Kwara State Rises to Bukola Saraki’s Defence

According to Premium Times report, the Kwara State Government on Wednesday denied that president of the senate, Bukola Saraki, was receiving salaries for four years after his tenure as governor of the state ended.

The government was reacting to the claim of an investigator with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, who testified before the Code of Conduct Tribunal, that Saraki was drawing salary from Kwara Government after he left office in 2011 and had been elected senator.

A statement by the Secretary to State Government, Isiaka Gold, denied the EFCC claims, saying it has only been paying Mr. Saraki’s pension since he left office.

The state government said the last amount it paid Mr. Saraki as salary was N291,474.00 meant for May, 2011 – his last month in office.

“From June 2011, former Governor Saraki started receiving his pension which was N578,188.00 as other past governors in the country.”

The statement added that “after the review of pensions of former political office holders by the State Pension Board, the former governor’s pension increased to N1,239,493.94 monthly from October 2014 to date.

“Kwara State Government, therefore, dismissed as false and misleading the allegation that former Governor Saraki was receiving salaries after the expiration of his two-term tenure as governor of the state.”
The government said it “advised interested stakeholders to seek clarification from appropriate authority to avoid misleading the public.”

Similarly, the Director General of the Abubakar Bukola Saraki Constituency Office, Abdulwahab Isa, explained that since the former governor left office in May 2011, “his pension which was paid into a special account has been managed by a group of trustees and used for education endowment for students across the state.”

The Code of Conduct Tribunal is trying Mr. Saraki for corruption and false declaration of assets charges brought against him by the Code of Conduct Bureau