ABUJA—The Supreme Court will today, deliver judgment
on the appeal seeking to quash the 13-count charge the Federal Government filed
against the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, before the Code of Conduct
Bureau. The judgment will be
delivered by a seven-man panel of Justices of the
apex court, led by the Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, Justice Mahmud Mohammed.
The government had, in the charge it filed before the CCT, alleged that Saraki
tampered with the assets declaration form he filled prior to his emergence as
the Senate President. He was said to have
deliberately manipulated the assets declaration form by making
anticipatory declarations. Aside the allegation that he operated a foreign bank
account while in office as a public servant,
Saraki was also accused of acquiring wealth beyond his legitimate earnings. All the
offences contained in the charge were said to have been committed while Saraki
held sway as the governor of Kwara State.
Nevertheless, Saraki, through his team of lawyers led by
Chief J. B. Daudu, SAN, went before the apex court to challenge the competence
of the charge which he said ought to be quashed for want of merit. Relying on the provision of Paragraph 15(1) to the Fifth Schedule of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, Saraki maintained that the Justice Danladi
Umar-led panel of the CCT was not legally and properly composed to try him.
He
argued that a two-member panel of the
CCT that has been presiding over the case against him fell short of the
constitutional requirement. Moreover, Saraki contended that the CCT, not being
a court that is constitutionally equipped with criminal jurisdiction, lacked
the powers to dock him on the basis of the 13-count charge. Besides, it was
his argument that the fact that there
was no substantive Attorney-General of the Federation as at the time the charge
was filed, rendered it incompetent. FG, through its lawyer Mr. Rotimi Jacobs,
SAN, however, urged the apex court to dismiss Saraki’s appeal for want of
merit, insisting that it has established
a prima-facie criminal case to warrant
the prosecution of the Senate President before the CCT.
Urging the apex court
to direct the appellant to go and clear his name before the tribunal, FG relied
on the provision of section 4(2)(b) of the interpretation Act, to contend that
Saraki was properly charged before the CCT. It will be recalled that a previous
panel of the apex court headed by Justice John Fabiyi, who is now retired, had
in a ruling on November 12, 2015 suspended further hearing on the case pending
against Saraki before the CCT. The
Justice Fabiyi panel which was disbanded by the CJN, specifically directed the
CCT panel to “tarry awhile”, to enable the apex court to hear Saraki’s appeal.
Saraki had in his six grounds of appeal, prayed the
Supreme Court to set-aside the majority verdict of the appellate court
panel delivered by Justices Moore Adumein and Mohammed Mustapha on September 30, 2015. Alternatively, he wants
the court to uphold the dissenting verdict of the third member of the appellate
court panel, Justice Joseph Ekanem, who not only voided the 13-count criminal
charge before the CCT, but also discharged
him. He is praying the apex court to evaluate the split judgment of
the appellate court with a view to
determining whether or not the charge pending before the CCT ought not to be
quashed.
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