Bukola Saraki

[21] As governor of Kwara, Saraki led reforms in agriculture, infrastructure,[22] health,[23] education, power generation[24] and environment policy.

One of his major achievements was inviting displaced white farmers from Zimbabwe to Kwara State and offering them an opportunity to farm.

As chairman, Saraki increased his national influence and he led efforts for a more reformed and unified relationship with other states governors.

Senator Saraki has campaigned extensively on health, food security, education and the environment[33] - arguing for strengthened laws on the clean up of oil spills.

[34] Saraki pushed a motion in the Senate to end the fuel subsidy regime in Nigeria, which has been an excessive waste of the country's national resources.

[39][40][41] Saraki had faced stiff opposition from Senator Ahmed Ibrahim Lawan who was a preferred candidate by a group of senators-elect within the APC.

[45] In 2011, Saraki declared his candidacy for the Peoples Democratic Party for the presidential primaries, but later stepped down in support of the northern consensus candidate, Atiku Abubakar.

[49][50][51] As a result of a 2018 anti-Saraki dynasty sentiment called the Ó tó gẹ́ movement, Saraki lost his senatorial seat to APC's Dr. Ibrahim Oloriegbe.

[52][53] In January 2022, Saraki declared he was running for the office of the president under the umbrella of the People's Democratic Party (PDP) for the 2023 General election.

The Directors of Societe Generale Bank would later be accused of mismanagement of depositors funds by Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Chairman Nuhu Ribadu, who was later removed from office.

[68] The EFCC reportedly indicted aides of the Senate President, Bukola Saraki in an alleged laundering of up to N3.5 billion from the Paris Club Loan Refund.

[69] On 5 April 2018, armed robbers attacked five commercial banks in Offa community, Kwara State, killing at least 30 persons, including police officers.

[70] Three years later, petitions were brought forward before the Kwara State Judicial Panel of Enquiry on End SARS on 6 January 2021, by two individuals alleging that officers of the disbanded Special Anti-robbery Squad (SARS) forced them to implicate Bukola Saraki in the 2018 Offa robbery through torture.

Saraki, along with Ahmed and others, were said to have illegally sold government properties outside the state and mismanaged Shonga Farms along with other assets.

[83] Nigerian statutes and code of conduct provisions do not prohibit public officers from taking loans nor purchasing properties in Nigeria or abroad.

Although the CCT judgment discharged Saraki of all 18 count charges on grounds that the prosecution failed to prove its allegations beyond reasonable doubt, the Federal Government of Nigeria, unexpectedly filed an appeal.

The Court of Appeal then ordered the tribunal to try Saraki on three out of the 18 counts amended charges bordering on false declaration of assets brought against him by the Federal Government.

[85] The Appeal Court also held that the prosecution failed to adduce evidence to substantiate the 15 of the counts preferred against Saraki.

[86][87] On Friday, 6 July 2018, the Supreme Court of the Federal Republic of Nigeria dismissed all 18 charges of corruption and false asset declaration brought against Saraki.

Therefore, the court affirmed the June 2017 decision of the Code of Conduct Tribunal which ruled that the prosecution failed to prove the case against Dr.

Foreign Office Minister Mark Simmonds meeting Senator Saraki of Nigeria in London, 26 February 2013.