Fresh trouble for Saraki as FG charges him, Ekweremadu, others with forgery

Fresh trouble for Senate President Bukola Saraki
is on the way with the resolve of the Federal
Government to press forgery charges against
him and his deputy, Senator Ike Ekweremadu.

The suit against the two presiding officers of the
Senate, which flow from last year’s Senate
leadership election, is coming more than a year
after police investigations into the alleged
forgery of the Senate Standing Rules 2015. The
move was, however, being interpreted in
quarters as another dimension in the quasi-
battle between the presidency and the
legislature directed at paralysing the Senate with
the simultaneous prosecution of the two
presiding officers.

Also charged with the two presiding officers are
the immediate former Clerk of the National
Assembly, Alhaji Salisu Maikasuwa and his
deputy, Mr. Bennedict Efeturi.

The police report on the issue exclusively
reported by Vanguard on July 27, 2015, had
referred the case to the Attorney General of the
Federation for further advice whether the case
should be treated as a criminal case or part of
the internal affairs of the Senate.

The case against the quartet marked CR/219/16
between the Federal Government of Nigeria
(Complainant) and Salisu Abubakar Maikasuwa,
Benedict Efeturi, Dr. Olubukola Saraki, and Ike
Ekweremadu (Defendants), has been assigned to
Justice Yusuf Haliru of the Federal High Court,
Abuja.

It was further gathered that the suit borders on a
two-count charge of “Criminal Conspiracy,
contrary to Section 97 of the Penal Code Law”
and “Forgery contrary to 362 of the Penal Code
Law,” against Ekweremadu and others.

Yesterday aides of Senator Saraki and
Ekweremadu denied formal knowledge of their
principals being under investigation even if they
claimed to have sensed the impending case
against them.

Specifically, an aide of Senator Saraki said
yesterday:

“We are aware of the new case, but he (Saraki)
has neither been invited nor questioned on the
case.”

In the affidavit attached to the case file, which
was filed on June 10, 2016, the investigative
police officer swore that the investigation into
the case had been concluded, a development
associates of the two presiding officer queried
asserting shock that the two presiding officers
were not questioned before the conclusion of
the investigation.

An invitation letter dated June 6, 2016, said to
have been written to the two men was as at
yesterday yet to be delivered, Ekweremadu, his
special adviser on media, Uche Anichukwu said
yesterday.

The case followed a petition written to the police
by Senator Suleiman Hunkuyi, APC, Kaduna
North, on behalf of the Senate Unity Forum, SUF
in which he alleged that the Senate Standing
Rule, 2015 used in the election of Senators
Saraki and Ekweremadu as presiding officers was
forged.

The petition prompted police investigations led
by Deputy Inspector General of Police, DIG
Dan‘Azumi Doma.

In the course of the investigation, the police
team quizzed several senators all of them
associates of Senator Hunkuyi and some Senate
bureaucrats, however, neither Saraki, nor
Ekweremadu were questioned on the issue.
Those questioned were Senators Suleiman
Hunkuyi, Secretary of the Senate Unity Forum
who wrote the petition to the police, Ahmad
Lawan, Abdullahi Gumel, Kabiru Marafa, Gbenga
Ashafa, Robert Boroffice and Abu Ibrahim.

Also questioned were Senator Ita Enang, who
served as chairman of the Business and Rules
Committee in the 7th and is presently special
assistant to the president, Senate, Senator
Babafemi Ojudu, who is now a Political Adviser
to the President, and Solomon Ewuga, all of
whom are members of the APC. No member of
the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP or member
of the Likemind Group associated with the
Senate President were questioned according to
the police report.

The report on the investigations obtained by
Vanguard and exclusively published on July 27
did not mention Saraki or Ekweremadu or their
offices or being among those that the police
spoke to in the course of the investigation.

Maikasuwa, who was the CNA at the time of the
election and who presided over the election, was
quoted in the report to have said that “he did not
refer to any Senate Standing Order/Rules but
used the normal procedures for the opening of a
new parliament.”

Efeturi, his deputy had said that the production
of the 2015 Standing Rules was in line with
convention, saying that the same procedure was
used in the production of the Standing Rules in
2003, 2007 and 2011.

In the suit against the quartet marked CR/219/16
between the Federal Government of Nigeria
(Complainant) and Salisu Abubakar Maikasuwa,
Benedict Efeturi, Dr. Olubukola Saraki, and Ike
Ekweremadu (Defendants), the Federal
Government charges them of “Criminal
Conspiracy, contrary to Section 97 of the Penal
Code Law” and “Forgery contrary to 362 of the
Penal Code Law.”
The two count charges read thus:

Count One reads: “That you Salisu Abubakar
Maikasuwa, Benedict Efeturi, Dr. Olubukola
Saraki and Ike Ekweremadu on or about the 9th
of June, 2015, at the National Assembly
Complex, Three Arm Zone, Abuja within the
Jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, conspired
amongst yourselves, to forge the Senate
Standing Order, 2011 (as amended) and you
thereby committed the offence of Conspiracy,
punishable under Section 97 (1) of the Penal
Code Law.

Count Two reads: “That you Salisu Abubakar
Maikasuwa, Benedict Efeturi, Dr. Olubukola
Saraki and Ike Ekweremadu on or about the 9th
of June, 2015, at the National Assembly
Complex, Three Arm Zone, Abuja within the
Jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, with
fraudulent intent forged the Senate Standing
Order 2011 (as amended) causing it to be
believed as the genuine Standing Order, 2015
and circulated same for use during the
inauguration of the 8th Senate of the National
Assembly of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,
when you knew that the said Order was not
made in compliance the procedure for
amendment of the Senate Order, you thereby
committed an offence punishable under Section
364 of the Penal Code Law”.

The fresh trouble for the Senate President is
coming against the background of his ongoing
trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal over
allegations of false declaration of assets when he
was governor of Kwara State between 2003 and
2011