nPDP meeting with Osinbajo not about my CCT trial – Saraki

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi

The Senate President, Abubakar Bukola Saraki, denied that the recent meeting between the new Peoples Democratic Party (nPDP) bloc in the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, was about the discontinuation of his trial for corruption in the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT).
In a statement issued by the Special Adviser on Media, Yusuph Olaniyonu, Saraki said ordinarily he would have ignored the story as he has done in the cases of other speculative ones concerning the on-going discussions between the new People’s Democratic Party (nPDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led Federal Government published by the newspaper.
He said he chose to respond to the allegation because since the story specifically mentioned an issue concerning him and the newspaper is associated both in ownership and viewpoint with a section of the APC leadership, it may be perceived to have some level of authenticity.
According to him, “The trial of Saraki over asset declaration issues which is now before both the Supreme Court and the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) was never part of the discussions over the grievances of the nPDP leaders and all those who attended the meeting with Vice President Yemi Osinbajo can attest to this. The issues being discussed between the nPDP and the APC leaderships are beyond personal matters.
“Saraki will want it known that he is not interested in any settlement of the asset declaration case outside the judicial process. He is confident that the court will give him justice and he will be exonerated of all charges as can be seen by the verdicts of the CCT and the Court of Appeal. In fact, he maintains his earlier position that the trial was politically and maliciously motivated”.
It said the Senate President’s only concern is that all interested parties should allow the judiciary to freely and fairly decide on the issues before it, adding that Saraki believes in the rule of law, independence of the judiciary and ability of the court to adjudicate on all matters.
It added that the Senate President has consistently exhibited a strong belief that nobody should compromise national interest with personal issues, pointing out that this has guided his actions, conduct and utterances in the performance of his official duties in the last three years, despite the persistent persecution and intimidation directed at him.
While urging Nigerians to ignore the speculations contained in the story, he maintained that there is no reason for him to depart from his avowed principle that the nation is greater than any individual, including himself.