Open the Prison's Gate, I Am Ready to Go to Jail - Saraki

The President of the Senate, Dr Bukola Saraki, said he was ready to lose his freedom to entrench democracy and stabilise governance in the country.

This is contained in a statement signed by him and issued on Monday in Abuja.

Saraki was reacting to the trial of the leadership of the Senate, which began on Monday, over alleged forgery of the 2015 Senate Standing Orders.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that a Federal High Court in Abuja granted bail to Mr. Saraki, his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu and two others over the alleged forgery.

A Government Within the Government of President Buhari, Saraki's Statement on Commencement of Trial at FCT High Court

Abuja, Nigeria, June 27---Today we the leaders of the Nigerian Senate reiterate our innocence against the charges filed by the Attorney General of the Federal Government of Nigeria at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court on the allegations of forgery of the Senate Standing Rules document.

In our view, the charges filed by the Attorney General represent a violation of the principle of the Separation of Powers between the Executive Branch and the Legislative Branch as enshrined in our Constitution. Furthermore, it is farcical to allege that a criminal act occurred during Senate procedural actions and the mere suggestion demonstrates a desperate overreach by the office of the Attorney General. These trumped up charges is only another phase in the relentless persecution of the leadership of the Senate

This misguided action by the Attorney General begs the question, how does this promote the public interest and benefit the nation? At a time when the whole of government should be working together to meet Nigeria’s many challenges, we are once again distracted by the Executive Branch’s inability to move beyond a leadership election among Senate peers. It was not an election of Senate peers and Executive Branch participants.