Senate President Bukola Saraki is having very troubled times right now. He is being tried by the Code of Conduct Tribunal for corruption, and his name coming up in the Panama papers as someone who held a secret foriegn account when as a public official he wasn’t supposed to do so, doesn’t help matters.
Add to that the revelation by the Kwara State Government that it illegally continued to pay Saraki pension for being an ex-governor, even when he is currently a public officer in another capacity, and what you have is a whole lot of headaches. No wonder Saraki has over 80 lawyers fighting his case at the CCT.
One man who will be looking at the whole proceedings with considerable interest is former Super Eagles star, Austin Okocha, who lost his 120 million deposit to Society Generale Bank which Saraki is also accused of looting when he was Managing Director of the bank.
Saraki may be the number 3 man in the country, but he is certainly not in an enviable position right now. The amount of massive allegations piled n the head of this man are just too weighty and too numerous. Did he really do all these?
And on top of all these pressures, he is still making political calculations to thwart the attempts of his rivals to take his Senate President seat. By now the man must be wishing he had just remained in Kwara as godfather or political boss of the state governor.
It is very clear that his troubles would not have been this much if he had just remained in Kwara.
Another reason why Saraki may be wishing he had never smelt Nigeria’s number 3 seat is that with each new political humiliation in Abuja, he risks losing face in Kwara State, the political stronghold of his family.
In Kwara, the Saraki dynasty is seen as the preeminent political force that decides who gets what when and where. In fact, no person has become governor of Kwara without the support of a member of the dynasty. But many there, seeing the periodic humiliation of Bukola Saraki, may begin to think he is not invincible after all.
Only God knows the truth
In as much as I don’t trust Saraki, I don’t trust those coming up with the allegations as well because all of them are after their personal interests alone.