The Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal by the senate president, Bukola Saraki, against his trial by the Code of Conduct Tribunal for alleged corruption.
The court upheld an earlier decision given by the Court of Appeal, asking Saraki to face a 13-count charge of alleged false declaration of assets trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal.
The Code of Conduct Bureau says the senate president lied about his assets, and maintained a foreign account, when he was governor of Kwara State.
Saraki said the charges were politically motivated, and challenged the powers and composition of the Code of Conduct Tribunal to hear the case.
He asked the Court of Appeal to determine whether or not the tribunal was right in issuing a bench warrant against him, and asked the court to explain if any other person, other than the Attorney General of the Federation, could file criminal charges against him.
Saraki asked the Court of Appeal to nullify the decisions of the Code of Conduct Tribunal for allegedly violating the decision of the high court.
The appeal court on October 30, 2015, dismissed Saraki’s objection to the trial, affirming the powers of the tribunal to hear the charges against the senate president, the verdict which Saraki appealed at the Supreme Court on November 4, 2015.
In its ruling Friday, the seven-man panel of the apex court presided over by the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Mahmud Mohammed, unanimously ruled that Saraki’s appeal against the jurisdiction of the trial and competence of the charges, lacked merit.
Justice Wallter Onnoghen, who read the lead judgment, held that contrary to Saraki’s contention, the Danladi Umar-led Code of Conduct Tribunal was validly constituted by two members.
Justice Onnoghen also held that the tribunal was by the provisions of its enabling laws and the Constitution conferred with the quasi-criminal jurisdiction and thus could validly issue bench warrant.
He thus held that the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015 was applicable to the proceedings of the tribunal.
He dismissed the allegation by Saraki that he was not properly served with the charges and also held that the charges filed before the CCT before the appointment of the Attorney-General of the Federation were valid.
He also noted that there was an attempt by Saraki to intimidate the CCT by claiming that it disobeyed the order of a Federal High Court barring it from continuing with the proceedings pending the determination a suit filed by the Senate President to challenge the trial.
“I have looked at the records, there is no where such orders was made,” Justice Onnoghen ruled.
The CJN and other Justices on the panel agreed with the judgment.
The rest of the panel members who consented are Justices Tanko Muhammad, Sylvester Ngwuta, Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, Chima Nweze and Amiru Sanusi.
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