TheCable

Bukola Saraki, former president of the senate, says the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is on a “wild goose chase.”

Saraki spoke in response to a statement credited to the EFCC.

On Sunday, the anti-graft agency alleged that the former Kwara governor is behind a media campaign against Ibrahim Magu, EFCC acting chairman.

But in a statement on Monday, Yusuph Olaniyonu, Saraki’s media aide, said his principal is not in any media war with anybody.

Olaniyonu also said Saraki is not interested in obstructing investigation by the EFCC or any other agency.

“Dr. Saraki has not engaged in any media war. Rather, Dr. Saraki has been the one at the receiving end of the media onslaught sponsored from the office of the EFCC,” he said.

“Various documents and court processes from the agency have been given to a particular newspaper for publication. In fact, while the EFCC distributed copies of its letter to the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court immediately it was submitted, we are still surprised how Dr. Saraki’s response written early May found its way into a newspaper last Sunday.

“It should be known that if we were interested in leaking the letter, we would not wait for seven weeks to do that. Dr. Saraki believes he is on firm ground on the points of law and has nothing to be afraid of. He is innocent of the charges.

“We make bold to say that it is just on a wild goose chase. That office has nothing to do with contract awards and handling of the finances of the National Assembly.”

The media aide said the probe of Saraki during the time he was governor of Kwara were contained in four charges at the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCT) that have been dismissed.

“That is why we maintain that since the issues have been determined by the courts up to the Supreme Court, the EFCC is just on a persecution and smear campaigns with its current investigations,” he said.

“It is also the reason that Dr. Saraki believes that the current investigation constitutes an infringement on his fundamental human rights

“And in the exercise of his belief in the judiciary, he filed a case seeking the court’s intervention for the protection and enforcement of the rights.”