A former Senate President, Bukola Saraki, has said various courts have cleared him of all corruption allegations levelled against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Mr Saraki, who spoke through his spokesperson, Yusuph Olaniyonu, said it was therefore unfair to include him among cases that were either not conclusively investigated or where the outcome of the probe was not taken to courts.
He said this in a letter, in reaction to a Newspaper report (Not WITHIN NIGERIA), which listed him among former governors whose cases of alleged corruption had been forgotten by the EFCC.
Mr Saraki, a former governor of Kwara State for two terms, and his successor, Abdulfatah Ahmed, were on the list collated in the report of past governors whom EFCC have interrogated or detained for interrogations over corruption allegations.
The letter by his spokesperson denying his inclusion on the list is titled, ‘Saraki Did Not Benefit from Lack of Diligent Prosecution of Cases’.
Olaniyonu maintained that the courts had cleared him of all five cases, including forfeiture proceedings, filed against him by the EFCC.
He said the cases were relitigated by the EFCC in a desperate bid by then Acting Chairman of the commission, Ibrahim Magu, to persecute him.
Although his most recent arrest by the EFCC was under the incumbent chairman of the commission, Abdulrasheed Bawa, Mr Saraki said his investigations and the various cases filed against him were ordered by Mr Magu in retaliation for the 8th Senate’s refusal to confirm him as the substantive chairman of the anti-graft agency.
”We will like to state clearly that if there are such cases, Dr. Saraki’s sure does not fall into this category. The EFCC went after Dr. Saraki with all the instruments at its disposal. The commission filed several cases that were determined by the courts and Dr. Saraki won in all the cases. For example, the aspect of the story concerning Dr. Saraki was based on a malicious and mischievous investigation instituted by the former boss of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Ibrahim Magu just as Dr. Saraki was rounding off his tenure as Senate President.
”In an unprecedented manner and also suggestive of a selective measure, EFCC under Magu stated that it was probing the accounts of the National Assembly in 2019. The commission in that endeavour forgot that the Clerk of the National Assembly, not the President of the Senate, is the accounting officer of the federal legislature,” Mr Saraki’s letter partly read.
He noted that EFCC under Mr Magu relitigated cases against him in vendetta, adding that the relitigated cases “formed the crux of the 18-count charges that the EFCC in conjunction with the Code of Conduct Bureau filed against Saraki at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), Court of Appeal, and the Supreme Court.”
It said Mr Saraki came out victorious in all the cases.
“The EFCC under Magu also filed cases of forfeiture against Dr. Saraki’s properties located in Ikoyi at two different Lagos High Courts. Again, the EFCC lost in both cases.
“Thus, after the EFCC pursued cases against Saraki in five different courts and got negative judgments, it will be unfair to include Saraki’s name among the cases that were either not conclusively investigated or where the outcome of the probe was not taken to courts.
“The ex-EFCC chairman did all in his powers to get Saraki convicted but the court found no merit in all the cases,” the letter read.
Mr Saraki described the investigation by the EFCC under the leadership of Mr Magu as a witch-hunt.
“Mr. Magu, obviously still smarting from the refusal of the Senate to confirm his appointment as the chairman of the anti-corruption agency as required by law and following the recommendation of the Directorate of State Services (DSS) initiated the probe to settle scores.
“The DSS had found him unsuitable for the position of anti-graft czar. Based on the recommendation and his poor performance during the screening done during a session covered live on national TV, Magu was not confirmed as EFCC chairman.
“He then took the position of the Senate as a sin solely committed by Saraki. In response, he did everything, including the abuse of the powers of the EFCC chairman, to wage a war of vendetta, blackmail, and mischief against Saraki. He wanted to nail Saraki at all cost,” the letter stated.
It added that Mr Saraki “was not just investigated, he was harassed, hounded, persecuted, and prosecuted.”
It would be recalled that the 8th Senate led by Mr Saraki rejected the nomination of Magu twice based on a security report by the State Security Services (SSS).
But in response, the former EFCC boss had said the ”ongoing investigation” against the former President of the Senate, was not personal.
Recall, in December 2019, the EFCC had secured a temporary forfeiture of the two houses at Plots 10 and 11 Abdulkadir Road, GRA, Ilorin, Kwara State on the ground that the houses were acquired with proceeds of unlawful activities allegedly perpetrated by Mr Saraki while he was Kwara State Governor.
However, attempts by the EFCC to convert the interim forfeiture order to permanent order were resisted by the former Senate President. Ruling in his favour, the judge, Riliwan Aikawa of the Federal High Court in Lagos discharged the temporary forfeiture order.
The judge said there was no sufficient basis for the EFCC application for final forfeiture of the properties on the contention that the said properties were acquired on proceeds of crime were mere suspicion.
The judge stated that the evidence placed before the court was to the effect that the property was substantially financed with money paid to Mr Saraki as a former governor, in line with the Kwara State Governor and Deputy Governor Payment of Pension Law.
The judge subsequently rejected EFCC’s request for the final forfeiture of the property and revoked the interim forfeiture order that had been granted in its favor on 2 December, 2019.