Count me out of forgery allegation –Saraki

From Fred Itua, Abuja

SENATE President, Bukola Saraki, yesterday, main­tained that he knows nothing about how the rules ad­opted in the inauguration of the Eighth Senate on June 9, 2015 were done.

He said efforts to drag him into a case of forgery be­fore the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court was another chapter in the persecution he has faced since he emerged as Senate President.

Saraki, in a statement by his Special Adviser, Media and Publicity, Yusuph Olaniyonu said he was not a part of the leadership of the Seventh Senate that made the rules and prior to his election as Senate President. He said he was merely a Senator-elect and was not in a po­sition to influence the rules that were to be used in the conduct of the election.

“Those who decided to smuggle the name of the Sen­ate President into the charge sheet knew perfectly well that only the leadership of the Seventh Senate were in­vited for investigation.

“This so-called forgery case is another wanton abuse of the judicial process and making a mockery of the institution of justice. As the Senate earlier stated, the sponsors of this plot are not only gunning for Dr. Saraki, what they have just launched with this latest antics is a grand onslaught on the foremost institution of our de­mocracy..

“The only institutional difference between dictator­ship and democracy is the presence of the legislature. Therefore, by seeking to cripple the National Assembly, they have declared a war on our hard-won democracy and aimed for the very jugular of our freedom.”