BY Fredrick Nwabufo
Danladi Umar, chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), has fixed March 24 for ruling on an application of Senate President Bukola Saraki to quash the charges of false declaration assets filed against him by the federal government.
Kanu Agabi, counsel to Saraki, asked the tribunal to give room for the hearing of the motion, stating that it was in line with the law.
He stated that the attorney-general of the federation had no power to enter a charge against the senate president, hence the tribunal has no jurisdiction to entertain the charges against him.
Before fixing the date, Umar said: “This is a very serious matter. We must do what is right to protect the integrity of the nation.”
Earlier, Rotimi Jacobs, counsel to federal government, argued that the motion was not ripe for hearing. He said that the application should have come at the end of the trial, and not at the beginning of it.
“We urge your lordship to call us to present out witnesses, and rule that the application wait until the end of the trial,” he prayed the tribunal.
“Our motion is according to the law. Our motion should not be dismissed as frivolous,” he said.
After listening to the preliminary argument for and against the hearing of the motion, Umar, the judge, said: “It is our view that we are ready for hearing of the motion because jurisdiction is important. You can proceed,” he told Agabi.
Agabi argued that his client was not given a chance to explain himself by the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) on the charges before they were filed against him.
He also said that there was no document before the CCT to show that Saraki committed the alleged offence, but that the tribunal was relying on a petition to hear the charges against him.
“The bureau is supposed to deliver to your lordship the report of an investigation it carried out. Where is it? The Code of Conduct Bureau is not here,” he said.
“The law says the bureau will refer cases to this tribunal. Where is the reference letter?”
Agabi said that other people like Bola Tinubu, national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), were invited by the CCB before charges were filed against them, but that Saraki was not given such a chance.
“Strike out this charge and let’s go home,” he said.
But Jacobs, in response, said that the motion was an abuse of court process because the supreme court had already settled some of the issues raised by the defendant.
He therefore urged the court to strike out the application for its “spurious, unfounded and baseless argument.”
After listening to the arguments, Umar, then fixed March 24 for ruling on the application.
On March 11, at the hearing of the case, Jacobs had told the judge that he was ready to present his witnesses.
But Agabi told the court that there was a motion that must be ruled on before the commencement of trial.
In protest, Jacobs had said: “This is a deliberate attempt to scuttle this trial. So that this matter will not go on.
“Today’s business is trial. That’s my submission.”
Jacobs further said that he had not been served with the motion, and urged the court to discountenance it, and order the calling of witnesses.
He argued that the defence counsel was employing tactical means to stop the trial.
But Agabi apologised to Jacobs for not serving him the motion personally, and asked for the indulgence of the court because he was new to the case.
After listening to the arguments of both counsel, Danladi admitted that Agabi was new to the case, and as such, should be given some room to prepare his defence.
He then adjourned the matter to March 24 for hearing of the motion and the substantive suit.
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