Senator Bukola Saraki in the dock
Saraki who refrained from mentioning any name claims that because he objected to the aspiration of some persons to be running mate to Buhari in the run up to the 2015 general election, he is being prosecuted.
Responding to an open letter by Dele Momodu, Saraki wrote on his ongoing trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal, stressing that, it is not a corruption matter as many have come to realise.
On the issue of a Muslim-Muslim ticket he said: “I have also been accused of helping to frustrate some people’s opportunity to emerge as President Muhammadu Buhari’s running mate. But I have no problem with anybody. My concern was that it would not be politically smart of us to run with a Muslim-Muslim ticket.
READ: I never struck a deal with PDP to be senate president, says Saraki
“I doubt if we would have won the election if we had done this, especially after the PDP had successfully framed us a Muslim party. I felt we were no longer in 1993.”
“Perhaps, more than ever before, Nigerians are more sensitive to issues of religious balancing. This, my brother, was my original sin,” he said.
READ: Why I fell out with President Jonathan – Saraki
Adding that, “What they say to themselves, among other things, was that if he could conspire against our ambition, then he must not realize his own ambition as well. For me however, I have no regrets about this. I only stood for what I believed was in the best interest of the party and in the best interest of Nigeria.”
It would be recalled that following Muhammadu Buhari’s emergence as the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) the battle for who will be his running mate was a hot topic among party leaders.
Many reports claimed that former Lagos state governor, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, a Muslim had insisted on being Buhari’s running mate but was vehemently opposed by many including Saraki.
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