A seven-man panel of the Supreme Court, on Friday, struck out the appeal brought before it by the Senate President Bukola Saraki, challenging his trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal.
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Saraki faces 13 charges of alleged asset declaration fraud from his time when he was governor of the western state of Kwara.
He noted that “the terminologies and phrases used in the CCT Act, such as “arraignment”, “arrest”, “taking plea”, “guilty” and “conviction” are associated with criminal proceedings”.
Saraki took his case to the Supreme Court following the verdict of the Court of Appeal in which two out of three-man panel ruled that his trial at CCT was in order.
Alternatively, he wants the court to uphold the dissenting verdict of the third member of the appellate court panel, Justice Joseph Ekanem, who not only voided the 13-count criminal charge before the CCT, but also discharged him.
The court dismissed the appeal for lacking in merit.
Saraki was accused to have deliberately manipulated the assets declaration form by making anticipatory declarations, aside the allegation that he operated a foreign bank account while in office as a public servant.
He said the tribunal, which docked the Senate President on 22 September and 21 October was properly constituted, thus trashing one of the grounds of the objections to the trial by Senate President and his lawyers.
Nevertheless, Saraki, through his team of lawyers, led by Chief J.B. Daudu (SAN), went before the apex court to challenge the competence of the charge, which he said ought to be quashed for want of merit.
The aide, Ali Abdullahi, is facing a two-count charge for allegedly providing false information to the EFCC during the commission’s investigation of a case of false asset declaration by a former official of the Nigerian Customs Service, Rasheed Owolabi.
He also held that by the provisions of Section 174(1) and (2) of the Constitution, where there is no substantive AGF, any law officer in the office of the AGF could validly file charges.
The Senate leader has said the charges are politically motivated.
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Mr. Saraki appealed to the Supreme Court on November 4, 2015.
