As Senate President Bukola Saraki, again steps into the dock today at the Code of Conduct Tribunal, ABDULRAHMAN A. ABDULRAUF writes on the need for the former governor to quickly clear his name.
I hold that the trial before the tribunal is purely criminal, Justice Danladi Umar, Chairman, Code of Conduct Tribunal, declared. This statement was made following the reluctance of Senate President Bukola Saraki to step into the dock when he finally appeared before the tribunal on a 13-count charge of false assets declaration, September, last year.
Since then, it’s been a ding-dong affair between the prosecutor and the defendant, which from all intents and purposes will certainly serve as an acid test for the Muhammadu Buhari’s anti-graft war as well as respect for the rule of law. As the number three citizen, Saraki also has to protect what remains of his integrity, by whatever legitimate means, so some analysts believe.
Since ‘forcefully’ dragged to the CCT, the former Kwara state helmsman has never left anybody in doubt that he would do the needful to ensure that his hard-earned reputation and integrity, will not just end in the dock on a mere allegation of false assets declaration. And without much ado, he set out for the judicial option, crisscrossing the length and breadth of the nation’s judiciary to avoid being axed. So, intense was the move that Saraki’s legal team was having same matters in three different courts simultaneously. This much was confirmed by the prosecution counsel, Rotimi Jacobs (SAN) when he said at Saraki’s first appearance at the CCT that it was the first time in his years of practice that a case will be heard by three courts at the same time.
From enforcing his fundamental human rights to challenging the jurisdiction and quorum of the panel, the former governor struggled to hold on to a legal flotsam to edge out his ‘traducers’, the Senate President ran the legal course to its fullest. And on February 16, 2016, the Supreme Court asked the number three citizen to go and face his trial.
In its judgement, the seven-man panel headed 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, and in a unanimous decision resolved all issues against him. Most significantly, Justice Walter Ononghen, who read the lead judgement, also held that the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015 was applicable to the proceedings of the tribunal, a position recently amplified by the CJN. And by this Act, there is a limit to the number of times an adjournment could be granted in a particular matter.
But the long adjournment by Justice John Fabiyi’s five-man panel from October, 2015 to February, this year, when judgement was given, aroused some curiosity in some quarters. Chairman, Presidential Committee on Anti-corruption and eminent constitutional lawyer, Professor Itse Sagay, human rights activist, Femi Falana, and Gboyega Awomolo, all SANs , spoke in this direction.
Describing the decision as “controversial and erroneous”, Falana said it should not be allowed to stand because of its far-reaching implications and negative impact on the administration of criminal justice.
He urged the Supreme Court to take advantage of the substantive appeal in the Saraki’s case to review its position with a view to confirming the abolition of stay of proceedings by section 306 of the AJCA.
“It is unfathomable that the Supreme Court decided to return the country to the status quo ante in a rather brazen and bizarre manner. Given the ouster clause contained in section 306 of the AJCA, the CCT ought not to have delivered its ruling in respect of the preliminary objections filed by Dr. Saraki,” he added.
Similarly, Sagay, Chief Adegboyega Awomolo (SAN), said the Supreme Court should have allowed the case to go on.
According to Sagay, “the new Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015 has completely eliminated any application or grant of stay of actions or proceedings in criminal trials; it prohibits it. So, what the Supreme Court has done is illegal and it is shocking that the apex court would indulge in illegalities.”
“I would have preferred that the Supreme Court allowed the trial to go to conclusion because the law has provided that all preliminary objections shall be taken and decided together in the judgment of the court,” Awomolo also shared similar views.
Notwithstanding the controversy that trailed the apex court’s ruling, the CCT trial still got stalled last Friday, when for the umpteenth time Saraki, through his new counsel, Kanu Agabi , SAN, erected yet another obstacle in the way of the prosecution. This time around, the senate president is challenging the power of Attorney General of the Federation to institute criminal charges against him. The application also queried the involvement of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in the investigation of the applicant’s assets declaration that remained the constitutional right of only the CCT.
But Jacobs objected to the hearing of the motion on the ground that he was not served the process. “My lord, this should not be allowed to happen because I have not been served the motion. The defendant’s team had always served me their process being the person given the fiat to prosecute the case by the Federal Ministry of Justice, but they have chosen to do otherwise this time around.
“My Lord, the reason is not farfetched. It is an attempt to frustrate the trial. The issues in the motion, even though I do not have it, I am told are elements that have been dealt with by the Supreme Court.
“The issues of jurisdiction, power of the AGF to institute the charge and many other possible inhibitions were decided by the Supreme Court. The apex court has ordered the tribunal to commence trial proceedings and on the basis of that bought our witnesses to start the trial today only to be faced with this new situation.”
And just few days before March 11 when the last sitting came up, Saraki again cried out over alleged plan by ‘forces behind his trial’ to muddle up the case and blackmail key individuals and groups involved directly and indirectly in the case.
Fighting back , Saraki, through his special adviser (media), Yusuph Olaniyonu, specifically accused a popular on-line medium and national newspaper, of plan “to peddle inaccurate information aimed at prejudicing the coming case and forcing the actors in the case to take certain predetermined decisions.
“In their desperation, they have been heckling key aides and associates of the Senate President using some unidentified individuals who make phoney calls to the phone numbers of the individuals close to Dr. Saraki, trailing the movement of these associates and giving different interpretations to their actions, all in a bid to poison the minds of the public against Saraki before the case commenced on March 11.
“In one of these desperate attempts, they have tried to set the tribunal members, prosecution and defence lawyers in the case against one another. Yet again, they have sought to intimidate journalists who they envisaged may be assigned to cover the case while also seeking to cause disaffection among loyalists of the embattled Senate President.
“The people behind these machinations believe they have to intensify these overt, dirty campaigns against Saraki as they see that more and more Nigerians now understand that the trial is about who occupies the office of Senate President and not about any campaign against corruption.”
Saraki accused his adversaries of not only forcing the judiciary into taking certain decisions, but also blackmailing the media.
Now, the simple question is: who is more desperate between the leader and his adversaries? Certainly, the number three citizen has made his case in the public space. Now is the time to go into the dock and start a good defence of his name, reputation and integrity. This, observers believe, is the best way to shame his perceived enemies, so that his integrity does not end in the dock.
