Saraki Loses Bid To Stop Trial

The trial storm eating into the personality of Bukola Saraki, the Senate president appears far from being calmed, as the the Court of Appeal in Abuja has on Friday dismissed an appeal Saraki challenging the constitutionality of the Code of Conduct Tribunal, CCT, to try him for alleged false declaration of assets. Led by Adumein Moore, the court’s three-man panel quashed Saraki’s defense that the CCT has no constitutional jurisdiction to handle the criminal charges preferred against him.

In its ruling, the court said, “the CCT is a court of criminal jurisdiction, albeit with limited jurisdiction. The immediate question is whether it is a court or not. There is no inherent difference between a court and a tribunal. The only difference is that tribunals in most cases handle special cases. The tribunal has power to impose sanctions according to the law. It is a court with specific criminal jurisdiction,” the court said. The Senate president had challenged the jurisdiction of the tribunal and had asked the Court of Appeal to nullify the trial, which is set to begin in November.

The embattled Saraki is facing a 13-count charge of alleged false declaration of assets and corruption.