ABUJA – Senate President Bukola Saraki yesterday, pleaded not guilty to the charges concerning his failure to declare his assets when he was Kwara State governor brought against him by the Code of Conduct Bureau.
He also denied making false declaration of assets and pleaded not guilty on the charge regarding his alleged use of foreign bank accounts while serving as a public officer in Nigeria.
The accused was thereafter granted bail on self recognition by the presiding Judge and Chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal, Justice Danladi Umar and adjourned the case till October 22, 2015.
Sen. Saraki is the first serving Senate President to be arraigned before the CCT on criminal charges. He faces a 13-count charge bordering on corruption and alleged false declaration of assets.
The Senate President had stormed the Code of Conduct Tribunal amidst hoards of babaringa flowing senators who sandwiched him, as a shield from possible harassment by security agents.
The number three citizen and former governor of Kwara state from 2003 to 2011 arrived the CCT at about 9.32 am and was kept waiting for one hour by presiding Justice Danladi Umar, who assumed sitting at about 10.32am with an apology.
From his vantage position, Justice Umar apologised for the delay on the premise that the Tribunal was sorting out some matters. He thereafter, summoned the Prosecution to begin the case.
However, when the case was mentioned, the now shielded Saraki refusal to stand up, prompting the judge to call out: “Where is the prosecution? Is the accused person here?”,
“Mr lord I cannot see him”, the prosecuting counsel, Mr. Rotimi Jacobs responded, “I think the first thing is for him to enter the dock first, then we will announce our appearances. After which the charge will be read to him”, he submitted.
Counsel to Saraki, Mr. J.B. Daudu vehemently opposed the idea of Saraki entering the dock, relying on an Appeal Court decided case law in Igbeke vs FRN, ?2015, 3 NWLR.
“With profound respect to the chairman and member of this tribunal, I agree with my learned brother that we should enter appearances first. The order of this tribunal was that the accused should be produced today. It was not for him to enter his plea. The case was earlier adjourned for mention”, he submitted.
Saraki’s lawyers argued that the matter was not a criminal case, and challenged the jurisdiction of the tribunal, which the prosecution countered. On jurisdiction, the prosecution counsel argued that according to section 2 of the Administration of Justice Act, 2015, the matter could be heard alongside any preliminary objection regarding the tribunal’s jurisdiction.
The new law was signed by former President Goodluck Jonathan in March 2015, as part of a major reform of Nigeria’s criminal justice system. The Act is expected to speed up corruption cases before the courts, by dealing with issues of preliminary objections, adjournments, and jurisdiction.
The law says such objections must be addressed by the courts concurrently with the corruption charge, unlike the past when interlocutory injunctions could go to the Supreme Court and return, before the main trial begins.
After the back and forth legal shuffles, the tribunal ruled that the matter was criminal and directed Sen. Saraki to enter the box and go ahead with his plea. “I hold that the trial before the tribunal is purely criminal,” the Tribunal chairman, Justice Umaru ruled.
Asked to take his plea, Sen. Saraki who stepped into the dock at about 11.24am, took time to lecture the Tribunal on the appropriate course of action it ought to have taken before docking him over alleged false declaration of assets.
He complained that he was never afforded the opportunity by the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) to clarify whatever disparity it observed in the assets he declared while in office as the governor of Kwara State.
“I believe that I am here as the Senate president to indicate my respect for the tribunal. I am puzzled why I am being compelled. I am a firm believer of the rule of law. I have come here to subject myself before this tribunal. I strongly believe that I am here because I am the Senate President.
I felt that the CCB should have called me. We have been hearing about new Nigeria but this is the first time this kind of thing is being done without following the due process. Nigerians are watching and the world is also watching. I will confirm myself to the due process. So as I stated, I want to say that I am not guilty”, Saraki told the Tribunal.
On the various assets he acquired, which the Code of Conduct Bureau alleged that his earnings did not qualify him to acquire, Sen. Saraki averred that he got them through his investment in rice farming.
Among senators who accompanied him to court were Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu, Senators Theodore Orji, Sam Egwu, Shaba Lafiaji, Aliyu Wamakko (former governor of Sokoto Syate) Rafiu Ibrahim, Tayo Alasoadura, Hamma Misau, Samuel Anyanwu, and Sabi Aliyu Abdullahi, among others.
The Senate President and his supporters had in the early morning of yesterday, converged at the National Assembly from where, they took off in a convoy of buses for the tribunal.
Mr. Saraki had on Monday released a statement, saying he was now ready to attend his trial, days after he battled frantically to use the courts to halt the trial. The matter was adjourned to 21st, 22nd and 23rd October for hearing
