Senate President Bukola Saraki: calls for resignation dismissed

The Senate on Monday dismissed as baseless, the call for the resignation of its President, Bukola Saraki, by some senators.

This is contained in a statement signed by Chairman, Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Sen. Aliyu Sabi, and made available to the media in Abuja.

The statement was a reaction to an alleged meeting held in Abuja on Sunday by some senators sequel to Friday’s Supreme Court ruling on Saraki’s assets declaration case at the Code of Conduct Tribunal.

The court said that the president of the senate had a case to answer over the alleged false declaration of assets against him and that the tribunal had jurisdiction to handle the matter.

According to the statement, there is no basis for the call on Saraki to resign since the case against him is yet to be decided.

“ We therefore reiterate our support for Sen. Bukola Saraki as the President of the Senate. We stand by him as he goes through the trial at the CCT where we believe he will be able to prove his innocence.

“We also call on members of the public to ignore the ranting of few senators, who having failed to get the wish of their sponsors done, are now launching media campaign against the leadership of the senate.  We want members of the public to know that the senate under Saraki has achieved stability in the legislative institution and we do not need any negative distraction at this point,’’ it said.

It said that the senate would not be distracted from carrying out its legislative duties, adding that the important issue before the upper chamber was the consideration and timely passage of the 2016 budget.

While calling on Nigerians to support the senate in its legislative duties, the statement said that the legislature would not make further statement on the CCT case until it was decided in the final judicial forum.

It decried the 13-count charge against Saraki at the tribunal, saying that it was a case of political vendetta.

“We hereby resolve that from the beginning of the trial last September, we have declared that this case is not about any fight against corruption; it is simply a case of political vendetta.

“ Our position remains the same; we still believe that the case is politically motivated.

“ Since the fundamental principle in our legal system is that a defendant is deemed innocent until proven guilty, we have decided to patiently observe the proceedings until the case runs its full circle,’’ the senate stated.