Chief Ayo Opadokun , a former Secretary-General of the National Democratic Coalition and ex-General Secretary of the Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere has declared that President Mohammad Buhari cannot succeed in fulfilling his campaign promise of fighting corruption with Senator Bukola Saraki as the leader of the Nigerian Senate.
Opadokun stated this in an interview he granted to Punch, where he stated that “President Buhari keeps assuring Nigerians that he will face and fight corruption; that he will kill corruption before corruption kills Nigeria. Buhari cannot start this ball game before Nigerians start pointing accusing fingers to the Senate leadership as represented by Saraki. They will have to explain to Nigerians what happened to Societe Generale Bank. Nigerians might have forgotten; they may not even know that under the chairmanship of Nuhu Ribadu (of the EFCC), the affairs of Societe Generale was totally investigated and the results were made available by the anti-graft body. It was just that somebody – a highly placed person close to Obasanjo then kept appealing to him (Obasanjo). He (Saraki) ought to have been sanctioned a long time ago,” he stated.
The former Afenifere scribe also said that a number of Nigeria’s public funds were lost in the process that led to the close of Societe Generale Bank. “Many ordinary people had their savings and investments totally lost in that bank. With their conduct, the mother body of Societe Generale had to withdraw its equity and it did not take a long time before they ‘finished’ the bank totally and it went under. Yes, they succeeded in manipulating the system. They said the bank should be returned to them but in the last seven to 10 years, nobody has heard anything about Societe Generale. It is lost for good.
“If the President is set about getting such inordinate acquisition they have made to be brought into public arena, he would need perhaps a retuning of the laws governing the anti-graft agencies. Do not forget that under Saraki’s watch, he collapsed the Trade Bank which was hitherto owned by Kwara and Kogi states. In fact, in his first two months in office as the governor of Kwara, he directed that state federal allocation to the state should be deposited in Societe Generale. Kwara people had to campaign vigorously on the pages of newspapers. He was forced to first return the allocation to Trade Bank but he did what he wanted to do by withdrawing allocations from Trade Bank and that bank collapsed,” he stated.
Opadokun added that it is a pity that President Buhari has a wrong understanding of the chemistry of party politics and its consequences. “He is a military man and he wants to make Nigerians believe that really he has been transformed into a democrat. In political office, he needs the legislature to be on the same page with him; he could not secure that with the current leadership, particularly in the Senate. I cannot see any graver offence any party man can commit than the kind Saraki had done to the APC; conspiring with the PDP. And it did not matter to him any longer whatever other juicy offices that were available that the PDP was ready to take. And he believes that he will remain that way? They will continue to vote as if they have single majority, even though they cannot have two-third majority. That is what it seems they are embarking upon. But that will not help Nigerians.
“Now, Europe and America have been assuring President Buhari that they will help to expose huge sums of monies that have been stored in their banking institutions, to return them to Nigeria. When you have that kind of a leader in Buhari and assisted by his vice, an erudite and highly credible law professor – a very active one, you don’t need a Saraki to preside over the legislature. Because in your fight against corruption, they will have to rework the laws and regulations upon which these anti-graft agencies are operating. For example, I know President Buhari and Prof. Osinbajo will want to give the agencies full independence to do their job without any clearance. And that is part of the things that can help us to win the battle against corruption. But if the one who has interests to protect is presiding over the affairs of the legislature, you should know that you have a problem in your hands.”
