Senate President, Bukola Saraki, has appealed to the Supreme Court against the judgment of the Court of Appeal in Abuja which affirmed the jurisdiction of Code of Conduct Tribunal ( CCT ) to try him on 13 counts of false assets declaration.
He is praying for the Supreme Court to stop his trial before the CCT over the alleged offences pending the determination of his appeal.
He is seeking, “an order staying further proceedings in Charge No: CCT/ABJ/01/2015 between Federal Republic of Nigeria vs Dr. Olubukola Abubakar Saraki fixed for hearing on 5th and 6th of November, 2015 pending the determination of the appeal pending before the Supreme Court against the judgment of the Court of Appeal dated 30th October, 2015.”
Saraki raised seven grounds of appeal in his notice attached to the application for stay of proceedings, urging the Supreme Court to set aside the judgment of the Court of Appeal, the entire proceedings of the CCT and the charges preferred against him before the tribunal.
His lawyer, Mr. Joseph Daudu (SAN), urged the apex court to set aside the judgment of the appeal court on the grounds that it erred in law when it affirmed the competence of the proceedings of the CCT which sat on the appellant’s case with only two members as against the three provided for in the provisions of Paragraph 15(1) of the Fifth Schedule to the 1999 Constitution.
Daudu also faulted the majority decision of the appeal court where it held that there was lacuna regarding the quorum of the tribunal.
He argued that the application of the Interpretation Act to hold that two out of three members of the tribunal could validly sit, “is to circumvent and reduce the number prescribed by the Constitution for the due composition of the CCT”.
He also faulted the majority decision of the appeal court where it said that the CCT was a court of limited criminal jurisdiction and that the charges were validly initiated in the absence of the Attorney-General of the Federation.
He also challenged the decision of the appeal court which held that Saraki had been properly served with the charges when only his legal team had filed a conditional appearance before bench warrant was issued against him [Saraki] by the CCT.
Daudu also argued that the court of appeal erred in law for refusing to hold that the tribunal violated the order of the Federal High Court in Abuja which he said ordered the tribunal to appear before the court to show cause why its proceedings against Saraki should not be halted.
He also maintained that the appeal court erred in law when it held that the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015 was applicable to the tribunal.
The Court of Appeal had by a two-to-one split decision on October 30, dismissed Saraki’s appeal against the ruling of the Justice Umar Danladi-led tribunal in which it affirmed its jurisdiction to hear the charges against the Senate President.
Justice Moore Adumein who led the panel and Justice Mohammed Mustapha dismissed the appeal for lacking merit, while Justice Joseph Ekanem in his dissenting judgment upheld the appeal and discharged the Senate President of the trial before the CCT.