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
