ABUJA – Embattled Senate President Bukola Saraki, yesterday, failed to appear before the Code of Conduct Tribunal despite an arrest warrant issued against him by the Tribunal on Friday.
Sen. Saraki is facing a 13-count charge bordering on corruption and false assets declaration.
The Tribunal opened the trial last Friday but the senate president was absent although he was represented by a team of lawyers led by a former president of the Nigeria Bar Association, Joseph Daudu.
Consequently, the Chairman of the Tribunal, Justice Danladi Umar, ordered the Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase, to effect the arrest of the senate president and produce him before the Tribunal on Monday.
In response to the Order, Saraki’s lawyers immediately filed a suit at the Court of Appeal for a stay of execution.
Despite the appeal, the Tribunal resumed the trial yesterday, without the senate president appearing, but insisted that the accused must appear before it at the next adjournment date, today, Tuesday, 23/09/15.
At the hearing, Saraki’s lawyers picked holes in the Tribunal conduct and objected to the sitting contending that the Tribunal was incompetently constituted.
They argued that the 1999 Constitution provided that the Tribunal can only sit with three of its members, namely the chairman and two members present as against two – chairman and one member – which was the case when the trial resumed.
However, Justice Umar responded by referring to the Interpretation Act, which says the chairman and one member could sit during any trial.
