Federal prosecutor Rotimi Jacobs resisted the effort, spiritedly telling the court he was ready for trial.
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Yusuph Olaniyonu, his media adviser, said in a statement issued on Tuesday that the senate president was “glad” that the trial has finally commenced.
He also said that the process of appeal has been transmitted to the CCT and the record of appeal is before the tribunal.
He said on Tuesday he was confident he would be exonerated if the trial was conducted fairly.
The Principles of Fair Hearing requires that he should be allowed to either be properly briefed or for the lead counsel, Mr Kanu Agabi, to be allowed to return and handle the case.
But defence counsel, Mr. Paul Usoro (SAN), urged the tribunal to adjourn the case till a period after the hearing of his client’s motion for stay of proceedings of the CCT which was filed before the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal only on Monday.
Jacobs maintained that the defence only made a decision to file their appeal and motion for stay of proceedings on the eve of the day scheduled for commencement of trial in order to ensure that the trial was stalled.
Saraki, who is facing a 13-count false assets declaration charge, was arraigned before the tribunal late a year ago.
The Senate President was charged before the Code Of Conduct Tribunal, CCT to answer to allegations of corruption leveled against him by the conduct bureau.
The chairman of the tribunal, Danladi Umar, ruled that the application before the Court of Appeal can not stop the commencement of trial based on the provisions of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act.
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The prosecution has been unable to open trial in view of the several huddles raised by Saraki, including challenging the CCT’s jurisdiction, the competence of the charge, the propriety of his trial before the tribunal, among others, up to the Supreme Court.
