Diezani’s trial vindicates Saraki on graft stance – Kwara APC

By Umar Bayo Abdulwahab Ilorin

All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kwara state has said that the ongoing trial of former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Allison-Madueke, by the United States Department of Justice on illegal diversion of Nigeria’s oil fund was a vindication of the position that had long been taken by Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, against corruption. Th e party, in a statement by its state Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Sullyman Buhari, in Ilorin yesterday, urged Nigerians to do a fl ash back to May 2014, when in the 7th Senate, Saraki was a member of the Committee on Finance probing the allegation of missing $20 billion dissociated himself from an attempt to rail-road the committee into giving surreptitious clean bill of health to Allison-Madueke and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

It noted that at that time when Saraki could have derived huge personal benefi t from collaborating in the plot to clear Madueke against the fi ndings of the committee, he refused to sign the report and then on May 29, 2014 issued a press statement to dissociate self from any so-called clearance. “We are raising this issue to refresh the memory of all Nigerians, particularly those who are sponsoring the Paint Saraki Black campaign for political purpose that the Senate President has always been a champion of transparency in public offi ce and that when he stood the chance of deriving great personal fi nancial benefi t, he chose to protect and canvass the Nigerian cause.

Th at is the case with the NNPC probe. “In that case, he sacrifi ced even personal relationships. He chose to incur the wrath of the powers that be. Some investigations which some people now tried to use against him came out of the bitter attempt to get back at him. Th at is why we wonder how some people are trying to pin the label of corruption on him when on many occasions, he fought against corrupt practices. In fact, in the fuel subsidy issue, he was the anchor person against the fraudulent payment to some oil dealers in the name of subsidy.”

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