Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

News

Saraki to Challenge Appeal Court Judgment at Supreme Court

Senate President Bukola Saraki

Yemi Adebowale

Nigeria’s Senate President, Bukola Saraki is proceeding to the Supreme Court to challenge a court of appeal ruling on Friday that threw out his bid to stop his corruption trial for alleged false declaration of assets.

In a contentious ruling on Friday, the appeal court dismissed the appeal from Bukola Saraki that the Code of Conduct Tribunal was not properly constituted and lacked competence to hear the proceedings.

Whereas Justice Moore Adumein dismissed the appeal that was lodged by Saraki as lacking in merit, another member of the panel, Justice ‎ J.E. Ekanem upheld the appeal, declaring the charge before the CCT as incompetent.

Justice Ekanem specifically quashed the charge and discharged Saraki on the basis that the Deputy Director at the Ministry of Justice, M. M. S. Hassan who signed the charge, did not specify who authorised him to initiate the ‎criminal proceeding.

“A look at the charge showed that Mr. Hassan instituted the action pursuant to section 24 of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act, 2004 which permits only the Attorney General of the Federation to initiate criminal proceedings”.

Justice Ekanem stressed that though the constitution permits the Solicitor-General of the Federation, SGF, to commence criminal action in the absence of the AGF, he said that Hassan failed to produce any document showing that he was properly authorised by th‎e SGF.

“The opening paragraph of the letter Hassan sent to the CCT on September 11, wherein he applied to commence trial against the appellant is very instructive.

“He merely said ‘ I am authorised to file this action’ but did not say that he was authorised by the Solicitor-General. He went short of identifying who authorised him.

“It is therefore my view that the charge before the tribunal is incompetent. It is for this view that I hold that this appeal has succeeded and I hereby set-aside the charge and discharge the accused person”, ‎Justice Ekanem held.

However, the third member of the panel , Justice M. Mustapha, concurred with the lead verdict which declined to quash the charge against Saraki.

Earlier, leader of the panel, Justice Adumein dismissed Saraki’s appeal, saying he should go to the tribunal to answer the charge against him.

He held that Justice Danladi Umar-led tribunal was properly constituted to try the offences against Saraki, noting that he was not charged in his official capacity, but as an individual.

‎Justice Adumein placed reliance on paragraph 15(1) of the Fifth Schedule to the 1999 Constitution and section 20(2) of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act, 2004, ‎and held that the two-man panel of Justices at the tribunal formed a quorum to entertain the charge.

“The above provisions are very clear and unambiguous and should be given their ordinary meaning. This is in line with ‎the golden rule of interpretation. There is no provision on minimum number of members which the tribunal must have before it can sit to hear cases”.

Justice Adumein held that the charge was competently instituted, saying the tribunal had the requisite powers to issue bench warrant against Saraki.

He dismissed all five grounds of appeal that Saraki filed before the court for want of merit.

Saraki had gone before the appellate court to query the legality of the charge against him.

As leader of the upper chamber of parliament, Saraki is Nigeria’s third most senior politician behind President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo.

Saraki was arraigned last month before the tribunal on a 13-count charge alleging false declaration of assets while he was governor of Kwara State.

He denied the charges and the case was adjourned pending the appeal.

Saraki’s lawyer, Mahmud Mogaji, told the judges on Friday they will challenge the judgment at the Supreme Court.

 

__________

Follow us on Twitter at @thesignalng

Copyright 2015 SIGNAL. Permission to use portions of this article is granted provided appropriate credits are given to www.signalng.com and other relevant sources.

Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Advertisement

Related

News

The Supreme Court, on Friday, dismissed an appeal by a former member of the House of Representatives, Farouk Lawan, against the judgments of the...

News

The city of Kano has erupted in celebrations after the Supreme Court reversed judgements by the Court of Appeal and Election Petitions Tribunal sacking...

News

The Supreme Court has upheld the election of Abba Yusuf as Governor of Kano State, reversing the decision of the Court of Appeal and...

News

The Supreme Court will deliver judgements on governorship appeals in Kano, Plateau, Lagos, Zamfara, Ebonyi, Bauchi and Cross River states today. Of the seven...

Copyright ©