Tension, anxiety in senate as Saraki keeps date with destiny

As Nigerians await both the resumption of plenary at the senate next week and the full commencement of the trial of Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, at the Code of Conduct Tribunal, any moment from now, SUNDAY ABORISADE reports that uneasy calm pervades the atmosphere at the upper chamber of the nation’s federal parliament.

The Supreme Court verdict of last week Friday which gave a nod to the trial of Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, at the Code of Conduct Tribunal, for allegedly declaring on oath, assets he had yet to acquire as of the time he was sworn-in as the Governor of Kwara State in 2003, has heightened tension and anxiety among members of the red chamber.

The development took everyone by surprise, coming especially at a time when all hands seemed to be on the deck at the upper chamber with all the 65 committees chaired by both loyalists of the senate president and those who are opposed to his leadership, have started carrying on legislative activities in an atmosphere of peace and harmony, putting behind them the leadership crisis that rocked the chamber at inauguration.

Indications that Saraki had fully established himself among his colleagues manifested when no fewer than 83 out of the 109 senators passed a vote of confidence in him in July last year following his prosecution at the CCT.

Some of his loyalists across the All Progressives Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party in the chamber openly mobilised themselves to the court in solidarity and pledged their loyalty.

The Anti-Saraki senators, under the aegis of the Senate Unity Forum, cried foul at the decision of Saraki to continue to preside over the chamber instead of resigning his position on moral grounds having been docked by the tribunal for alleged criminal act.