The Federal Government has started
searching for more facts that can further prove the involvement of the
Senate President, Bukola Saraki, and his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu, in the
alleged forgery of Senate Standing Rules, 2015.
Saturday PUNCH learnt on Friday that
the Police Special Investigation Panel had written the Clerk of the
National Assembly, Mohammed Sani-Omolori, to demand for the records of
the proceedings where the Senate rules were amended.
Following the realisation that the
evidence against the men was not enough to secure their conviction in
court, the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice,
Abubakar Malami, had directed the Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim
Idris, to dig further and get more evidence against the two senators.
Apart from Saraki and Ekweremadu, others
facing trial over their alleged involvement in the forgery of the
senate rules, include the former Clerk of the National Assembly, Alhaji
Salisu Maikasuwa, and his deputy, Mr. Benedict Efeturi.
The trial judge on June 27, 2016, admitted the defendants to bail and adjourned the matter for trial.
The accused persons pleaded not guilty to the charges preferred against them.
Saturday PUNCH learnt on Friday that the
IGP had directed the SIP handling the investigation to get more
evidence that could sustain the conviction of the accused persons for
forgery.
It was learnt that the panel, led by
Ali Amodu, a retired Assistant Inspector-General of Police, wrote a
letter to the National Assembly Clerk in August, 2016 and demanded the
record of proceedings of the last Senate.
The police also requested the clerk to
clarify if the 7th Senate at any time amended the Senate Standing Orders
2011 and the extent of the amendment, if any.
Sources stated that the panel also
requested for copies of the Senate Standing Orders, 2015, as well as the
Hansard (official record of debates) of June 9 and 24, 2015 to know
what transpired on the floor of the Senate.
It was learnt that the panel, had in its letter, asked that the information should be dispatched before September 7.
A source, who was familiar with the
investigation, said that the clerk had yet to respond to the request,
prompting the SIP to send a reminder about two weeks ago.
The source said, “The SIP was expecting
the clerk to send the copies of the senate standing rules, 2011 and
2015 to know if there was an amendment and the extent of such amendment.
The police also demanded the record of the last proceeding of the 7th
senate, but up till now, the clerk has not responded.
“The SIP has again sent a reminder to
the clerk to fast-track its request. All these records are needed by the
police to carry out a thorough probe into the case and ensure that the
probe is rested once and for all.”
Efforts made to get the Clerk to the
National Assembly proved abortive as calls to his telephone did not go
through. He also did not reply a text message sent to him as of the time
of filing this report on Friday evening.
In June, when the case was first filed
in court before Saraki and other co-accused persons were arraigned, the
Federal Government had deposed to an affidavit, attesting that
investigations into the matter had been concluded.
In the charge sheet dated June 10, 2016
and signed by D.E Kaswe Esq., Principal State Counsel on behalf of the
AGF, which was supported by an Affidavit of Completion of Investigation
deposed to at the Federal High Court Registry, Abuja, on the same date
by Okara Neji Jonah, a litigation officer in the Federal Ministry of
Justice, Abuja, attested that the police had concluded its
investigations.
Saturday PUNCH learnt that the police
failed to carry out a thorough investigation into the forgery case
because the leadership of the Force was in a hurry to conclude the probe
to please the Presidency.
The inconclusive investigation was carried out by detectives from the Force Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department.
Renewed investigation abuse of judicial process—Saraki
Saraki, in his reaction, described the
renewal of the investigation as an abuse of judicial process when the
prosecutor had already dragged the suspects to court.
The Special Adviser to the Senate
President on Media and Publicity, Yusuph Olaniyonu, told one of our
correspondents on Friday that only Saraki’s lawyers would continue to
speak for him on the matter.
He said, “I would have preferred that
our lawyers speak on the matter; they would have been able to spell out
the legal implication of going to court, swearing to an affidavit that
the investigation had been concluded, which is the fulcrum of taking the
matter to court. To now say there will be a fresh investigation is like
leaving the case in court, while looking for an evidence to justify
your position. That will be a clear abuse of court process, just like
our lawyers submitted on Wednesday. It is a clear case of abuse of court
process.”
Ekweremadu, who spoke through his Special Adviser on Media, Mr. Uche Anichukwu, said his lawyers would speak on the matter.
He referred our correspondent to a
statement by the Civil Liberties Organisation, which, according to him,
strongly criticised how court processes were being abused in the forgery
case.
The Special Adviser to the
Attorney-General of the Federation on Media and Publicity, Mr. Salisu
Isah, could not be reached through his telephone on Friday as repeated
calls made to the telephone line indicated that it was not available.
It’s all drama—Afenifere
But the National Publicity Secretary of the Yoruba socio-political group, Yinka Odumakin, described the suit as a drama.
He stated, “I think it is all drama and
we have better things to face. We have had enough of these shows. Our
anti-corruption war has yet to secure one conviction in 16 months now
and I don’t think Saraki would be the first causality.
“What we want to see is concrete actions to halt the dangerous slide that we are in as a country.”
On his part, the Executive Director of a
faction of the Civil Liberties Organisation, Ohabuenyi Ezike, described
the issue as a rude shock.
According to him, the reopening of
investigation by the AGF and IGP appears to corroborate “the position of
the Senate that the names of the accused persons were politically
generated as names of the Senate President, Dr. Olusola Saraki, and
Senator Ike Ekweremadu could not in any way be related to the Proof of
Evidence.”
The President of the Nigeria Voters’ Assembly, Mashood Erubami, said that the matter should be thoroughly investigated.
Erubami stated that sweeping the matter
under the carpet would not conform with the spirit of the moment. This
is the time that the President should send a strong signal to the world
that he and his government believe in the fight against anything
unethical.
“It is a pity that the police have been
reluctant to let Nigerians know what their findings are on the alleged
forgery case and nobody is sure of whose doorsteps the guilt over the
matter is to be laid.
“It is not enough to make an allegation
against a person; what is important is being able to prove the case
against the person to secure conviction.”
0 comments:
Post a Comment