Justice Danladi Umar of the Code of
Conduct Tribunal on Friday in Abuja ordered a bench warrant against the
Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, for failing to appear and answer
charges over alleged false declaration of assets.
The judge specifically ordered the
Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Solomon Arase or other security
agencies to arrest Saraki and produce him in court on Monday to take
plea in the 13-count charge slammed on him by the Federal Government.
But Saraki’s lead counsel and former
President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Mr. Joseph Daudu, has filed
an appeal asking the court to set aside the ruling.
He
said, “It is trite that when an accused files an application
challenging the jurisdiction of a court/tribunal to adjudicate on the
charge brought before it, the accused need not be present in court.”
Daudu said the trial judge erred in law
and “acted without jurisdiction by countenancing and assuming
jurisdiction over the criminal trial/prosecution of the
accused/appellant at the Code of Conduct Tribunal for a charge, which is
being challenged at the FHC, Abuja in suit No: FHC/ABJ/CS/775/2015
between Dr. Olubukola Abubakar Saraki vs Ministry of Justice and three
others and in disobedience of the order of the FHC, Abuja Division dated
September 17, 2015.”
He sought an order setting aside the ruling of the lower tribunal dated September 18, 2015.
The Federal Government had, on September
11, filed a 13-count charge against Saraki before the CCT and the case
fixed for Friday (yesterday) for his arraignment.
According to the suit filed at the CCT,
allegations against Saraki include failure to declare property on Plot
2A, Glover Road, Ikoyi, Lagos; failure to declare property on No 1,
Tagus Street, Maitama, Abuja (Plot 2482, Cadastral Zone A06, Abuja) and
failure to declare property No 3, Tagus Street, Maitama, Abuja (Plot
2481, Cadastral Properties Limited).
Others are claiming to own property on
No 42, Gerard Road, Ikoyi and earning N110, 000,000 per annum at a time
the property was under construction; failure to declare N375m GTB loan
converted to 1.5m Pound Sterling and used to purchase property in
London; operating a foreign bank account; transfer of $3.4m from GTB to
foreign bank account during his tenure as governor and failure to
declare leasehold interest in No. 42, Remi Fani-Kayode Street, Ikeja.
Saraki was also alleged to have made
anticipatory asset declaration of a house in Ikoyi in his asset
declaration form he submitted to the CCB in 2003.
But in an effort to stop his
arraignment, Saraki approached the Federal High Court in Abuja with an
ex-parte application seeking to restrain the Federal Government, Code of
Conduct Bureau and CCT from arraigning him.
In his ruling, Justice Ahmed Mohammed
had summoned the chairman of CCB, Mr. Sam Saba, and a Deputy Director in
the Federal Ministry of Justice, Muslim Hassan, to appear before it on
Monday to show cause why Saraki’s application should not be granted.
When the matter came up on Friday before the tribunal, the accused person was represented by Daudu and Mahmud Magaji.
The prosecuting counsel (Hassan) argued that the accused was not in court despite the fact that he was served with the summons.
He however prayed the tribunal to issue a bench warrant on Saraki for disobedience of court orders.
Hassan said, “I am surprised that the
accused is not in court because he has been served with the summons.
They exhibited it in their process, yet he is not here. In the
circumstances, we humbly apply that a bench warrant be issued on the
accused for disobedience of court orders. This court is constitutionally
empowered; we apply that a bench warrant be issued, we can even give
him two hours for us to be able to process the bench warrant.”
But Magaji opposed the application,
stating that the charge and the prosecution lack validity to come before
the court on the ground that there is no incumbent Attorney-General of
the Federation and Minister of Justicesource
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