Former Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki has alleged that the EFCC under Ibrahim Magu wanted to destroy his reputation through series of false allegation and court cases in the past five years.
He said while he holds no grudge against any individual for their role in his trials, he however, pointed out that his experiences had strengthened his faith in Almighty Allah.
Saraki who disclosed this in a statement he personally signed on Thursday, and published by Daily Trust, also said his recent victory against the EFCC at the Federal High Court, Lagos, following the dismissal of the application by the EFCC for forfeiture order on his Ilorin home in Kwara State, should be seen as a wakeup call for the EFCC that "serious issue like the fight against corruption should not be reduced to a forum-shopping means to execute personal vendetta or prosecute parochial agenda.”
He said, “I have endured and defeated one false allegation and malicious litigation after another, in an ill-motivated persecution, intimidation and harassment, through which some vested interests sought to damage my name and label me with charges of corruption but with the grace of Allah, I have always been victorious.
“I thank God for the outcome of this case which is the fifth victory in cases in which the EFCC was either the main investigating agency or the plaintiff."
“Fighting corruption and combating economic crime requires stakeholders to eschew coercion while employing upright diligence, due process, fairness, equity and broad mindedness in dealing with all cases and persons,” Saraki said.
“With today’s decision of the Court, it is my expectation that the EFCC which has played significant roles in the various court cases against me from the CCT to Supreme Court and back at the Federal High Court, with the consequent media trial and malicious campaigns, will now leave me alone to live my life, and enjoy my unfettered rights to freedom of thought, expression, association, occupation and dignity, as a private citizen and focus on serious issues of national development,” Saraki added.
