MAIN MENUAlleged forgery: Resign, SGF advises Saraki, Ekweremadu
As the controversy surrounding the alleged forgery of
the senate standing order by Senate President Bukola
Saraki and his deputy Ike Ekweremadu lingers on, the
Secretary to the Government of the Federation, David
Babachir Lawal, in a statement he signed and released
yesterday June 29th, asked the principal officers of
the Senate to resign their positions or go and face
trial peacefully.
Babachir likened Saraki and Ekweremadu's trial to that
of a former Speaker of the House of Reps who
resigned from office after he was found guilty of
certificate forgery. Part of his statement reads;
“Since the arraignment of the President of the
Senate, Senator Bukola Saraki and, his deputy,
Senator Ike Ekweremadu, before the Federal
High Court on Monday, June 27, 2016, the two
leaders of the Senate have issued two separate
press statements conveying messages that are
far from being complementary to the person
and government of President Muhammadu
Buhari.
Senator Saraki, in his statement, clearly
insinuated that Mr President is not in control of
his administration and that a cabal now runs
the federal administration. On the part of
Senator Ekweremadu, he insists that President
Buhari is exhibiting dictatorial tendencies that
can derail our democracy. From their
statements, the two leaders of the Senate also
gave this erroneous impression that by their
arraignment, it is the entire Senate and indeed,
the legislative arm of government that is on
trial.
They want the public to believe that their
prosecution is utter disregard by the executive
arm of government for the constitutional
provisions of separation of powers and that
preferring the forgery case against them is a
vendetta exercise. Since this case is in court,
the judiciary should be allowed to do its job.
However, it is important to emphasise that this
case involves only the four accused persons
and should not be presented to the
unsuspecting public as involving the entire
Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The
complaint leading to the forgery investigation
was reported to the police by some aggrieved
senators, who specifically accused certain
persons. It is not the Senate of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria that is involved and
definitely not the House of Representatives. To
bring the national assembly as a body into this
court case is totally unwarranted. It can only
be for other purposes and reasons outside the
investigation and legal proceedings.
A case of forgery is usually preferred against
individuals. This is not different. As was the
case with a former speaker of the House of
Representatives, who was accused of
certificate forgery, what he did was to resign,
honourably. The matter did not even go to
court. In that particular case, it was never
orchestrated as a matter for the National
Assembly. The individual involved did not drag
the entire legislature into the matter.”he said
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