Bukola Saraki is a man that has against many odds remained as the President of the Senate since June 9, 2015 after deftly emerging victorious in the House elections.

A year into his time as Senate President, Saraki spoke to The Cable about the legacy of the Senate under him, his trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal for false declaration of assets, the focus of his colleagues in the legislative chambers, among other things.

Here are 7 things to note from the interview.

Senate must make a difference

Saraki believes that under his tenure as the leader of the Senate, the legislative chamber must make a difference that can be seen by the electorates.

“I believe that motivates one to see that we must make a difference, we must make a difference. And every day, that is what drives me to say; what do we do today to make a difference; so from that point of view, we will work. I expect this kind of challenges when you’re trying to make a change, especially in the legislative arm, which is where the change is the most because Nigerians are used to the executive. Nigerians are used to the judiciary.”

“The youngest arm of government is the legislature and it is also the one people don’t understand and the one that people cannot see how it connects with their daily lives. An average man or woman in Nigeria knows how the executive affects his or her life.”

 

2. Senate is focusing on the economy

The Senate president revealed what the lawmakers in the House are focused on in unity despite their opposing political party lines.

“If you look at the supplementary budget, that supplement budget under normal circumstance would not have been passed if the senators should go on party lines and platforms which they were elected.”

“If you see what we have done in the past one year despite a lot distraction, you’ll see that it is a senate that has a road-map. We are not just coming to the senate and just jumping from one issue to another, you can see, this is a senate that is focusing largely on the economy, we are focusing on how do we make Nigeria a better place.”

 

3. CCT trial is a huge distraction

Saraki has been on trial at the CCT since 2015 and he admits that it has greatly affected the business of the Senate.

“From what we’re seeing in the court, not my own words, even the word of the witness some of the comments there support what I said. Those of you who were in court, you remember the day the chief witness said that the first time they wrote the committee on federal government implementation of property sale was in August 2015, that’s like two months after I emerged, and to me that was further confirmation of what I said.”

“Which means that prior to then, there was no investigation. As that may be, I see it as a huge distraction because there is more we could be doing in the hours we were losing when we go to court. We have to do that, I want to clear my name as soon as possible, but it is an unfortunate distraction, I think it was ill conceived by those I talked about at that time and of course, as I said it is a huge distraction”

 

4. Senate must look into the Judiciary

When his CCT trial is over, the Senate President wants the House to look into the juduciary so that it is not abused or politicized.
“But it has no deterred us, I believe that we have been able to address and push along our own agenda, after the case is over, I believe that as an institution too we must look into how to strengthen our judiciary and how to ensure that political battles that are lost in the political arena do not find themselves into the judicial arena, it is not good for the system, I think even as you hear people use the word ‘corruption trial’ when actually look at the issue the best you’ll call it is administration misdemeanour… there is nowhere at any time you’re talking about government funds missing somewhere… and when we start to paint the fight against corruption and people begin not be sure whether it is corruption or politics, we do more harm to the fight against corruption.”

 

5. Assembly is not afraid of anybody

“Rest assured that, we have always said this, that this national assembly is not afraid of anybody, this senate is not afraid to say the truth when it is necessary, we’re not afraid of taking on anybody when he or she is not doing the right thing. There are no sacred cows in this business, we know that by doing that the system will come back, this is the promise we made to Nigerians, unless we do this right thing nothing will happen.”

“To us, at the national assembly we’ll make sure that our resolutions will have substance and are transparent, and we’ll ensure that the right thing is done.”

 

6. Transparent NASS

The Senate President had earlier promised that the details of the expenses of the National Assembly would be published after several calls for an Open NASS, he reiterates his promise.

“No. I have not changed my mind. I’m sure they’re in the process of making it available, there is no going back on that, I have already released the figures, I think there is a need for greater awareness, there is no going back on it.”

“That is the minimum… because you can’t be shouting transparency and inside your own house there is no transparency, there is need for a wide coverage and have the documents out there… put it where people can assess it. I think on our website, I’m sure in the next weeks that will be done.”

 

7. No price is too high for peace sake

“On the issue of the Niger Delta, well, we had this kind of problem before in the time of the late President Yar’ Adua and we were able to find a solution that brought peace to the Niger Delta, clearly there is a need for us all to put all hands on deck and bring peace to the Niger Delta.”

“It has been done before, I remember then, I was also chairman governors’ forum, we know the role we played as of that time to ensure that the Yar’ Adua government worked hard towards an amnesty programme to sustain peace in the region.So, the national assembly is available to play its own role to bring about that peace, but it is a priority, and I believe no price is too high for peace sake.”