Senate President Bukola Saraki Played Errand Boy To Buhari To Stall Corruption Trial

Senate President Bukola Saraki this morning in Abuja, and on the eve of his trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), filed an appeal at the Supreme Court asking for a stay of proceedings. Last week, the Court of Appeal had decided that Saraki should face trial, and that the CCT is a competent court for it. Saraki’s action today followed his strange move on Tuesday to appease President Muhammadu Buhari when he personally turned messenger to deliver the list of cleared Ministers to the presidency. Saraki’s move earlier today seemed to follow the conclusion from the meeting between both men that Buhari is not ready to commit to any extra-legal settlement of the issue. It would be recalled that in an interview with SaharaReporters in New York during the United Nations General Assembly, Buhari clearly stated that his trust in Saraki would only be determined by the outcome of his corruption trial.

 The Senate President appears to be hoping that his latest effort at the Supreme Court could lead to another prolonged adjournment of the case from tomorrow, as his lawyers would be pleading at the CCT to defer to the Supreme Court’s appeal. With the expected delay, Saraki would focus once more on a political solution or on infiltrating and compromising the judiciary as he’d tried to do since the commencement of his trial. One of his lawyers was heard bragging that they have finally found a way around the judges at the Code of Conduct Tribunal in a manner that would make the outcome of the trial hurt-less to Mr. Saraki’s political future. Saraki’s visit to Buhari on Tuesday was the third official contact with the President since Mr. Saraki became the President of the Senate. The delivery of the list of Ministers could have been done by the Presidential Liaison Officer but Saraki chose to take the list himself in what observers noted to be unprecedented in Nigeria’s democratic practice. The Senate President took advantage of the opportunity to have a 20-minute conversation with the President over what he told journalists were “other issues.” SaharaReporters could not confirm what was discussed by the two men. Nonetheless, we learnt that the visit was facilitated by some of the President’s kitchen cabinet members who are sympathetic to Saraki. The Director General of the Department of State Security hd been named as putting pressure on the CCT on Saraki’s behalf in our previous reporting. A source in the camp of the Senate President told our reporter that with such a high profile visit coming just two days to the commencement of his trial at the CCT, Mr. Saraki had calculated on sending a message to judicial officers, with whom he has been in talks, that the President’s body language is not opposed to ending the trial. That judgement seemed to have been a grievous error, leading to the decision to approach the Supreme Court as his options run out.