By Abiola Olawale
Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike has lampooned former Nigerian Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki for joining the All Progressives Congress (APC) months to the 2015 general elections, saying he’s among the people to be blamed for the current situation in the country.
Saraki, who was a former governor of Kwara State under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), dumped the party for APC in 2014, and supported President Muhammadu Buhari in the 2015 presidential election.
However, Saraki returned to the PDP in 2018 after his relationship with APC became strained.
Speaking, Wike recounted how the former Kwara Governor and others who joined forces with APC in the 2015 Presidential election, put Nigeria in a mess.
The governor said this on Thursday at the commissioning of the Government House Clinic in Port Harcourt, the state capital.
Saraki, who is the Chairman, PDP Reconciliatory Committee, among others dignitaries, were present at the event.
In his sarcastic remarks, Wike said Saraki is now enjoying the result of the decision he made in 2015.
In his words, “I thank you for coming. I will invite you to speak to your people, even though you put your friends in power and things have not worked well. It’s good to remember history. He (Saraki) is one of the heads of those who brought these people.
“The punishment we face today, I thank God you also face it. They are pursuing you left, pursuing you right. They want to jail you. When we were talking to you people; listen, don’t rush…These people, be careful…They can never get me, I won’t go. They have their governors they talk to. I won’t go. Nigeria has made a mistake, let us correct the mistake by going where the hope is and that is the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).”
Recall that in 2015, Saraki was issued an arrest warrant by Danladi Umar, the Chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal, which made him become the first Senate President in Nigeria to be issued arrest warrant.
Saraki was later charged on a 22-count corruption and false asset declaration claims, but was however acquitted by the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) and the Supreme Court of Nigeria respectively.
Saraki has been in and out of court since he lost his re-election to the Senate in 2019.
Only on Thursday, the Federal High Court in Lagos rejected an application by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) seeking permanent forfeiture of some assets belonging to Saraki to the Federal Government.
“In 2018, the Supreme Court held that there was no evidence to support the claims of corruption leveled against me by the agency while giving its judgment in appeals filed before it challenging the judgments of the Code of Conduct Tribunal and the Court of Appeal,” the former Kwara governor had said, while reacting to the ruling.
