Saraki condemns Tribunal’s ‘disregard’ for court order over arrest warrant
Saraki
The Senate President, Sen. Bukola Saraki on Friday condemned the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) for what he described as a “disregard” for the order of the Federal High Court, Abuja, that mandated the CCT to suspend hearing till Monday on the charges of false declaration of assets levelled against the him by Code of Conduct Bureau.
The senate president was responding to the order of his arrest issued by the CCT.
The court ordered Saraki to put the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB), which proffered the 13-count charge against him, on notice to appear before it on September 21, 2015 to show cause why it should not be restrained from arraigning the embattled Senate president over the said charge.
In a statement signed by his special adviser (Media and Publicity), Yusuph Olaniyonu, Saraki said he approached the court to adjudicate on the matter because he was convinced that he would not be “given justice” at the Tribunal.
“While the Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, had stated and maintains that he is ready to submit himself to due process of the law on any issue concerning him, he also believes he has an inalienable right to resort to the same judiciary for protection when he feels his fundamental rights are about to be infringed upon.
“It is for this reason that Dr. Saraki, having satisfied himself that the case filed by the CCB and the manner in which the case was filed show that he will not be given justice, resorted to the Federal High Court for the determination of the issues of competence of the prosecutor as well as compliance with the procedure stipulated in the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act.
“The Federal High Court on Thursday, September 17, 2015, therefore ordered that the all parties in the case should appear before it on Monday, September 21, 2015. The implication of this ruling by a Court of competent jurisdiction is that the sitting today has been overtaken by event. It is for this reason that Dr. Saraki chose to go about with his normal official schedule.”
Olaniyonu said the motion raised by counsel to the senate president Mr. M. A. Mahmud (SAN), that there was a pending constitutional matter before the Federal High Court to be decided on Monday and that the Tribunal should hold the trial until the constitutional matter was disposed of was disregarded by the Tribunal.
He said it was shocking that the Tribunal decided to issue a bench warrant of arrest on the senate president after the application by the counsel to produce the senate president at the Tribunal on Monday was ignored, a moved he described as undemocratic.
“It is also a surprise to us that despite the application by the lead counsel to the Senate President that he will produce Dr. Saraki on Monday and the personality of the person involved as the Number three man in the country, the Tribunal insisted on issuing a warrant of arrest as if its intention is simply to embarrass Dr. Saraki. We are not unmindful of the fact that the Tribunal is acting under political influence and external pressure. This is dangerous to our democracy.
“The conduct of the Tribunal today left nobody in doubt that it cannot do justice on the matter before it. It is also clear that today’s decision is an abuse of the rule of law which portends danger to our judicial system. The Tribunal has equally set a bad precedent in the way and manner it conducted itself during the proceedings.
“We want to emphasise the fact that this is not part of any war against corruption but using state institutions to fight political opponents and seeking to achieve through the back door what some people cannot get through democratic process.”
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15 Comments
Obey before complain.
The goal of APC is to force the Senate to change its Leadership. If Saraki is forced out, PDP members in APC will cling the Leadership and form the majority in Senate and simply re-elect Saraki or Ekweremamandu. Big gamble by APC.
Saraki is going to jail
“The Prosecution Counsel, Mr. Muslim Hassan, asked the tribunal to issue a bench warrant against Saraki for failing to appear before it.
Hassan faulted the Federal High Court for granting the ex parte motion halting Saraki’s arraignment.
He argued that the Federal High Court had coordinate jurisdiction with the tribunal and as such, had no powers to halt trial of the Tribunal”.
From the above, it is obvious that the CC & Federal High Court are at par before the Law does one has no jurisdiction over the other! May be Dr Bukola Saraki is being badly advised by his lawyers about equality before theLaw.
“Equality before the law is equality in the administration of justice, where all individuals are subject to the same criminal laws in the same manner by law enforcement and the courts.
Equality under the law is equality in the substance of the law, where the content of the law is equal and fair to everyone so that everyone experiences the same result.
Equal benefit of the law ensures that benefits imposed by law will be proportionate.
Equal protection of the law ensure that the protections imposed by law will be proportionate so that the human dignity of every person is equally safeguarded by the law”.
Dr Saraki should appear before the CCB and convince Nigerians that he is not a crook as being alleged. Procrastinating may convict him in the Court of Pubic Opinion. That will even be more damaging for him and the Senate!
common sense dictates that if u say both courts are at par then Saraki has done NO wrong in do what the Fed High Court ruled. And common sense also dictates that not only is there Equality b4 the law, there is also Fairness b4 the law. People just think one sidedly
Tell your man Saraki to go and clear his name. He is the senate president for carry out load. What will the rest of the world see us as!
Explaining the development and the position of the law on this matter to The Nation, Idahosa Anthony, a lawyer, said, “The ex-parte application is the most frustrating avenue through which justice is frustrated and judicial process abused in our country’s courts of ‘justice’. The fact that the number three man in our political hierarchy chose this route to circumvent justice is profoundly disappointing.
“Perhaps due to ignorance of what really transpired in court, a section of the media reported that the application was granted. That would have been in manifest error of trite law.
“In the first place, no court of law has the powers to interfere with, or in any way restrain the exercise of the judicial powers of another court of co-ordinate jurisdiction. In this case, the Federal High Court and the Code of Conduct Tribunal are courts of co-ordinate jurisdiction: appeals from the decisions of the Code of Conduct Tribunal lie to the Court of Appeal (s.23 (4) of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act) and appeals from the decisions of a Federal high Court lie to the court of Appeal (s. 243, Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999).
“In the second place, an injunction restraining the Code of Conduct Bureau will be misdirected and therefore, futile. The Code of Conduct Bureau is not a prosecuting authority; under section 3 of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act, it is merely an administrative and investigative authority and its role in the prosecution of defaulters under the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act is limited to recommending persons for prosecution. The prosecuting authority in respect of offences under the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act is the Office of the Attorney-General. Thus section 24 (3) of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act provides the Attorney-General or any one nominated by him may bring charges in respect of offences under the Act.
“In the third place, it is incorrect for Saraki to hinge the basis of his ex parte application on the fact that there is no incumbent Attorney-General capable of instituting actions against him or any criminal action whatsoever. This line of legal reasoning, once regularly cited, has since been discredited by the Supreme Court in a number of cases and, most recently, in the case of Federal Republic of Nigeria v. Senator Adewunmi.
The decent course for an accused, if he has concerns, is to raise preliminary objection(s) before the tribunal where he has been charged.”
Saraki would be sacrificed here.Recall the south east turn over of senate presidents under obj(strong man theory) will play out here.PDP members will be needed as part of the support to remove saraki.The corruption case was the game changer.
Abubakar Bukola Saraki! Is that his real birth name? This man called SARAKI should be in jail somewhere in the western world — USA!
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They said they are investigating only Jonathan administration . Now they are investigating 2003, when Jonathan was not even in Abuja. They left Obasanjo, and other past rulers. They want to remove Saraki, keep him in detention roll in bad ministerial list, confirm them, release Saraki on bail and the case will last for 10-years. They forgot that saraki has his own people plus PDP senators. They tried with Saraki’s wife and failed. All the governors that serve in 2003 including Tinube must publish the code of conduct declarations for verification in National Newspapers for all to see APC selective worst brutal dictatorial democracy. APC will say because senate leadership is in crisis we cannot present ministers now. APC APC APC bad and worst enough. I have not seen such a worst govt. in history of Nigeria. All the PDP decampees from Amaechi, Ngige, Okorocha and others are all crying and crying. Jonathan was democratic, they abused him. Now let them live with a brute dictatorship. This is change. This is our choice.
You can start the job of rebuilding this nation by rebuilding your grammar
The point has been clearly made. It could not have been better.
This matter would not have resulted to this if Saraki in the first place honored the request by CCB. Come and explain why you did not mention some properties you own. Simple as ABC
Waste of court time will not work.
We will review and take appropriate action.