BEVERLY HILLS, October 30, (THEWILL) – Senate President Bukola Saraki Friday lost his bid to stop his trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) following the ruling of the Court of Appeal, which struck down his prayers to stop the tribunal from continuing his trial in his alleged wrongful declaration of assets suit.
In a ruling delivered by Justice Moore Adumein of the Abuja Division of the court, the 3-man panel of justices dismissed all the five points raised by Saraki in the appeal.
In a split decision, two justices held that the appeal lacked merit.
The third judge, however, upheld the appeal on the grounds that the Code of Conduct Tribunal was not a superior court and that the charges before it were not properly filed.
Justice Adumein said the two-man panel of the Code of Conduct Tribunal was the minimum quorum required, according to the Interpretation Act, to sit in judgement on any issue.
He said the Tribunal did not err in law to commence trial against Dr. Saraki with a two-man panel.
Senator Saraki had challenged the legal propriety of the 13-count charge that was preferred against him by the Federal Ministry of Justice.
The appellate court had earlier adjourned its verdict on the matter indefinitely, a situation that forced the Justice Danladi Umar-led Tribunal to defer hearing on the case against Dr. Saraki Till November 5, to await the outcome of the appeal.
The Tribunal took the decision to suspend full-blown hearing on the criminal case after the Justice Adumein panel of the Appeal Court, on October 21, postponed its judgement without adducing any reason.
*** Nigeria’s ChannelsTV contributed to this report.
