A pressure group, Children’s Right to Education and Advancement (CREA) has berated former senate president Abubakar Bukola Saraki over his resort to emotional blackmail in the matter of the diversion of UBEC funds.
In a statement issued by the spokesperson of CREA, AbdulKadir Suleiman, the group said Saraki’s court threat is nothing but a distraction, adding that people are used to such tales by moonlight to divert attention from the substance of the matter.
According to the group, Saraki cannot be shielded from the mess that happened with the UBEC grant in Kwara State under the last administration because Abdulfatai Ahmed who governed the state when the scandal occurred is his stooge.
“We are appalled to see former senate president Abubakar Bukola Saraki trying to distance himself from the mess that happened with UBEC funds under the last administration where billions of naira were diverted. Is Saraki trying to exonerate himself from a government he was part and parcel of? Abdulfatai Ahmed was known to everyone to be a proxy of Saraki and a footsoldier of the Saraki dynasty. This was definitely the failure of their dynasty.
“They have been unable to explain the rationale behind their diversion of UBEC funds, leading to the blacklist of our state for over 7 years. Saraki is expected to be ashamed of this and just keep mum and apologize to the people. But he is still trying to engage in emotional blackmail. The future of our children have long been stolen because of this cruel diversion. Our basic schools were in tatters and disrepair, unconducive for learning. It was Governor AbdulRazaq that came to clear this mess. Everyone knows this story but the Sarakis don’t like when it is told to the world. It betrays their crime against children and future leaders.
“The over 16 years spent by the Saraki dynasty in Kwara State is a total waste as the fortunes and gains of our people were reversed under their high-handed reign. Across sectors, there is nothing significant they were able to achieve except the trails of corruption, impunity and human degradation and underdevelopment they left behind. They couldn’t pay workers’ salaries, entitlements; pensions and gratuities. They left all our waterworks in moribund. They sold public assets to themselves, among many other atrocities. All these should be enough shame for them. What they do is to take the glory of federal government funded projects in the state. All their own projects facilitated from the bond and loans collected are failures and creating huge debts and problems for the state.
“We advise the people of Kwara State to ignore the cheap emotional blackmail of Saraki. They have the responsibility to explain to the public what happened to UBEC funds and why Kwara was blacklisted, leading to underdevelopment of schools and poor learning. They always have to cover their failure up with widespread malpractices during external exams. People will recall that Kwara was also sanctioned and fined by WAEC for widespread malpractices. It was Governor AbdulRazaq that also paid this fine. These are the records of the Saraki dynasty. They failed woefully on all fronts and are resorting to distractions. We reject this distraction in totality.”
