President
of the Senate, Bukola Saraki on Friday said he would hold on to his job
as he alleged that he was being persecuted with his trial at the Code
of Conduct Tribunal.
He accused unnamed forces unhappy with his political progress as the number three man in the nation as being behind his ordeal.
To him, what is happening to him at the Code of Conduct Tribunal is more of persecution than prosecution for alleged corruption.
He spoke at the Social Media Week organised by State-Craft Inc. The theme of the event which was held at the Landmark Events Centre, Lagos, was ‘Did You Say Change? Game Changers of the 2015 Nigerian elections.’
The Senate President said that when he got into office as a public servant 13 years ago, he filled the asset declaration form as demanded by the law of the land.
According to him, “It is not a fight against corruption; it is more about being persecuted. We are public servants and you must fill your asset declaration form when you get in office and I did mine 13 years ago.
“The charges have nothing to do with corruption or money being stolen anywhere. I will have my day in court to prove my innocence of the charge pending against me because it is not about corruption.
“I don’t understand how the same organisation that cleared my asset declaration to be proper in 2004, 2009 and 2011 can now say that my record is faulted,” he said.
On the theme of the conference, Saraki urged Nigerians to be social media savvy.
“I’m here to thank social media; without online citizens to ensure transparency in elections, I won’t be here. Social media became the “Chairman” of INEC because they provided real time results.
“Though we had numbers, it’s really thanks to social media that votes counted because you shared as it happened. Let us seize the opportunity to work together, so that the next Senate president will come here. The important thing about social media is that we (lawmakers) are more accountable now whether we like it or not. Without social media, the demand for accountability will not be possible. Without the involvement of Social media, there is no way we’d have moved from a non-performing government because now everything is out in the open unlike years ago. We are here to work with social media.”
His colleagues at the event were Senators Dino Melaye, Sabi Abdulahi and Foster Ogola.
He accused unnamed forces unhappy with his political progress as the number three man in the nation as being behind his ordeal.
To him, what is happening to him at the Code of Conduct Tribunal is more of persecution than prosecution for alleged corruption.
He spoke at the Social Media Week organised by State-Craft Inc. The theme of the event which was held at the Landmark Events Centre, Lagos, was ‘Did You Say Change? Game Changers of the 2015 Nigerian elections.’
The Senate President said that when he got into office as a public servant 13 years ago, he filled the asset declaration form as demanded by the law of the land.
According to him, “It is not a fight against corruption; it is more about being persecuted. We are public servants and you must fill your asset declaration form when you get in office and I did mine 13 years ago.
“The charges have nothing to do with corruption or money being stolen anywhere. I will have my day in court to prove my innocence of the charge pending against me because it is not about corruption.
“I don’t understand how the same organisation that cleared my asset declaration to be proper in 2004, 2009 and 2011 can now say that my record is faulted,” he said.
On the theme of the conference, Saraki urged Nigerians to be social media savvy.
“I’m here to thank social media; without online citizens to ensure transparency in elections, I won’t be here. Social media became the “Chairman” of INEC because they provided real time results.
“Though we had numbers, it’s really thanks to social media that votes counted because you shared as it happened. Let us seize the opportunity to work together, so that the next Senate president will come here. The important thing about social media is that we (lawmakers) are more accountable now whether we like it or not. Without social media, the demand for accountability will not be possible. Without the involvement of Social media, there is no way we’d have moved from a non-performing government because now everything is out in the open unlike years ago. We are here to work with social media.”
His colleagues at the event were Senators Dino Melaye, Sabi Abdulahi and Foster Ogola.
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