The Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership (CACOL) has described the acquittal of the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki in the 18 charges of non-declaration of assets brought against him by the Federal Government as a big indictment on the anti-corruption drive.
In its ruling on Wednesday, the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) held that the Senate President had no case to answer in the charges, stating that the formulation of the charges was predicated on the testimony of the third prosecution witness and Chief Investigation Officer at the CCB, Mr Samuel Madujemu.
CACOL, in a statement by its media coordinator, Wale Salami, said it finds the ruling “very disturbing as it smacks off compromise on the side of the Federal Government”.
“We view the judgment as a political one achieved by the so-called anticorruption-focused APC-led Federal Government for the purpose of settling its intra-party wrangling and discontent. The ruling is a big indictment on the government’s anti-corruption drive given that Saraki’s case had been of the most prominent and most vigorously pursued one out of the several corruption cases being prosecuted by the FG.
“We had suspected all along that Saraki’s corruption cases were probably going to be sacrificed on the altar of political necessity given the unnecessary manoeuvres and intrigues that have characterised the trail right from the outset,” the agency added.
They alleged that the judgement validated the fact that “the present government is corruption-compliant holistically; a situation where the Executive, Legislature and the Judiciary arms are disappointing deeply involved with the exception of President Muhammudu Buhari whose commitment to anti-corruption war has for long been beyond reasonable doubts”.
CACOL further expressed concern that: “The Judiciary that is supposed to be the last hope of masses is the most disappointing given the speed with which it has been discharging and acquitting suspected corruption criminals, particularly its members and others.
“At this rate, it appears no publicly exposed persons will ever get convicted regardless of the incriminating charges against them, as long they hire high profile lawyers who will in turn help in navigating through the turf of judicial trails using the lacunae in the justice system to evade justice.”
They called on Nigerians to take their destinies in their hands to eliminate corruption and salvage the country.
Source: Channels News
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