‘I can be successfully impeached if I interfere in Saraki’s trial’- Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari has denied that he is behind the on-going trial of the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, by the Code of Conduct tribunal for corruption and false declaration of assets, saying he can be impeached if it was discovered that he did it.

Speaking to Sahara Reporters in New York, Buhari said he also cannot order the on-going trial to stop.

“What has the President got to do with it as a person? The case is in court. Do Nigerians expect me to tell the Chief Justice to tell whichever court that they shouldn’t try the Senate president?”, he asked.

“Do Nigerians know about the constitution of their own country? The judiciary, the legislature and the executive have got their own roles within the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Then, how do they expect me to interfere? I can be successfully impeached if I do it.

He also added that his confidence in the senate president will depend on the decision of the tribunal.

He said he maintains a cordial working relationship with the legislator.

“There are some appointments which the Senate has to approve. And I can’t remember how many letters I personally wrote to him, because this is constitutional. There are people I want to work with, I cannot work with them unless the National Assembly approves. So I’ve been writing to the Senate President and to the leader of the House (of Representatives). This is constitutional.”

He also said he believed the media is too inquisitive and advised that journalists should do more investigative journalism rather than “harass” him.

“The media is too inquisitive for my liking (laughing).

“They ask too many questions, and I agonise over this with my adviser on media that especially our own press in Nigeria, why can’t they do more of investigative journalism? “There are a lot of things the media can do without harassing the president. For example,  my assets declaration. I’ve declared my assets four times since the first time I got a political appointment. Why can’t the press go and find out about the previous times? Instead they’re making headlines about my assets.”

On the recovery of stolen assets, the president had this to say:

“I can’t give you figures now, because of the legal implications. It’s much easier to talk about what we’re doing according to documents. For example, every ship that is loading Nigerian crude from our terminals is supposed to record how much it has taken and on behalf of who is lifting it in terms of customer, including whether the crude oil belongs to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation or it belongs to our partners, like Shell, Mobil, Chevron and so on. And then we ask where are they going? Including the facts of the documents like when it was sold and which account the money was going. We have gone quite far and a number of countries have cooperated with us. In fact, again we try to get more facts from Lloyd’s of London, that is the famous shipping line insurance brokers. Because some people would take petroleum from terminals, and then change the receipt, change its direction, and put the money into individual accounts. So we want those documents in our hands so we can successfully prosecute those who have been stealing Nigerian crude. We can’t mention the details because it may compromise the legal processes, but definitely, we have done a lot of work and very soon the processes of prosecution will start.”