Bukola Saraki
Following the failure of Bukola Saraki, senate president, to appear before the Code of Conduct Tribunal in Abuja to defend himself against allegation of false declaration of assets, the Federal Ministry of Justice has requested the tribunal to issue a bench warrant for his arrest. M.S. Hassan, a deputy director in the office of the attorney general of the Federation, AGF, filed for the arrest order on Friday. Saraki was billed to appear before the Code of Conduct Tribunal, CCT on Friday morning but he chose to send his team of lawyers to serve the tribunal with a copy of the ruling of Ahmed Mohammed, a justice of the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court yesterday, which asked the Ministry of Justice to appear on Monday to show cause why the trial should be allowed to proceed. Those summoned by the court include Danladi Umar, the Chairman of the tribunal, Sam Saba of the Code of Conduct Bureau, CCB, as well as Hassan who signed the charge against the senate president. This irked officials of the Ministry of Justice and they sought to punish him for that. The prosecution, which held that Saraki cannot sit in the comfort of his chamber while his presence is required by the CCT also argued that Mohammed lacked the powers to summon the CCT and CCB chairmen. The justice ministry further accused the senate president of engaging in “forum shopping” in a desperate attempt to scuttle his trial.
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