BUKOLA SARKI: Appeal Court declines to stop Saraki’s CCT trial

The Court of Appeal yesterday refused to stop the trial of Senate President Bukola Saraki before the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT).

In a unanimous judgment, a five-man panel of the Abuja division dismissed an appeal by Saraki, describing it as an abuse of court’s process and a bid to evade trial before the CCT.

The judgment was one of the many appeals filed by Saraki, challenging the jurisdiction of the CCT to try him on charges of false assets declaration.

The judgment has effectively resolved all issues surrounding the jurisdiction of the CCT to try the case against the senate president.

This is the second time the court has ruled against Saraki in his challenge of the tribunal’s jurisdiction to try him.

The court had in a judgment on October 30, 2015, dismissed an appeal by Saraki on the jurisdiction of the CCT. The court asked him to submit himself for trial on the 16-count charge brought against him.

The October 30 judgment of the Appeal Court was upheld by the Supreme Court in a judgment delivered on February 5 in an appeal by Saraki.

Justice Abdul Aboki, who read the lead judgment yesterday, affirmed the jurisdiction of the CCT to try Saraki based on the charge brought against him by the office of the Attorney General of the Federation.

The court upheld an earlier ruling of the Danladi Umar-led CCT that the tribunal had the requisite jurisdiction to try Saraki.

It held that the AGF acted within his statutory powers in filing the charge.