Saraki: From Outcast to Beautiful Bride
After months of persecution, it is good to see Senate President Bukola Saraki become the toast of his party, the All Progressives Congress, writes Tope Ajayi
When Bukola Saraki’s trial opened at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) early this year, we all thought we were watching the premature end of an outstanding political career. If anyone had predicted back then that one year after, Saraki would still be addressed as the Senate President, no one would have believed. As court after court dismissed his attempts to stop his trial at the tribunal, it looked certain that Saraki’s political days were numbered.
As if that was not enough, he would soon be charged with another case of forgery, alongside his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu. With this second trial added, almost everyone was now convinced that those powerful forces that Saraki claimed were out to get him were not leaving anything to chances. The forgery trial appeared like a plan B.
At the beginning of the CCT trial, Saraki claimed that his trial was political; that he was being persecuted for daring to emerge as the Senate President against the wish of certain individuals in the leadership of his ruling political party, the APC. His chief attorney, Kanu Agabi SAN, put it more dramatically.
He said what happened was like a group of boys were engaged in a street fight and after one of them had wrestled the others to the ground, those that were defeated then decided to go to court. He urged the tribunal not to join in the political brawl.
Perhaps, not everyone agreed with Saraki back then. However, it is highly unlikely that anyone would still be left in doubt. The case at the tribunal continues. But the last time it came up in November, it was adjourned till January 2017.
Perhaps, more astonishing was that the Tribunal Chairman who had acted as if he had a personal grudge against Saraki, the same man who had insisted, against all appeals by Saraki’s lawyers, that the trial must proceed on a daily basis, was now the one giving this rather long adjournment, even without anyone asking.
Something, certainly, was beginning to turn. Meanwhile, even before then, the federal govern- ment had also withdrawn the forgery charges against the Senate President and his deputy. It is noteworthy that one of the party leaders that promptly issued a statement hailing government’s decision to drop the charges was Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the man whom most people saw as the unseen hands behind Saraki’s tribulation.
In the last two weeks, we have seen the Senate President come in and out of the presidential villa several times. Even State House Correspondents began to wonder what was happening. After all, this was the same man that was not even invited for the traditional break of fast with the President during the last Ramadan.
Many have wondered what to ascribe the growing romance between the Presidency and the erstwhile estranged Senate President to. The immediate speculation was that it has to do with the USD 29.9billion loan that the president needed the Senate approval for.
Saraki himself had denied that his rather frequent visit to the Villa of late had anything to do with the loan. This is most likely to be true, given that President Buhari is not particularly inclined to lobbying for anything.
Whatever it was, this growing rapprochement points to one thing: an increasing realisation within the presidential circles that the executive arm of government needs the legislature to function effectively in a democracy.
This can therefore only be a positive development for our democracy, especially at this very challenging time. We all witnessed how the 2016 Budget nearly became a victim to the frosty relationship between the executive and the legislature, with all the dire consequences for the economy.
However, regardless of the policy engagements that might be going on, politics would appear to be the driving fuel of the relationship. It is no longer secret that the political marriage between President Buhari and Asiwaju Tinubu is now at the ‘separation’ stage. It may not get to the level of outright divorce as yet.
But like the celebrity husband, the Presidency had felt the need to deny on several occasions that there was any problem; even when it was glaring that the union is merely being held together by fear of public opinion because neither of the party is ready to say why the marriage collapsed.
In this context, therefore, it would be downright politically stupid, if not suicidal for the presidency to allow Asiwaju to make up with Saraki and form what would certainly be a formidable force. For a presidency still struggling to find its feet, it is unlikely that Buhari and his team would be able to withstand the onslaught that these two men working together could summon.
The smart move therefore was for the Presidency to get to Saraki first. And they did. What happened next? Saraki was in Ondo, engineering the APC victory alongside President Buhari. In the end, Ondo was won. And by a cruel irony of fate, it was Asiwaju that is now facing charges of disrespect for the party and even outright anti-party actions.