Dear Abubakar Bukola Saraki
My Distinguished Senator and Senate President: I am forced to send this letter through this media hopefully it will get to you. I have no other means to reach you. I am sending this letter for 3 reasons:
- I was one of those who donated to your Governorship project in 2003 at Muson centre in Lagos. So by that act I had become an investor in the “Bukola Project” and as an investor I should be concerned by the performance of that investment.
- Secondly you raised my hope when you promised real change when you became the Senate president in June last year.
- Thirdly you belong to my generation (those that were born on or after Nigeria independence in 1st October 1960). This is important because if we that took over from fathers who fought for independence could not maintain what they handed over to us, then history will not forgive us.
The purpose of this letter is to let you know that the “Bukola” brand is sickening to the public. Many of your supporters will not agree to this and will continue to nudge you on for their own benefit and will interpret for you what is happening as political persecution.
What made me to come to this conclusion is as follows: The main responsibility of government is to promote peoples’ welfare. What has the National Assembly (NA) contributed to the welfare of the Nigerian people in the light of the amount of money Nigeria spend to maintain NA.
In 2015 appropriation Act, the National Assembly (made up of 469 members) had 150 billion Naira appropriated. This translates on average to N320 million per member per annum. Premium Times did an analysis of this money and showed that this amount could fund 20 Ministries, Departments and parastatals (MDA). For this level of expenditure what service will you say National Assembly has delivered to the Nation?
NA role in government is to make laws for the good of the country. In 2015 according to Policy and legal advocacy Centre, various members in the Senate raised 224 bills. Only 2 bills were passed. One of these bills is an appropriation bill. Will you say spending N320 million on a senator to pass 2 bills in a year is value for money?
Another issue I wish to draw your attention is the issue of budget. Budget is the collective aspiration of the Nigeria people. What is done in other progressive countries is for their Representatives to prepare their own budget, which reflects the wishes of people they represent? When the executive submits its budget this becomes the basis of negotiation just to ensure their people’ deepest need is reflected in the budget. In your case, the NA members have no alternative budget, instead they insert constituency project into the budget prepared by the executive. Discussion on the budget also show that most members do not even read the budget as the whole budget is just outsourced to the appropriation committee.
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Finally this brings me to the issue that really concerned me: your CCT trial. A lot of allegation has been made against you; Money you deposited in your accounts while you were Governor of Kwara, your offshore account, and the allocation of constituency project to yourselves and principal officers. This has dragged you and the institution you lead to public revulsion. Will it not serve you a great honour and in order to salvage the NA if you voluntarily step down from the leadership of the senate in order to devote the time to clear your name? In the next 100 years from now (you will long be gone), children will be reading this story in history books, what kind of opinion will they have about you? Does this not concern you?
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