The Law Should Not Be Used To Harrass Politicians – Tunde Olawuwo

Ibadan based lawyer, Tunde Olawuwo, has accused President Muhammadu Buhari of unjustly persecuting Senate President Bukola Saraki.

On July 6, 2018, Saraki was cleared of corruption charges by the Supreme Court.

Saraki was immediately dragged before the Code of Conduct Tribunal on charges bordering on false declaration of assets as Governor of Kwara, after he emerged senate president against the APC’s wish in 2015.

Saraki and his horde of supporters often say his trial was a political witch-hunt on account of his emergence as senate president.

In a piece titled Saraki’s Persecution, a waste of time and resources by the Buhari led FG?, Olawuwo takes the reader through what he considers the senate president’s travails at the hands of the presidency.
“Yes, you read that right. I meant and still mean Persecution and not Prosecution.

As a Year 3 Law student, my criminal law lecturer took pains to explain to the class the difference between persecution and prosecution.

On the face of it, one can describe persecution as ‘the unfair or cruel treatment over a long period of time because of race, religion, or political beliefs’ while prosecution is the institution and conduct of legal proceedings against someone in respect of a criminal charge.

From the above definitions, one can decipher, without much ado that one is about using the instrumentality of the law to harass and harangue real and perceived political opponents as well as people that do not agree with them. The greatest example in history? The trials and travails of Jesus Christ. That is persecution.

After defying his party, the political establishment, the president and the so-called Lion of Bourdillon by emerging senate president, it was clear those terrestrial forces were never going to go down without a fight.

Like the proverbial witch that cried yesterday and the child that died today, the federal government slammed a 13-count charge of corruption on the president of the Nigerian senate, Bukola Saraki.”