Presidency washes hands off Saraki’s travails

…His whereabouts unknown – Police
…This is dangerous for Nigeria, says Balarabe Musa

The Presidency on Sunday said attempts to link the ongoing trial of the Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki, to the Presidency were unacceptable. It thereby washes its hands off the Senate President’s travails.
It also described as ‘uninformed’, views being expressed in some quarters that the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) and the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) could only act upon external instigation.
On its part, the Nigeria Police has denied reports that it has concluded plans to arrest Senator Saraki, as ordered by the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), sitting in Abuja, late last week, saying it has not received any Arrest Warrant to carry out the order.
The police also declared that it did not know the whereabouts of the Senate President as the time of filling this report.
A statement issued in Abuja by Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, it said there was no place in law that the Bureau and the tribunal should take instructions from any quarters.
Shehu said as an independent institution, equal to any superior court of record, the tribunal was set up by the constitution to determine the issue of default, false declaration or forgery in assets declaration.
Accordingly, he argued that the ongoing trial of the Senate President “is purely a judicial process and has nothing to do with the presidency.”
The statement stated further that If anyone had issues with what the CCB and the CCT were doing, they should approach the courts to challenge the action of the two institutions.
“Government has no desire to persecute anybody. The President has vowed to respect the rule of law and this is what he is doing by staying out of this matter.
“He has said times without number that the war against corruption has no sacred cows. Even if the President wants to help, there is no way he can do anything.
“Is he going to ask the judge to stop the trial? It is purely a judicial process, the type of which are routinely dealt with by the CCB and the CCT.
“There are many cases like this that are going on. The President has sworn to an oath to protect the constitution and will not violate that oath,” Shehu asserted in the statement.
In a telephone chat with spokesperson of the Nigeria Police, Acting Assistant Commissioner of Police, Olabisi Kolawole, she maintained that there was not plan to arrest Senator Saraki as the force was yet to receive the necessary document to carry out the order. Her words, “We have not yet received his warrant of arrest. When we have this we shall know what to do next.”
She also denied knowledge of his whereabouts following reports that the Senate President already relocated from his personal residence. “We are not aware of his whereabouts even,” she told the Daily Times.
Also speaking on the current political impasse in the ruling All Progressives Congress over the Saraki affair, a former Governor of Old Kaduna State and frontline politician, Alhaji Balarabe Musa, described the Saraki saga as “unfortunate and dangerous for the country.”
Said he, “All I can say for now is that the events unfolding regarding Saraki is unfortunate. Definitely it is now good for the country. It shows that there is internal fighting within the APC which is not good for the country,” he said.