27th July, 2015
Following the press statement by the Kwara State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that its petition to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) led to the invitation of wife of the Senate President, Mrs. Toyin Saraki, the national headquarters has directed the state chapter to disclaim the statement.
A highly ranked member of the party, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, revealed that the national headquarters of the party called immediately the story was published by major newspapers on their websites.
In a statement issued by Kwara state publicity secretary, Rex Olawoye, the party was quoted as revealing how the petition it submitted early 2015 to the EFCC detailing how certain individuals in higher places during the tenure of Saraki as Kwara State governor milked the state dry was instrumental to the invitation of the former first lady of the state.
According to the petition, Mrs Saraki was fingered alongside one Mr. Ope Saraki, former special adviser to former governor Bukola Saraki on MDGs, Saraki’s personal assistant, one Mr. Abdul Adama from Kogi state and a former commissioner for information, Mr. Tunji Morounfoye, in an alleged cesspool of corruption which he described as unprecedented in the history of Kwara state or any other state.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has been enmeshed in supremacy battle following the refusal of some of his federal lawmakers to abide by party’s directives in choosing leaders of the national assembly.
The PDP sees the crisis as a way of making an in-road in national limelight following his ouster from the federal government in the March 2015 presidential election.
Following the election of Senator Bukola Saraki, a former governor under the party, as president of the Senate through the support of the PDP senators, the party has not hidden its joy, as members of the party see that as a payback for what members of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN (now APC) did during the election of the House of Representatives election that produced Hon. Aminu Tambuwal as speaker.
The source said: “The party wants the crisis in the party to continue so that it can reclaim some of its members back into its fold. They are leaving no stone unturned in this bid and that was why the party ordered its federal lawmakers to team up with Sen Saraki and House speaker, Yakubu Dogara during the leadership election.
“Their projection is that sooner or later, Saraki and others would be forced to dump the APC or divide it and so that will give them the opportunity to redeem its structure. The party is not satisfied with the ongoing invitations of those that worked with its government. And they were shocked to see the statement by the PDP. To cut the story short, the Kwara PDP is not satisfied with the state of the nation. Kwara State is no longer viable and they are doing everything possible to make sure that the man who underdeveloped the state is brought to book.
“Our national publicity secretary, Chief Olisah Metuh just called, expressing his displeasure over the statement. Why should he be controlling us. He ordered us to disregard the statement but we are not ready but we know they may go behind to react on our behalf and put our names to make it look like we backtracked,” the source said.
Read below the statement issued by Kwara PDP:
Our Petition Led to Toyin Saraki’s Arrest – Kwara PDP
It has become imperative to inform the members of the public that we have every reasons to believe that a petition recently submitted to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Kwara state chapter is largely responsible for the invitation and eventual criminal prosecution of the former Kwara First Lady and wife of the Senate President, Mrs. Toyin Saraki.
It will be recalled that our party had sometimes early this year, discreetly submitted a petition to the EFCC detailing how certain individuals in high places under the past administration of Dr. Bukola Saraki had milked the state dry and left the people more impoverished than they met them.
In the said petition, we carefully chronicled how state officials, including former First Lady Toyin Saraki, former Special Adviser to the Governor on MDGs, Mr. Ope Saraki, Personal Assistant (PA) to ex-Governor Bukola Saraki, one Mr. Abdul Adama from Kogi state, a former Commissioner for Information, Mr. Tunji Morounfoye, all working in a ring, got enmeshed in a cesspool of corruption unprecedented in the history of Kwara state or any other state of the federal for that matter!
Although, we believe that the arrest and prosecution of Mrs. Toyin Saraki is long overdue, we nevertheless take solace under the fact that the long arm of the law seems to have finally caught up with her and her cronies. We are particularly delighted that our painstaking efforts at chronicling the monumental heist that defined the 8 years, almost uneventful rule of former Governor Bukola Saraki in Kwara, has not gone unnoticed.
We therefore commend the EFCC for its resourcefulness and painstakingness. We pledge our cooperation with the EFCC and all other relevant anti-graft agencies to ensure that all those who knowingly looted our collective patrimony but now walking the streets of Kwara free with their ill-gotten wealth, do not go unpunished.
We urge the anti-graft agency not to buckle-in to pressure or blackmail that is already being mounted by political jobbers over Mrs. Saraki’s invitation by the EFCC. Instead of sponsoring paid activist-for-hire to stampede the EFCC out of the prosecution, one would have thought that the most moral thing for Toyin Saraki and her handlers to do now is to allow the law to take its cause. Since the duo of Ope Saraki and Tunji Morounfoye are already standing trial for their crimes, one would expect Mrs Saraki too to seize the moment and clear her name, instead of playing to the gallery.
For the avoidance of doubt, we reiterate that the offences Mrs. Saraki is being accused of are criminal in nature and such offences are not known to be statute-barred. Therefore, the fact that it took over five years after Mrs. Saraki left office as Kwara First Lady before she is eventually brought before the law does not matter. What matters is that justice is ultimately served, especially for the sake of the hard-working Kwara civil servants, poor Kwara farmers and the promising children of Kwara who were and are still being subjected to all manners of deprivations as a result of the rapaciousness of a privileged few who could not contain the temptations to stare clear the cookie jar.
Thank you
Rex Olawoye
Publicity Secretary
26/07/2015