‘’Kwara Must Change’’ a popular Pro-Democracy group in Kwara State, has called for the immediate arrest of the Senate President, Bukola Saraki to unravel the source of the N12 billion Saraki claimed to have used to sponsor the 2015 general election.
The group, through a released signed by its State Coordinator, Yusuf Olohuntoyin during the weekend noted that several billions of naira belonging to the people of Kwara have been diverted into a personal pocket over the years and it is time to account for them.
In an audio record widely circulated on social media during the week, Saraki was heard telling his supporters that he spent between N200million to 400million in 30 states of the federation to sponsor election of President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015.
According to him, the only place he didn’t spend such money is in South West.
Kwara Must Change noted that spending between N200 million to N400 million in 30 states of the federation amounted to over N12billion and we are forced to ask for an investigation into the source of the huge money.
This is necessary because ‘’In the past 16 years, Bukola Saraki has been in government, serving two terms as Kwara State governor, senator and now as Senator President and should all his income as a public official be collated within the period in question, assuming all his salaries are saved, it is still not up to the over N12billion he claimed to have spent on sponsoring election in 2015’’.
It is on this basis that Kwara Must Change strongly believes that the fund in question is probably a stolen fund from the people of Kwara and we call for a thorough investigation to ascertain this fact, it said.
‘’It is important to note that, Saraki has been accused of engaging in several questionable dealings over the years. He reportedly awarded a water project of over N4billion in 2003 and till this day, there was no sign of the project’’.
‘’We believe all such funds may have been diverted into personal pocket’’.
Yusuf also queried that, considering the fact that several states were supporting President Buhari in 2015, how come it became a task for Bukola Saraki to sponsor Buhari’s campaign in 30 states?
According to Yusuf, ‘’ Kwara Must Change doubt the claim because, the governor of oil-rich Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi who was also the Director General of Buhari Campaign organization, Governor of Imo State, Rochas Okorocha, Governor of Edo, Adams Oshiomole, Governor of Kano and several other rich states who played prominent role in the election of President Buhari could not have relied on sponsorship from a certain Saraki to support their candidate.
‘’So, we strongly doubt the claim made by Saraki, but we believe he should be immediately arrested to shed more light on his claim and a thorough investigation should be conducted to establish the facts” the group said.