The attack by Mallam El-Rufai is nothing but a �revisionist antic� of an �empty

propaganda political machine which has no achievements to show. If President

Was it not in the 2nd term of President Buhari that Nigeria was adjudged the
poverty capital of the World ? Was Bukola Saraki the Senate President then ?

Has Mallam Elrufai forgotten so soon the role that Bukola Saraki in Nigeria's
procurement of Super Tucano fighter jets from the United States in 2017 ? That the
US had refused to sell equipment because Nigeria was then categorized as one of
those nations whose military engaged in rights abuse, a violation of the Leahy�s
law.

How did El-Rufai forget that in April 12, 2017, Saraki had held a closed-door
meeting with then US ambassador to Nigeria, Stuart Symington where the sale of the
Tucano Jets was discussed.

Also, on August 28, 2017, three days after Buhari notified the Nigerian Senate of
the proposed sale of the Tucano Jets and three weeks after the Trump government
briefed the American legislature about it, Saraki again received in the audience an
8-man US Congressional delegation headed by Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware in the
National Assembly.

The 8th Senate Saraki gave support to the transaction and guaranteed to the
visiting Congressmen that it would intensify oversight over the military to ensure
there was no repeat of violation of citizens� rights.

Dr. Bukola Saraki further pushed the Buhari administration to speedily conclude all
the formalities and make payment in respect of the 12 A29 Super Tucano Aircraft so
that the military could be stronger in confronting insurgents.

On Corruption the former Senate President has this to say; There is no doubt that
there are corrupt people around the system. If the President is fighting corruption
truly, I am baffled how a member of his government who was found wanting, up till
today, no charge, no prosecution,� the senate president said.

�To me, once you can do that, you lose integrity, the moral high ground to say you
are fighting corruption. You must show that nobody is above the law, you must show
that no matter how close anybody is to you that you�ll take action and that�s not
happening,� he said.

Responding to a question on whether the president himself is corrupt, Mr Saraki

�Based on the action I�ve seen, yes his government is corrupt if you are not taking
action when people are corrupt. Why condoning it?

�It will be right to say the government of Buhari is corrupt. If you are the head
of a government, you take responsibility. So, anything that is done by a government
that is corrupt and action is not being taken by the head of that, then the
government is corrupt.�

�A government comes into power and says I will create jobs. Instead of creating it
has lost jobs up to 20 million. It now blames it on the government of 16 years ago.
No. You came into government, you said this is what I promise and you did not
deliver. To now blame that on a government that was there before is no excuse. If
you cannot create new jobs, at least sustain the existing ones.�
�In 2015, one of the areas we labelled the Jonathan government of corruption was
the issue of fuel subsidy scam. One of the major issues that came up then was that
we were importing fuel based on our assumption of 30 million consumption daily and
all experts will tell you that Nigeria cannot consume maximum 22 million litres per
day.

�At that time, we said the Jonathan government was corrupt. You will then think
that a government that was to fight corruption, different leakages will ensure that
the subsidy is better managed.

�Instead of bringing down the 30 million, the government is doing 50 million. We

�I said it last year that you must bring subsidy into the budget. NNPC convinced
the President to say it is not subsidy but under-recovery. It is not subsidy. What
is under-recovery? Finally, in 2019 the president decided to bring it. He should
have done that all along,� he said.

The eighth Senate, under the watch of Dr. Bukola Saraki, staved off impeachment
proceedings against President Muhammadu Buhari for spending $496,374,470 on Tucano
Jets without legislative approval.

The 8th Senate under the leadership of Dr. Bukola Saraki did not reject the request
of President Muhammadu Buhari to access $1Bn for the purchase arms to fight
insecurity in the country, Saraki merely insisted that the Executive follow due
process provided by the nation�s Constitution.

The 8th Senate never rejected any fund request for security but only insisted that
the due process provided by the Constitution of the Federal Republic should be
adhered to even by the Executive branch.�

�On Wednesday, the 25th of April 2018, the then-President of the Senate, Sen. Dr.
Abubakar Bukola Saraki, read a letter from President Muhammadu Buhari, which stated
that he had granted �anticipatory approval� for the release of $496,374,470. These
funds were said to have been paid directly to the Treasury of the United States
(U.S.) government.

�However, in line with the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,
which is the overarching legal framework on which our republic is founded, the
powers of appropriation are specifically and only conferred on the National
Assembly in Sections 80 to 84. Additionally, nowhere in our Constitution is the
principle of �anticipatory approval� provided for. This means, that Mr. President
did not follow the proper procedure during this Constitutionally-flawed and
thoroughly unprecedented �anticipatory approval.� Still, the National Assembly went
ahead to approve the money that the executive has started disbursing without
approval. Thus, $1billion was approved by the 8th National Assembly.�

We all need to remember that at this time, based on allegations of human rights
violations by the Military, there was a U.S. Government ban on the sale of
offensive equipment to Nigeria in compliance with the Leahy�s Law. �However, it was
only after the U.S. Congressional Delegation met with the Nigerian National
Assembly delegation in Nigeria on Monday, August 28th, 2017, that reassurances were
made by the Nigerian Senate President on behalf of the National Assembly � that the
Nigerian National Assembly delegation promised that it would look into the
allegations of human rights violations, and work to prevent any future recurrence.

�It was at this time that the U.S. Congressional delegation, which was led by
Senator Chris Coons and Ambassador Symington agreed to make the lifting of the U.S
ban on the sale of military hardware to Nigeria one of their priorities. It was
after this meeting that the U.S. Congress recommended the sale of the Tucano Jets
to Nigeria to President Trump.�

Another step taken by the 8th Senate, he said was to invite the then Service Chiefs
on several occasions to discuss funding of their operations with them at plenary.

�It is important to note that in order to ensure that the Nigerian Armed Forces
were properly equipped, the 8th Nigerian Senate invited the Service Chiefs on
several occasions to the plenary to discuss funding for their operations, and to
ensure that they were well-equipped to handle the necessary security challenges.�
According to him, dates and occasions to recall were �February 3rd, 2016, when the
leadership of the Senate and chairmen of committees relating to security agencies
held a meeting with heads of the military;

�On the 8th and 12th of February � when the Senate held a special security summit
attended by the Service Chiefs, the NSA, and Vice-President, Yemi Osinbajo and
other key stakeholders in the national security architecture and the international
community to discuss the security situation in the country;

�On the 23rd of May 2018, when the Senate asked the National Security Adviser (NSA)
and the Service Chiefs to present it with its funding requirements � giving our
armed forces an almost �blank cheque.� This Security Summit came up with a 21-point
recommendation which were subsequently forwarded to the Presidency for
implementation.�

The 8th Senate under the leadership of Dr. Bukola Saraki considered over 101
security-related motions/point of orders in 4-years; the 8th Senate referred 57
security-related matters to its relevant committees; the 8th Senate decided 42
security-related matters on the Senate Plenary floor; the 8th Senate had 38
security-sector interventions in the form of Bills; and it also held 14
public/investigative hearings on security-related issues over its 4-year tenure.�