The Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) has dismissed
18-count charges of false asset declaration against
Senate President Bukola Saraki.
On May 4, the senate president told the tribunal that
he would file a no-case submission, which implies that
he is not opening a defence but asking the tribunal to
discharge him of the charges because there is no case
against him.
This was after the prosecution led by Rotimi Jacobs
called its final witness and closed its case.
On Wednesday, Danladi Umar, chairman of the
tribunal, held that the prosecution did not prove its
case against the accused person. He said the
testimonies of four witnesses presented by the
prosecution were discredited, and as a result were
unreliable.
He, therefore, dismissed the case, discharging the
senate president of the charges.
The federal government had brought multiple counts
of false asset declaration against Saraki. But the
witnesses it brought to his trial gave contradictory
testimonies.
A witness from the Code of Conduct of Bureau (CCB),
which filed the charges on behalf of the government,
even said that the agency did not conduct an
independent investigation before filing them.
During his trial which started in 2015, Saraki was
represented by at least five lawyers, who are senior
advocates of Nigeria, and about 106 other lawyers.
Before the senate president’s discharge on
Wednesday, the CCT had dismissed two applications
he filed asking it to dismiss the charges against him.
He had even gone to the supreme court to have the
charges quashed, but the apex court returned him to
the tribunal which eventually cleared him of the
charges on Wednesday.
TheCable
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