Indications emerged last night that the Federal Government may serve court summons on President Bukola Saraki and Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu respectively, through the Acting Clerk of the National Assembly, Mohammed Sani-Omolori, following alleged forgery of the Senate Standing Rules of 2015. The duo has evaded service of court summons since they were informed about their pending forgery trial late last week.
Last week, the Federal Government filed charges against Saraki and Ekweremadu in the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.
Others joined in the suit are former Clerk of the National Assembly, Abubakar Maikasuwa and Deputy Clerk of the National Assembly, Benedict Efeturi, who has just few months left to retire from the civil service.
The charges are allegedly based on the outcome of police investigation into the forgery, but Saraki and Ekweremadu claimed yesterday that they were never invited for questioning by the Nigeria Police before preferring charges against them.
They lamented that they were only invited for questioning on June 7, 2016, which was barely three days to the filing of the two charges against them on June 10.
Sources at the office of the Attorney General and Minister of Justice told SaharaReporters that it has been difficult for the court summons- charge sheet and hearing notices- to be served on Saraki and Ekweremadu.
"We have not been able to access Saraki and Ekweremadu to serve them both the summons and charge sheets but from the look of things, we may invoke relevant sections of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act ( 2015), which empowers us to notify them through the Clerk of the National Assembly or by pasting the summons on the conspicuous part of their premises or offices.
"We will invoke sections 124 and 125(1) (2) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act hopefully by today (Monday). By then, we should have completed the process of serving the summons on them."
There was anxiety in Saraki and Ekweremadu's camps last night in the latest court action against them as they alleged that there are plans to arrest and lock them in Kuje prison.
"We learnt of a plot to arrest and detain Saraki and Ekweremadu. We are watching the development and we would respond accordingly within the ambit of the rule of law.
"I think they want to trick them into police custody and detain them before arraigning them in court," said another source.
