Im Cleared By Court Says Saraki After He Was Listed Among Corrupt Governors

 

A former Governor of Kwara State and former Senate President, Bukola Saraki,whose tenure in the Senate was characterized by corruption due to Budget padding has said various courts have cleared him of all corruption allegations levelled against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

Mr Saraki, who spoke through his spokesperson, Yusuph Olaniyonu, said it was therefore unfair to include him among cases that were either not conclusively investigated or where the outcome of the probe was not taken to courts.

He said this in a letter to PREMIUM TIMES in reaction to the newspaper’s report which listed him among former governors whose cases of alleged corruption had been forgotten by the EFCC.

Mr Saraki, a former governor of Kwara State for two terms, and his successor, Abdulfatah Ahmed, were on the list, collated by this newspaper, of past governors whom EFCC have interrogated or detained for interrogations over corruption allegations.

The letter by his spokesperson denying his inclusion on the list is titled, ‘Saraki Did Not Benefit from Lack of Diligent Prosecution of Cases’.

Mr Saraki was detained for interrogation by the EFCC as recently as July last year, much after the most of the court decisions he said had exonerated him were given.

But he maintained that the courts had cleared him of all five cases, including forfeiture proceedings, filed against him by the EFCC.

He said the cases were relitigated by the EFCC in a desperate bid by then Acting Chairman of the commission, Ibrahim Magu, to persecute him.

Although his most recent arrest by the EFCC was under the incumbent chairman of the commission, Abdulrasheed Bawa, Mr Saraki said his investigations and the various cases filed against him were ordered by Mr Magu in retaliation for the 8th Senate’s refusal to confirm him as the substantive chairman of the anti-graft agency.