FG to Saraki, Ike Ekweremadu, resign or face your trial

FG to Saraki, Ike Ekweremadu, resign or face your trial.

The Federal Government has hit

back at the
Senate President Bukola Saraki and his deputy,
Ike Ekweremadu, over statements they made last
Tuesday after they were arraigned for allegedly
forging the Standing Rules of the upper
legislative chamber. The government said it

 would be better for Saraki and Ekweremadu to

 either honourably resign or face the judicial process.

The Secretary to the Government of the

Federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal, said statements
issued by both Senate leaders targeting the
government and President Muhammadu Buhari
as an individual as if the executive arm was the
initiator of the forgery case against them was not acceptable.

 Lawal who also signed a statement yesterday
said the separate comments by “the two leaders
of the Senate also gave this erroneous
impression that by their arraignment, it is the
entire Senate and indeed, the legislative arm of
government that is on trial. 

They want the public to believe that their prosecution

 is in utter  disregard by the executive arm of government
for the constitutional provisions of separation of
powers and that preferring the forgery case
against them is a vendetta exercise.

” He said the two separate statements conveyed
‘‘messages that are far from being
complementary to the person and government
of President Muhammadu Buhari.’’ 

‘‘Senator Saraki in his statement clearly
insinuated that Mr. President is not in control of
his administration and that a cabal now runs the
federal administration.

 ‘‘On the part of Senator Ekweremadu, he insists
that President Buhari is exhibiting dictatorial
tendencies that can derail our democracy.”

 Although he said the case is in court and the
judicial process must be allowed to take its
course, Lawal absolved the executive arm of
government of blame, saying: “It is important to
emphasize that this case involves only the four
accused persons and should not be presented

 to the unsuspecting public as involving the entire
Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. 

“The complaint leading to the forgery
investigation was reported to the police by some
aggrieved senators who specifically accused
certain persons. It is not the Senate of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria that is involved and definitely
not the House of Representatives. 

‘‘To bring the National Assembly as a body into
this court case is totally unwarranted. It can only
be for other purposes and reasons outside the
investigation and legal proceedings.” 

He explained further that it was a case of alleged
forgery, which cannot be preferred against an
institution but on individual.

 Citing the case of former Speaker Salisu Buhari,
who forged a certificate showing that he
graduated from a Toronto University, Lawal said:
“What he did was to resign, honourably.

The matter did not even go to court. In that particular
case, it was never orchestrated as a matter for

 the National Assembly. The individual involved did
not drag the entire legislature into the matter.”

 Lawal contended that the two statements by the
Senate chiefs were indeed contradictory as Saraki
believes the President has abdicated his powers,
allowing a cabal to be in charge of federal
administration, while Ekweremadu said Buhari
has become a dictator.

Lawal added: “Our democracy is still evolving and
being deepened. The provisions of the
separation of powers are entrenched in our
Constitution and should guide everyone in our
conduct. The rule of law is indeed supreme. This
particular case is before the judiciary and is not

 being decided by the executive arm of
government.

 “All that has transpired is still within the confines
of our laws. These are the rights to accuse, to be
investigated and be arraigned before the court.
To impute other considerations to the process is
unfortunate. We should allow the process to take
its course, in consonance with the dictates of the

 law and total obeisance to the cardinal
democratic principle of the separation of
powers.”