Go and defend yourself, Buhari tells Saraki

President Muhammadu Buhari has described as unacceptable the attempts to link him to the ongoing trial of Senate President Bukola Saraki.

Advising Saraki to assemble a team of good lawyers to defend him at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), Buhari said he was not out to persecute him or anyone.

The president said the tribunal was only performing its constitutional function, saying he could not be of help to Saraki by asking the CCT not to investigate him.

Buhari said this in a statement issued on Sunday by Garba Shehu, his senior special assistant on media and publicity.

“Let them hire a good team of lawyers to prove their innocence,” the statement read.

“This is purely a judicial process and has nothing to do with the presidency.

“Government has no desire to persecute anybody. The president has vowed to respect the rule of law and this is what he is doing by staying out of this matter. He has said times without number that the war against corruption has no sacred cows.

“Even if the president wants to help, there is no way he can do anything. Is he going to ask the judge to stop the trial?”

There have been reports that some chieftains of of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) are behind the travails of the senate president as result of the leadership crisis that rocked the 8th assembly.

Both Saraki and Buhari are not on speaking terms.