Timi Frank to Buhari, EFCC: Leave Saraki alone

A political activist and former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Timi Frank, has condemned in strong terms, a renewed effort by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to embarrass and ridicule the President of the Senate, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, through a frivolous probe.

Frank in a statement in Abuja described the move by EFCC to again comb the books of the Kwara State Government as pertains the tenure of Saraki as Governor as well as his tenure as Chairman of the National Assembly, as another round of evidence shopping by the anti-graft body to enable it commence another circus trial against the President of the Senate – “which will again collapse like a park of cards at the end of the day.”

Frank wondered what the EFCC is up to at this time against Saraki and called on Nigerians to be alarmed as to why the agency continues to single out the President of the Senate – among former Governors and present political office holders – for needless investigation and trial, “if not to cook up evidence to again drag him before the courts on frivolous charges with a view to liquidate him at all cost now that his tenure as President of the Senate is about to end.” Frank said: “Granted that no man is above the law and Saraki has never claimed to be a saint, suffice to say that the repeated criminal investigation and trial of his person by Buhari and EFCC show that they want to make him kiss the dust through foul means. “Come to think of it, Saraki is not the only former Governor in Nigeria. He is not the first person to be President of the Senate. How many ex-governors and Presidents of the Senate has Buhari and the EFCC dedicatedly probed or tried in the last four years like they have done to Saraki?

“Why is Buhari and the EFCC shy of investigating the former Governor of Edo State who is now the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Adams Oshiomhole? “To think that the EFCC has not lifted a finger against the APC’s boss notwithstanding the litany of petitions against him calls the sincerity of an administration that claims to be all out against corruption to question. “What about former governors Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Rauf Aregbesola, Rotimi Amaechi and Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje of Kano State, known to have a plethora of corruption allegations against them? “Only recently, allegations of corruption to the tune of $2.5billion was made against the Central Bank of Nigerian (CBN) and there are also reports of massive corruption activities ongoing at the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) under its present leadership.

“Yet the EFCC would rather engage in shadow boxing by instituting a fresh probe against Saraki just to justify its continuous spending of tax payers money in needless probes, in furtherance of a highly selective and dubious anti-graft war, being waged by the Buhari regime against top opposition elements in the country.”   Frank expressed optimism that Saraki will emerge unscathed from the renewed onslaught of Buhari and the EFCC as he prepares to exit his tenure and called on Nigerians and the international community to note the vendetta and hate-filled attempt by Buhari and the EFCC to hang a just citizen. “In view of the renewed onslaught against Saraki following a recommissioned investigation of his days as Governor of Kwara State, and his present position as President of the Senate, I call on Nigerians and the International community not only to witness but to hold Buhari and the EFCC responsible should any harm befall Saraki in the coming days,” he said. He insisted that Buhari and the EFCC are not fighting corruption but rather engaging in targeted persecution of Saraki for political reasons.