SAN FRANCISCO October 05, (THEWILL) – The Chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal, CCT, Danladi Umar on Wednesday ruled that he will not withdraw from the assets falsification trial of the Senate President, Bukola Saraki.
Saraki had asked the tribunal chairman to withdraw from his trial on the ground that he was biased. The Senate President, through his counsel, Kanu Agabi SAN, had said that he had no faith in the tribunal to give him justice.
Citing a case of bias against the tribunal, he stated that the CCT Chairman had stated that the defendant was employing delay tactics to stall the case because he was afraid of “final consequences”.
But in a ruling today, Umar told the Senate President that he would not withdraw from the trial because doing so would mean there would be no one to sit in judgment over the case.
“The application to recuse myself has not been contemplated in the constitution. In the absence of a chairman, this trial cannot go on, therefore I cannot recuse myself. The chairman is the tribunal, without the chairman there is no tribunal.
“The application of the applicant is founded on mere conjecture. The application of the applicant is not well-founded, it is hereby dismissed,” the CCT chairman ruled.
