In a swift move to avert further denting of his image, Senate President Bukola Saraki has blasted Sahara reporters whose latest preoccupation appears to be peddling false reportage against him and his family.
This is coming days after the reports of alleged dual citizenship, signature forgery and role in the NNPC subsidy scandal were made public.
Since Saraki emerged as senate president, Sahara reporters has carried several reports, painting the senate president as traitor and power hungry politician.
The leadership of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, had intended to root out Saraki and and his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu, but changed its mind following the recent vove of confidence passed on the leadership of the senate.
In a confrontational discuss on Twitter, between the publisher of Sahara Reporters, Omoyeye Sowore, and the Special Adviser to Saraki, Bankole Omishore, more questions were asked with little or no answers given.
Bankole who dared Sowore to make public his citizenship status, stated that Sahara Reporters is only interested in bringing down Saraki with antagonism.
That being said, what citizenship does @YeleSowore of @SaharaReporters hold? And does he have allegiance to Nigeria or another country
— Bamikole Omishore (@MrBanksOmishore) August 9, 2015
In response to this, Sowore stated that he would not back down till Saraki made public evidence of his Nigerian citizenship status, adding that he is ready to upload his passport if Saraki does same.
Prior to this, the wife of Saraki, had blocked sahara reporters handle from twitter followers, a reaction which signalled strong discontent over a report where they referred to Senator Dino Melaye (a close confidant of Saraki) as a body guard when he was spotted with her at the EFCC questioning last month.
Following these events, Bankole went ahead to released a rejoinder countering all the alleged claims by Sahara reporters.
“Attention of the Senate President’s media office has been drawn to a malicious fabrication by an on-line publication (Sahara Reporters) aimed at tarnishing the reputation of the Senate President, Senator Abubakar Bukola Saraki.
“First, as a Senator in the 7th National Assembly, the Senate President Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki never signed the report of the Ahmed Makarfi-led Finance Committee investigation into the alleged non-Remittance by NNPC of $20 into the Federation Account.
“In his letter dated 3rd of June 2014 to the Committee withholding his signature he said and I quote “It is my opinion that this report as laid has not fully addressed the matter referred to us adequately and conclusively.
“The report has not been definitive on its findings and has failed to address some of the critical issues I had raised during our meetings. For this reason; I am withholding my support and signature.”
“The records of the committee are still accessible in the National Assembly and a copy is here attached.”
“Secondly, It is still on record that Senator Saraki is the only Senator in the committee that refused to sign the report even in the face of severe duress and personal inconvenience.
“Sen. Saraki during the investigation, was known to have been very probing with his questions, meticulously reviewing the data offered by NNPC to get to the bottom of the issue.
“It would be recalled that though he did not make the last meeting of the committee, when the news broke that the Committee has cleared the NNPC, he was the first and the only senator to rebut the report saying “the recent media reports claiming that the Senate Committee on Finance has cleared NNPC of any unaccounted revenue fund are not true… I have been very active in the investigation, nothing significant has changed to suggest clearing of anyone”.
“Thirdly, it is evident that Senator Saraki’ commitment to see that the missing funds are found and paid back into the Federation Account was never in doubt from day one.
“It would be recalled that Senator Saraki during this investigation had gone out of his way to collaborate with the IHS Information Analytics Expertise and MJHC Limited London, two renowned international organisations with specialty on oil financials, to do further forensic review on this matter also underscore the length at which he left no stone unturned to help the committee unravel the mystery surrounding the missing funds.”
“Also, Sen. Saraki never met with Jonathan on this report (committee met last on the 16th of February 2014). So the thought of Senator Saraki working to bring down the number or amount unremitted with Goodluck Jonathan is completely false. For the avoidance of doubt, there has been no meeting of any type between Senator Saraki and former President Jonathan since the Senator left PDP.
“So any suggestion that Ex-President Jonathan sent Chagoury to Senator Saraki with gifts /money to seek support from him on the report is totally false. Both the Sarakis and Chagourys have been family friends for over 26years.
“We hereby request the general public to disregard the antics of Sahara Reporters. We further call on Sahara Reports to immediately retract this offending publication and offer an unequivocal apology to His Excellency Senator Saraki, the National Assembly and the citizenry of Nigeria for this unprovoked, reckless and mindless publication.”
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