Rattled by our report that
the National Assembly under his leadership illegally received N10billion from
the treasury, the President of the Senate Bukola Saraki, has threatened to sue
PREMIUM TIMES over the publication.
The story entitled:
“EXCLUSIVE: Minister Adeosun, Saraki, Dogara, Accountant General in N10 billion
fraud scandal”, unearthed the irregularities in the receipt and disbursement of
the fund.
The report, published on
Friday, indicated the billions were released to the lawmakers despite the
N125billion appropriated for the federal legislature in the 2017 fiscal year
for recurrent and capital expenditures.
The fund was arbitrarily
approved for the lawmakers by the Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, in
collusion with the Accountant General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris, he report
said.
Investigations by PREMIUM
TIMES also showed that at least 44 of the 82 contractors Messrs Saraki and
Dogara claimed they were owing were not registered on the National Database of
Contractors, a database of the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP). That means
they are not eligible to be awarded federal contracts.
A further check by this
newspaper revealed that 17 of the 44 firms were not even registered with the
Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).
But rather than respond to
the substantive issues raised in the report, Mr. Saraki is claiming that he
cannot be held liable for how funds are disbursed to the National Assembly and
how they are spent.
He is arguing that the top
civil servants in the legislature are those that should be made to render
accounts.
It did not matter to the
Senate President that he is the chairman of the National Assembly, and that the
bucks largely stop at his table.
In a statement by his
Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Yusuph Olaniyonu, the senator
challenged the facts presented by PREMIUM TIMES saying they were incorrect.
Mr Saraki announced that he
would initiate legal action on the matter.
READ THE FULL STATEMENT
BELOW:
Premium Times Should Have
Known Better: Response to False Publication from Online Platform
Again, our attention has
been drawn to a publication by Premium Times which unethically alleges without
any proof, reference, attribution or justification that the Senate President,
Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, was involved in receiving or sharing any
unauthorized funds.
The article, entitled
“EXCLUSIVE: Minister Adeosun, Saraki, Dogara, Accountant General in N10 billion
fraud scandal”, in both its style, substance, and deliberate spin struggles to
connect the Senate President to the receipt and apportioning of funds which the
publication describes as “illegal.”
In the absence of any
doubt, the Senate President has nothing to do with any payment, receipt or
disbursement of any extra-budgetary funds.
It is also important to
state for the record that the Premium Times article in question is pure and
unmitigated false news. A simple check by Premium Times would have revealed that
all funds in the National Assembly are in the custody of the National Assembly
Management, which is headed by the Clerk, and not its presiding officers.
Additionally, all contract
awards are equally overseen by the National Assembly management, not the
presiding officers.
We are aware that for some
weeks now, Premium Times has had this story. However, they only contacted us on
Wednesday, and the Clerk of the National Assembly, after a phone call from the
Special Adviser on Media & Publicity to the Senate President, promised to
give them all necessary explanation and documents on this issue.
However, it is obvious that
in the bid to rope in Senator Saraki, the reporters of Premium Times could not
wait to see the Clerk and rushed to publish the story with outright falsehoods
less than 24 hours after the clerk made the aforementioned promise.
We are surprised that
without any proof whatsoever, Premium Times was using expressions like: “Senate
President Bukola Saraki and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu
Dogara, have just illegally received and shared”; “Saraki and Dogara
submitted”; and “Investigations by PREMIUM TIMES showed that at least 44 of the
82 contractors Messrs Saraki and Dogara…” These are highly defamatory and
careless expressions.
It is expected, that the
Editors of Premium Times will not be ignorant of the internal procurement and
payment process in an organization like the National Assembly that they have
covered and “investigated” for as long as they (Premium Times) has been in
existence.
We consider this as part of
the orchestrated campaign of calumny being waged against Dr. Saraki by some
political elements using media platforms in which they have interests.
In this regard, for this
careless and unwarranted assault on the person of the Senate President — after
several previous warnings — the lawyers of the Senate President, Dr. Abubakar
Bukola Saraki, will be initiating legal action on this particular matter.
Finally, we ask the public
to disregard the Premium Times piece, and take it for what it is, and will
continue to be: “Fake News.”
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