A CABAL HAS SEIZED BUHARI'S GOVT.: SARAKI CLAIMS

*Says APC-led Government will soon lose support of
Nigerians
*Adds I'm ready to carry the cross

ABUJA- SENATE President Bukola Saraki on Monday, said
that with the ongoing alleged forgery case of the 2015
Standing Order against him and by extension, the National
Assembly, there was a clear indication that President
Muhammadu Buhari was not in charge of governance as a
cabal has taken over his government.
Buhari and Saraki
According to Saraki, those he described as forming a new
government within the government of Buhari were using it to
pursue and working towards achieving their nefarious
agenda.
He said, "However, what has become clear is that there is
now a government within the government of President
Buhari who have seized the apparatus of Executive powers
to pursue their nefarious agenda.
In a statement he personally signed today, in Abuja and
made available to Journalists, Senate President Saraki
warned the government and the ruling All Progressives
Congress, APC that if there was no rethink in the fight
against the legislature, they stand the risk of losing the
support of Nigerians.
Saraki vowed that as the Senate President, he was not going
to surrender to the desecration of the Senate, as well as
moves by the Executive to rubbish the nation's democracy,
just as he said that he was prepared to carry the cross,
adding that he was prepared to go to jail in fighting against
injustice and intimidation.
According to him, it was unfortunate that at a time the entire
government should be working together to meet Nigeria’s
many challenges, the National Assembly was once again
distracted by the Executive Branch’s inability to move
beyond a leadership election among Senate peers.
Saraki's statement read: "Today, we the leaders of the
Nigerian Senate reiterate our innocence against the charges
filed by the Attorney General of the Federal Government of
Nigeria at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court on
the allegations of forgery of the Senate Standing Rules
document.
"In our view, the charges filed by the Attorney General
represent a violation of the principle of the Separation of
Powers between the Executive Branch and the Legislative
Branch as enshrined in our Constitution. Furthermore, it is
farcical to allege that a criminal act occurred during Senate
procedural actions and the mere suggestion demonstrates a
desperate overreach by the office of the Attorney General.
These trumped up charges is only another phase in the
relentless persecution of the leadership of the Senate
"This misguided action by the Attorney General begs the
question, how does this promote the public interest and
benefit the nation? At a time when the whole of government
should be working together to meet Nigeria’s many
challenges, we are once again distracted by the Executive
Branch’s inability to move beyond a leadership election
among Senate peers. It was not an election of Senate peers
and Executive Branch participants.
"Over the past year the Senate has worked to foster good
relations with the Executive Branch. It is in all of our
collective interests to put aside divisions and get on with the
nation’s business. We risk alienating and losing the support
of the very people who have entrusted their national leaders
to seek new and creative ways to promote a secure and
prosperous Nigeria. As leaders and patriots, it is time to rise
above partisanship and to move forward together.
"However, what has become clear is that there is now a
government within the government of President Buhari who
have seized the apparatus of Executive powers to pursue
their nefarious agenda.
"This latest onslaught on the Legislature represents a clear
and present danger to the democracy Nigerians fought hard
to win and preserve. The suit filed on behalf of the Federal
government suggests that perhaps some forces in the
Federal Republic have not fully embraced the fact that the
Senate’s rules and procedures govern how the legislative
body adjudicates and resolves its own disputes.
"Let it be abundantly clear, both as a citizen and as a
foremost Legislator, I will continue to rise above all the
persecution and distraction that have been visited on me. In
the words of Martin Luther King Junior, “the ultimate
measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of
comfort and convenience, but where he stands at a time of
challenge and controversy”.
"I will remain true and committed to the responsibilities that
my citizenship and my office impose on me. Without doubt,
the highest of those responsibilities is the steadfast refusal
to surrender to the subversion of our democracy and the
desecration of the Senate. This is a cross I am prepared to
carry.
" If ( my not) yielding to the nefarious agenda of a few
individuals who are bent in undermining our democracy and
destabilising the Federal government to satisfy their selfish
interests is the alternative to losing my personal freedom,
let the doors of jails be thrown open and I shall be a happy
guest."