A former senate president and Kwara State governor, Bukola
Saraki, has admitted that he got N252 million from the Kwara State Government
to build a five-bedroom duplex for himself.
The money was not even enough to build the house, Mr Saraki
said, saying he added his own money, to complete it.
He said the money was justified as it was backed by a Kwara
State law that he put in place while he was governor.
Mr Saraki, a two-term governor, led the state between 2003
and 2011. He was elected senator in 2011 and elected the eighth senate
president in 2015. He left the Senate in 2019.
The N252 million is part of the Kwara funds the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) accused Mr Saraki of diverting.
He is accused of diverting not less than N10 billion from
the state coffers.
The former governor has denied any wrongdoing.
The anti-graft agency has also insisted that the two Ilorin
houses belonging to Saraki must be forfeited to the federal government because
they were built with funds allegedly stolen from the coffers of Kwara State.
EFCC made the request before Justice Rilwan Akikawa of the
Federal High Court in Lagos on Thursday.
Saraki’s Defence
In his defence, Mr Saraki agreed that one of the houses EFCC
wants to be forfeited was built, partly, with the N250 million provided him by
the state government.
Mr Saraki’s spokesperson, Yusuph Olaniyonu, explained his
principal’s stance in a statement sent on Friday.
According to him, the five-bedroom duplex was built in line
with the provision of the Governor and Deputy Governor (Payment of Pension) Law
2010 of Kwara State, which provided N252.2 million for the building of a
five-bedroom Duplex for Mr Saraki as a two-term governor.
“…The lawyers also told the court that in line with the
provision of the Governor and Deputy Governor (Payment of Pension) Law 2010 of
Kwara State, the State Government provided N252.2 million for the building of a
five bedroom Duplex for Saraki as a two-term Governor of the State and he added
his personal money to enable him fund the construction of the property in
question.”
“The personal fund came from earnings from companies in
which Dr. Saraki has statutorily declared that he has substantial and
controlling interests. Also, the financial contribution Dr. Saraki made to the
construction of the house in question was made in installments over several
years after he left office as Governor,” Mr Olaniyonu wrote.
The counsel to the EFCC, Rotimi Oyedepo, on Thursday,
maintained that as long as Mr Saraki failed to explain how he came about the
over N700 million, which he added to the N252.2m to develop the houses, the
houses were liable to forfeiture.
The houses had earlier been part of the subject of Mr
Saraki’s arraignment at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), which acquitted him
in 2017.
Law for ‘retirement
package’
The law, on which Mr Saraki based his defence, was enacted
in 2010 while he was still in power.
In 2010, Kwara State under Mr Saraki, enacted a law which
gives former governors of the state two cars and a security car, a 5-bedroom
duplex, furniture allowance of 300 per cent of his salary; five personal staff,
three security operatives, free medical care for the governor and the deputy,
30 per cent of salary for car maintenance, 20 per cent for utility, 10 per cent
for entertainment, 10 per cent for house maintenance.
Mr Saraki benefitted from the law after he left office, with
many critics saying he essentially put such largesse in place for himself after
office.
A lawyer, however, explained that since it had become law,
any former governor, including Mr Saraki could benefit from it.
Adeola Ademuwagun, a legal practitioner at Falana Chambers,
explained that although Mr Saraki could have influenced the passage of the law,
the provisions of the law remain sacrosanct.
“Irrespective of the time the law was passed, anyone can
benefit from it – not excluding the governor who was in power at that time,” he said on Friday.
Nevertheless, in 2018, Mr Saraki’s successor, Abdulfatah
Ahmed, called for the amendment of the law. The amendment was to suspend the
entitlements while the erstwhile governors and their deputies hold new
political or public offices.
The passage of the amendment bill followed a public outcry
that former governors’ pensions were a fiscal burden on the states and that
some of them were receiving it even while holding other public offices.
In Mr Saraki’s case, he received the N252 million even while
receiving the salaries and allowances of a serving senator.
What the N252 Million
could have done in Kwara
Before the new minimum wage of N30,000 was approved last
year, Nigeria’s minimum wage was N18,000.
The N252 million Mr Saraki received to build the house could
have paid the salaries of 14,000 civil servants on the minimum wage.
The money could have also been used to build tens of primary
healthcare centres or schools in deprived Kwara communities that lack such
facilities.
Non-transparency
Kwara State, like many other states in Nigeria, is yet to
make public the exact amount spent on the pension of its ex-officials.
Mr Saraki’s money only became public following investigation
by the EFCC.
The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP)
in January filed a lawsuit at the Federal High Court, Abuja, asking the court
to order the 36 state governors to publish a breakdown of pensions being paid
to former governors and other ex-officials under their respective state pension
laws between 1999 and 2019.
SERAP also sought a declaration that “the failure of the 36
state governors to provide SERAP with the requested information on pension law
in their respective states as requested constitutes a breach of SERAP’s right
under the FoI Act, 2011, and for such further order(s) the court may deem fit
to make in the circumstances.”
SERAP, in the suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/19/2020, had written a
Freedom of Information letter to all state governments requesting for details
of the pensions paid to their ex-governors.
The rights organisation revealed that only two governors —
Delta State’s Ifeanyi Okowa and Kwara State’s Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq — have
responded to its FoI requests.
“Governor Abdulrazaq provided a copy of the pension law and
list of former governors and ex-officials receiving pensions in Kwara State
under the state’s Governor and Deputy Governor (Payment of Pension) Law, 2010,
naming Cornelius O. Adebayo; Mohammed Shaaba Lafiagi; Sayomi Simon Adediji;
Bukola Saraki; and Ogundeji Joel Afolabi as recipients of life pensions in the
state.
“However, the governor did not state the amounts that have
so far been collected, and whether the state would pursue recovery of the
pensions paid.
“Both Okowa and Abdulrazaq did not in their responses make
any commitment to repeal the pension laws in their states and to seek refund of
the pensions already collected by former governors and other ex-officials.”
SERAP said that the suit is in the national interest, public
welfare, public interest, social justice, good governance, transparency and
accountability, adding that there is no justifiable reason for the governors to
refuse to provide SERAP with the details of payment of pensions and other
related information requested.
Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com