Senate president, Bukola Saraki, today told the Chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) trying him on false declaration of assets that the chairman lacked moral justification to preside over his trial.Saraki at the resumed hearing insisted that the CCT chairman is under investigation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the same agency that allegedly filed the criminal charges against him.
In a motion on notice argued by Ajibola Oluyede, Saraki claimed that since the EFCC is largely responsible for the trial and also responsible for investigation in the ten million naira bribery allegations against the chairman, there is no way the chairman will be objective and impartial in the prosecution.
Oluyede whose submissions made the CCT chairman very comfortable on several occasions asked Umar to honourably withdraw himself from further participating in Saraki’s trial in the interest of justice.
The counsel insisted that available facts have proved that EFCC was largely responsible for the investigation of Saraki and that it was the same EFCC that filed the charge and allegedly deployed its main lawyer Rotimi Jacobs SAN to prosecute the matter.
Oluyede stood his ground that in the course of the N10million investigation that the CCT chairman has been indicted in a report signed by the EFCC former chairman Ibrahim Larmode and that a purported letter of EFCC clearing the chairman of the allegation after over one year indictment cannot stand on the face of the law because it did not emanate from the Attorney General of the Federation being appropriate authority to make such clearance.
“There is something wrong with EFCC for it to have accused your lordship of having audience with the accused in his chambers and there are circumstantial evidence that your lordship collected bribe, only for them to come out now with a letter of clearance, that is suspicious, cloudy relationship between the EFCC and the Tribunal chairman.
“We do not know what prompted EFCC to recount on the indictment of the CCT chairman when there are sufficient ground for the EFCC to request for the call logs of the conversation of Umar and one Rashidi Taiwo who the ten billion naira bribe was demanded from”, Oluyede submitted.
However in his objection to the motion, the prosecuting counsel Rotimi Jacobs SAN prayed the Tribunal to dismissed the motion for lacking Merit.
He accused the defendant of harassment saying the bill before the Senate is design to whittle down the powers of the CCT chairman.
“The absurdity in this application is that the defendant here is still performing his duty as Senate president while presiding over the Senate as at today.
“It is the defendant rather that has been charged to court. The issues raised in the application are matters of sentiment which has no place on law. Mr. Oluyede has never appeared for Saraki at this tribunal as at the time he filed the motion, he is not a counsel on record as at the day hour filed his motion”, Jacobs argued.
He predicted his case on wrong assumption that EFCC is a party before the Tribunal, the party before the tribunal are the Federal Republic of Nigerian and Bukola Saraki.
