Emmanuel Thomas
November 05, 2015 – Over 30 Senators today stormed the Code of Conduct Tribunal(CCT) in solidarity with the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki who is standing trial on 13 count charge of false asset declaration.
But a mild drama ensued when lawyers representing Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki decided to walk out of the tribunal following what they described as judicial rascality.
Sarak had appealed to the Supreme Court seeeking an order staying further proceedings in Charge No: CCT/ABJ/01/2015 between Federal Republic of Nigeria vs Dr. Olubukola Abubakar Saraki fixed for hearing on November 5 and 6, 2015 pending the determination of the appeal pending before the Supreme Court against the judgment of the Court of Appeal dated October 30, 2015.”
Saraki also prayed the court to set aside the judgment of the Court of Appeal, the entire proceedings of the CCT and the charges preferred against him before the tribunal by the Federal Government.
He contended that the appellate court panel led by Justice Moore Adumein, erred in law when it affirmed the competence of the proceedings of the CCT, which sat on the appellant’s case with only two members as against the three provided for in the provisions of Paragraph 15(1) of the Fifth Schedule to the 1999 Constitution.
But at the hearing today, Saraki’s legal team, legal team(24), lead by Mr. Mahmud Magaji, SAN told the court that they were not comfortable to take part in what they described as “judicial rascality”.
Ahmed Raji, SAN, one of the lawyers had told the tribunal that it would be unfortunate for references to be made in future that they, being senior members of the bar, took part in such proceeding.
“On behalf of the defence counsel, we find it most impossible to continue to sit here. We shall be seeking the indulgence of your lordships to withdraw our appearance”, Raji, added.
Saraki however begged the tribunal to give him time to either persuade his legal team to comeback or engage other set of lawyers. Justice Umar however berated Saraki’s legal team, saying “the action of the defence team smacked of disrespect” before adjourning to November 19, 2015 for hearing.
