Saraki Condemns Buhari’s Anti-Corruption War

President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki has given a damning verdict of the anti-corruption battle of  President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, saying the use of extra-legal means and strong-arm tactics was against the laws of the land and would end up being counter-productive at the end of the day.
The Senate President specifically berated the Department of State Security Services (DSS) for the agency’s midnight raid on the homes of some judges in a sting operation last October, describing the action as an illegality.
He also accused the Presidential Advisory Committee against Corruption (PACAC) led by frontline constitutional lawyer, Prof. Itse Sagay, of blackmailing the legislature and propagating the adoption of illegal means and extra-judicial tactics in the administration’s anti-corruption war.
Saraki gave these positions yesterday at the presidential villa during a National Dialogue on the Fight against Corruption organized by PACAC which had in attendance, Acting President Yemi Osibanjo, the newly confirmed Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Walter Onnoghen, and other top officials of government.
Saraki who was represented at the event by Senator Chukwuka Utazi, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Anti-Corruption, argued that the administration’s style in the fight against graft is unsustainable, saying “the end-result of any action of government is as important as the process. The platforms for fighting corruption should not, themselves, be corrupt or be seen to be corrupted.”
On the DSS raid of the homes of judges, Saraki said, “the recent so-called sting operation by the Department of State Security on the residences of some very Senior Justices, some without warrants, others without any proof of incriminating body of evidence, leaves much to be desired.”
Noting that the National Security Agencies Act of 1986 granted the DSS the mandate to act in economic crimes of national security dimension, Saraki argued that Section 6 (c) of the Economic and Financial Crimes Act of 2004, being a latter law, had vested the power for the co-ordination and enforcement of all economic and financial crimes laws and enforcement functions conferred on any other person or authority on the EFCC.
On the work of the presidential committee, Saraki said: “PACAC should not lend itself to supporting extra-legal actions, if the fight against corruption will be sustained and ingrained in the body polity”.
The Senate President proceeded to accuse the Committee of blackmailing the National Assembly by persistent labeling the arm of government as corrupt.