The Senate President, Bukola Saraki has again, insisted by way of appeal that the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) chaired by Justice Danladi Umar is unfit to try him over allegations of false asset declaration and operation of foreign accounts.
Saraki through one of his lead counsels in the matter, Ajibola Oluyede few hours after the tribunal dismissed an application it brought before it, asking the chairman to disqualify himself over allegations of bias, filed an appeal at the Abuja division of the appellate court.
In the appeal premised on three grounds, Saraki said the CCT erred in law when it allowed Justice Umar to single handedly decide the application for his recusal “lacks absolute merit”, essentially allowing him to be the judge in his own cause.
He further queried the opinion of the CCT Chair when he said the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) lacks investigative powers, insisting that, the CCT erred in law, as regards the opinion that the AGF “has no constitutional right to investigate”.
According to him, the tribunal also erred in law when it abandoned the main purpose of the recusal application and ignored the submissions of counsel thereon, only to begin to write a ruling comprised of facts and arguments that are only known to Justice Umar and not raised or introduced by any of the parties in order to arrive at a conclusion, not urged upon him by any of the parties concerning the constitutional and statutory relationship between the AGF and Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Saraki is seeking an order of the Court of appeal to set aside the ruling of the tribunal and an order, recusing/disqualifying Justice Umar from sitting on the panel of the CCT trying the Senate President on charges that were investigated and being prosecuted by EFCC on behalf of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
SEYI ANJORIN
