Halt my Thursday CCT trial, Saraki asks S’Court

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Senate President Bukola Saraki has initiated fresh legal moves to stall the proceedings of the Code of Conduct Tribunal in Abuja, where his trial on 13 counts of false assets declaration is scheduled to commence on Thursday (tomorrow).

The Senate President’s fresh application for stay of proceedings was anchored on the grounds that he had appealed against the October 30, 2015 judgment of the Court of Appeal in Abuja which affirmed the jurisdiction of the CCT to try him for the alleged offences.

He filed the application for stay of proceedings before the Supreme Court on Tuesday seeking an order halting his trial before the CCT pending the apex court’s determination of his appeal.

His prayer in the application a copy of which was sighted by our correspondent on Tuesday, read, “An order staying further proceedings in Charge No: CCT/ABJ/01/2015 between the Federal Republic of Nigeria vs Dr. Olubukola Abubakar Saraki fixed for hearing on 5th and 6th of November, 2015 pending the determination of the appeal pending before the Supreme Court against the judgment of the Court of Appeal dated 30th October, 2015.”

A 17-paragraph affidavit deposed to by a lawyer in one of the legal firms handling Saraki’s case, Mr. Adekola Olawoye, read, “That it would be in the interest of justice to stay proceedings at the Code of Conduct Tribunal in order not to foist on the appellant/applicant (Saraki) a fait accompli if the appeal before the Supreme Court is upheld.”

The Justice Umar Danladi-led CCT panel had on October 21 adjourned till October 5 to await the judgment of the Court of Appeal which was eventually delivered on October 30.

Justice Danladi had while adjourning the case said it would proceed to trial if the judgment of the appeal court affirmed the jurisdiction of the tribunal.

The Court of Appeal’s two-to-one split decision had affirmed the tribunal’s jurisdiction but one of Saraki’s lead counsel, Mr. Mahmud Magaji (SAN), told our correspondent on Tuesday that with the application for stay of proceedings filed before the Supreme Court, the tribunal could no longer proceed with the trial scheduled for Thursday.

“Since there is already a valid appeal before the Supreme Court and a motion for stay of proceedings already filed, the tribunal cannot continue. That is the position of the law, except if the law has changed,” Magaji said.

The Federal Government’s lawyer, Mr. Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), could not be reached on Tuesday as call put to his phone was not answered.

Saraki raised seven grounds of appeal in his notice of appeal attached to the application for stay of proceedings, urging the Supreme Court to set aside the judgment of the Court of Appeal, the entire proceedings of the CCT and the charges preferred against him before the tribunal.

His lawyer, Mr. Joseph Daudu (SAN), urged the apex court to set aside the judgment of the appeal court on the grounds that it erred in law when it affirmed the competence of the proceedings of the Code of Conduct Tribunal, which sat on the appellant’s case with only two members as against the three provided for in the provisions of Paragraph 15(1) of the Fifth Schedule to the 1999 Constitution.

Source: Punch