Special Assistant to Senator Bukola Saraki on Media Affairs Mr. Bamikole Omishore stated yesterday that contrary to insinuation in some quarters, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is not in any way after the former Kwara State governor.
Omishore stated the clarification became necessary following alleged plan by some people to tarnish the image of the lawmaker.
As stated by Omishore, those behind the plot were those opposed to Saraki's towering position in his quest to clinch the position of the Senate President when the Eight Senate is inaugurated in June.
Omishore, who spoke in Abuja, stated Saraki's detractors have started parading fabricated documents aimed at misleading members of the public.
He noted that the purveyors of the false document claimed that the EFCC had perfected plans to re-open fresh fraud allegation against the senator.
The aide stated those behind the plot were always coming up with unfounded allegation of financial fraud against Saraki whenever he (Saraki) comes out to contest any election.
The same trick, he said, “is also employed by Saraki's political opponents whenever he (Saraki) exposes fraudulent dealings of powerful individuals in the country”.
Omishore described the latest “fabricated and false” information alleging that the EFCC is planning to reopen fresh fraud charge against the lawmaker, as immaterial and belated.
He insisted that relevant security and other relevant agencies had since cleared Saraki over the false claim allegedly involving him as a director of the defunct Société Générale Bank.
He also stated the same agencies had also cleared Saraki over what he described as frivolous petition against him on his tenure as Kwara State governor from 2003 to 2011.
Saraki's aide added that the police and the Office of the Solicitor-General of the Federation had since 2012, absolved and cleared Saraki of any criminal allegations.
As stated by Omishore, to the best of his knowledge, there was no case currently involving Saraki and any anti-corruption body.
He noted that the allegation of financial fraud being played up against Saraki by detractors, started since 2003, few years into the former governor’s first tenure in Kwara State.
Saraki, he said, had to waive his immunity when he was governor to allow the EFCC officials to investigate the allegations and petitions against him.
The aide stated it was on record that the anti-graft agency found the petitions to be lacking in merit or substance after it concluded its investigation.
Omishore said: “In September 2006, the EFCC chairman then, appeared before the Senate and named Saraki’s administration as one of the five state governments with the highest level of integrity in Nigeria.
“The issue was laid to rest until 2011 when Saraki, on the floor of the Senate, incurred the wrath of a cabal in the Nigeria’s oil and gas industry when he exposed their alleged monumental fraud.”
“The oil thieves decided to connive with some people in government to turn a civil issue between the senator and a bank customer into a criminal matter,” he also stated.