, Kwara became the first Nigerian state to gain an incredibly prestigious Fitch credit rating. As a former Governor, he was committed to open and accountable governance, and today as aSenator he practices and advocates for the same. Further to his stand on transparency and accountability, in 2003/4, whilst still a Governor, Senator Saraki gave up his immunity to answer questions on SGBN and till date he is one of only two governors in the history of Nigeria to ever give up their immunity to allow the law to take it course . Saraki was equally given a clean bill of health in September of 2006, when Nuhu Ribadu, then Chairman of EFCC, took to the floor of the Senate while fielding some questions. He gave a clean bill to six states, of which Kwara state was one. Over the last few years Bukola Saraki has been the subject of investigations by the Special Fraud Unit (SFU). Political analysts across the country have come to the logical conclusion that Saraki is usually being invited for one question or the other whenever he raises difficult issues of national interest against the present government. An immediate reference here is the fuel subsidy scheme which eventually turned out to be beneficial to the country as billions of naira have been saved in the process. Suffice to say at this juncture that the office of the Attorney General of Federation through the office of Director of Public Prosecution in its legal recommendations to the SFU stated that , After a thorough consideration of the investigative report and the relevant laws applicable thereto, the allegations against Saraki are unfounded and manifestly unsupportable in law. Indeed at one stage, the repeated calls to the SFU attracted the attention of the the globally published Economist in October 2013 who noted that “all the signs are of a deliberate witch-hunt against Senator Dr Saraki.” This speaks for itself. Regarding accountability in Government, Saraki’s voice resounds around the precincts of the National Assembly and at all occasions where there have been calls for scrutiny. Anyone who has ever appeared in a committee where he is featured can give credence to the fact that he is a thorough interrogator and a spotless legislator. You would be proud to call him your senator, and would need no evidence to discountenance the idea of him being corrupt in his motive or interests. All such doubts will be immediately erased. Come to think of it, why would he have gone to expose fraudulent oil marketers and their colluding public officers over the fuel subsidy and vigorously push for the full and complete review of the NNPC accounts when he could have gotten a better deal by cutting a deal with this very rich and dangerous cabal? I am sure that in the mind of the writer, you are only people-minded if you carry a placard or go to a television house and lead a ‘we-no-go-gree’ campaign against the government. I am also sure that the mind of the writer is too sluggish to comprehend that one of the best ways to save the masses and the country apart from electing quality leadership to run it, is to ensure that our common wealth is closely guarded, protected, and spent according to the budget passed by the National Assembly. Such is the core premise of having a National legislature – and Senator Saraki works hard to ensure that it remains as such. The writer had tried to further suggest that Sen. Saraki is ill motivated in his call for probity, as he never criticized government when his friend Yar Adua was in office. Nothing can be further from the truth. If the writer knew his history, he would have recalled that at a time when the Yar Adua government, through the Minister of Agriculture, sought to introduce the Agriculture intervention fund through the commercial banks, he was one of the first to vehemently oppose it – despite the risk of annoying his friend the President, and the then minister of Agriculture. As to allegations of Bukola Saraki’s relationships with Kwara state, commonsense should dictate to whoever cares to know that Saraki’s motorcade whenever he comes to his state is not filled by Government cars, but rather his supporters and lovers who come out to join him. Is it logical to state that the hundreds of automobiles of Sarakis supporters belong to the state government? As I earlier outlined above, Kwara state government’s books are public documents that are open to all. I urge the writer of the article to visit the state and avail himself of these documents – as it will be easy to see that allegations of alleged corruption and expenditure against Saraki are utter nonsense. With respect to the writer’s question on whether “Bukola Saraki is an Emergent Statesman?” This popular phrase can best describe the writer: “He who knows not, and he knows that he knows not, thinking that he knows when he knows not, is a fool.” It is very easy to deduce from the article coupled with the manner in which the issues raised were selected and put together, that the writer is a journalist of the mercenary kind, and the article itself was a sponsored piece by those who feel threatened with the high profile of Bukola Saraki his beliefs. In truth, following Saraki’s actions so far – from his visit to donate blood; to his insistence that the budget can be better reformed; to his idea that resources of government are being fraudulently diverted and could be better used, and; his desire to see that we call to scrutinize government actions and insist on accountability, along with the throng of Nigerians, I will agree that Senator Saraki has earned the right to be called a distinguished statesman. If the aforementioned is the case, then what the distinguished Senator deserves is a pat on the back - not indignities and vituperation. He is not emerging he has emerged. It is understandable that Sarakis intolerance for corruption and mismanagement in our government and its numerous agencies, and his comments on other national issues - coupled with his leadership role to move people out of PDP to APC is causing a major headache to the powers that be and their cronies. One thing is clear though, Senator Saraki is unflinching and unapologetic in his belief in the principles of good governance, truth, justice and fairness. Sarakis detractors will not succeed in their attempts to malign his person and rubbish his name and that of his family. He has worked hard to build his unimpeachable credibility – and others should emulate him. In as much as I know the person of Bukola Saraki, these are serious times. Serious times call for intellectually robust debates to tackle the challenges facing our country not the tossing of unfounded allegations back and forth. Let the agents of destruction know that no matter what we face as a nation, there will be light at the end of the tunnel and Nigeria shall rise again. Saraki will not allow himself to be subjected to intimidation, harassment and unfounded and baseless allegations – but rather, he will continue to preach and pursue those issues that concern us as a nation and which he believes will serve us best. So that the generations to come, and posterity will be the judge of his actions towards our dear country.
Posted on: Wed, 14 May 2014 18:15:13 +0000