…since, the Senate ought to be a chamber governed by men and women of high moral virtue and rationality, the Senate President, Olubukola Abubakar Saraki ought to resign honourably or be properly and legally impeached in order to save the honour of law making in Nigeria, for the Senate is not an ethnic chamber governed by men and women of sleaze who rely on ethnic and emirate clannishness to survive.
That Dr. Olubukola Abubakar Saraki should honourably resign as the Senate President or be impeached is beyond debate. Through the history of his past and present, he has brought dishonour to the Senate. While the court has the final say and we should wait for this, however the reasons justifying why Saraki should resign now or be impeached are factually overwhelming, while the defence of those who hold brief for him is miserably weak.
Those who defend Saraki range from journalists such as Olukayode Thomas, who tries to put an “argumentative” face on his defence of Saraki to Ilorin clannishness, and Ilorin clannish defenders such as the spokesperson of Ilorin Emirate Descendants Progressive Union, Mr. Abdulhamid Adi. The form of both types of defence is the same, for they both commit laughable errors in reasoning.
In his defence of Saraki, Thomas dances around while evading the substantive issue. Coming from the Sarakists, this evasion strongly suggests that the Senate President has no real defence of the allegation against him beyond deploying an irrelevant appeal to pity, a sense of “persecution” and legal technicalities, in order to stop the court process. Thus, for failing to address the substantive and factual issues against Saraki, Thomas only ends up strengthening the allegation against Saraki.
This is because Thomas is not saying that Saraki is not guilty due to the facts of the case. Rather Thomas is suggesting that Saraki ought not to be tried, or everyone should be tried if Saraki’s is being tried! While Thomas is correct in asking that corrupt people should face the law, it is a bad argument to suggest that if all corrupt politicians are not tried then Saraki ought not be tried. That all corrupt people should be tried and that Saraki is being tried are two different issues. Hence, Sarakists such as Olukayode Thomas are unhelpful for their failure to speak to the substantive facts of the allegation against Saraki. Thomas’ defence of Saraki ends up showing that Saraki has a case to answer, and he must answer this case.
What nails the Senate President and makes his case incurably bad, at least in the public domain, is his resort to ethnic self-help and clannishness of the Ilorin type. Nigerian rulers are known for their ethnic clannishness. For example, until he proves otherwise in the next four years of his presidency, the first faulty steps of current president Buhari has shown that there is no difference between his Daura clannishness-in relying mostly on Daura men and women (a bad action which Buhari himself defended poorly when he appealed to clannishness to justify clannishness!) in his first line of strategic appointments-and the Otuoke clannishness of his predecessor-ex-president Jonathan.
While Thomas is correct in asking that corrupt people should face the law, it is a bad argument to suggest that if all corrupt politicians are not tried then Saraki ought not be tried. That all corrupt people should be tried and that Saraki is being tried are two different issues.
However, the Senate President having lost any rational form of defence carries this clannishness and backwardness of members of the Nigerian ruling elite to a ridiculous extent when he appeared so comfortable with the ethnic and clannish solidarity visit of the Ilorin Emirate Descendants Progressive Union (IEDPU). Reports have it that the Senate President himself furtively sponsored this vain visit to himself!
During their clannishly choreographed ethnic visit, the spokesperson of the Union, Abdulhamid Adi described Saraki’s arraignment as “purely politically motivated.” His reason being time. In other words, similar to Olukayode Thomas’ fallacy of irrelevance, for the Ilorin clannish spokesperson Adi, the issue is not that Saraki is guilty or not of the alleged crime, his claim is that Saraki allegedly committed the crime a long time ago. Therefore according Abdulhamid Adi’s Ilorin clannish “logic”, Saraki is not guilty because the crime was committed a long time ago!
This sort of crooked thinking may be “valid” within the context of a clannish “logic”, but it is unacceptable to bring such clannish “logic” and crookedness to a modern public sphere. That a Senate President will be comfortable in the Senate Chamber with this overtly doting and sponsored clannishness is shocking. It shows too much desperation.
Senator Saraki betrays the fact that he is resorting to ethnic and emirate self-help when the spokesperson of the Ilorin Emirate Descendants Progressive Union committed a verbal amphiboly as he could not even remember the name of the Code of Conduct Tribunal. He called it “ Code of Conduct something.” The Ilorin Emirate, speaking through their son said, “we were surprised to hear that you (Saraki) are being asked to come to code of conduct something…(sic)…With God on our side you will come out clean from that something…(sic)”
Between the poor defence of Sarakists such as Olukayode Thomas’ and the clannishness of the Ilorin Emirate Descendants Progressive Union in support of Saraki, it appears that the Senate President, Olubukola Abubakar Saraki has lost all forms of rational justification and has no factual rebuttal of the allegation against him.
The question is: which “something” is the Ilorin Emirate spokesperson, Adi, speaking about? Was Abdulhamid Adi of the Ilorin Emirate Union not properly coached on what to say? If the Ilorin Emirate came on behalf of the Emir of Ilorin (as Adi implied) to show support for Senator Saraki, why did they forget a simple fact about the name of the court before which Senator Saraki has been arraigned?
This embarrassing amphiboly on one hand, and emirate, ethnic and religious self-help on the other hand show Senator Saraki’s desperation which further strengthens the fact that he seemingly has no strong rational and factual defence of the allegation against him beyond appealing irrelevantly to sentiments and ethnicity. Saraki is failing to use the law and the courts to defend himself, while relying on primordial forms of defence. This clannishness and ethnic taunting is an embarrassment from the nation’s number one lawmaker.
Between the poor defence of Sarakists such as Olukayode Thomas’ and the clannishness of the Ilorin Emirate Descendants Progressive Union in support of Saraki, it appears that the Senate President, Olubukola Abubakar Saraki has lost all forms of rational justification and has no factual rebuttal of the allegation against him.
Therefore, since, the Senate ought to be a chamber governed by men and women of high moral virtue and rationality, the Senate President Olubukola Abubakar Saraki ought to resign honourably or be properly and legally impeached in order to save the honour of law making in Nigeria, for the Senate is not an ethnic chamber governed by men and women of sleaze who rely on ethnic and emirate clannishness to survive.
Adeolu Ademoyo, aaa54@cornell.edu, is of the Africana Studies and Research Center, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY.
