The Supreme Court will today (Friday)
decide whether or not the trial of the Senate President, Dr. Bukola
Saraki, on charges of false assets declaration before the Code of
Conduct Tribunal, should continue......
A five-man panel of the apex court led
by Justice Dattijo Muhammad fixed July 6 for judgment after parties to
the case adopted their appeal briefs on April 12.
The court is to rule on whether or not
there is sufficient evidence to warrant the need for the trial before
the CCT to continue.
The Danladi Umar-led CCT had, in June last year, terminated the trial upon an application by Saraki.
The CCT’s decision was based on the
grounds that the prosecution, with its four witnesses and 49 exhibits
tendered, failed to show any credible evidence linking Saraki to the 18
counts preferred against him.
The 18 counts bordered on Saraki’s
alleged false assets declaration and other breaches of the code of
conduct for public officers.
The tribunal had ruled that in the
absence of any credible evidence to support the charges, there was no
basis to call upon the Senate President to enter his defense.
However, the Court of Appeal in Abuja
ruling on December 12, 2017, in an appeal filed by the Federal
Government against the decision of the CCT, restored three out of the
dismissed 18 counts and ordered Saraki to return to the CCT to defend
the three charges.
But both Saraki and the Federal Government were dissatisfied with separate parts of the Court of Appeal’s judgment.
While Saraki had appealed to the Supreme
Court against the part of the Court of Appeal’s decision restoring
three of the 18 counts, the Federal Government had cross-appealed
against the part of the decision affirming the tribunal’s dismissal of
the rest of the 15 counts.
At the hearing of Saraki’s appeal and
the Federal Government’s cross-appeal on April 12, the lawyers
representing both sides argued against each other’s appeals and in
support of their individual cases.
No comments: