Following the decision of the Federal Government to file an
appeal against the ruling of the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), which upheld
the plea of no case submission he made on the 18-count charge of false asset
declaration preferred against him, Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola
Saraki, wishes to reiterate his earlier position that he remains unperturbed by
the development.
Dr. Saraki is confident that the verdict at the appellate
court would not be different from that of the tribunal as the facts of the case
remain the same and the grounds on which the decision of the CCT was based
remain unassailable.
Anybody who has been following the proceedings and the
evidence given by the prosecution witnesses during examination in chief and
cross examination should know that if presented before any court of Justice and
law, the same outcome as in the CCT would be arrived at. Those who are running
commentary on the ruling by the Tribunal and criticizing it are those who are
not even familiar with the case and the details coming out of the trial.
That is why Dr. Saraki continues to wonder how desperate
some people in government and their collaborators outside have become to pull
him down at all cost and by all means up to the point that they do not care if
they destroy the institution of the judiciary in the process. That is why they
sponsored stories of allegation of bribery in an online publication against the
Tribunal judges. The Senate President seizes this opportunity to call on
security agencies to immediately commence investigation on this bribery
allegation. It is his views that those who made the allegation should be
invited to substantiate their claims.
This same desperation made a man like Prof. Itse Sagay, the
Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Anti-Corruption (PACAC) to appear on
tape admitting in a foreign country that he interfered with the process in the
Tribunal when in an unethical manner he was instructing the judge on how to
conduct the trial. Corruption is not just about giving or diverting money. When
an official interferes with the judicial process with a view to achieve
personal objectives, that is corruption.
The Senate President notes that another sign of desperation
by those who want to get him convicted at all cost was the failed antics of the
prosecution counsel, Mr. Rotimi Jacobs, who in collusion with the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) sought to manipulate evidence at the
tribunal. On realising the fundamental flaw in its case as it did not invite
the defendant to make any statement at any point in the investigation, the
prosecution brought in an agent of the EFCC to tender old statements Saraki
made in a totally different and unrelated matter that had nothing to do with
false asset declaration. The prosecution forgot that the letter inviting Saraki
to make the tendered statements explicitly mentioned the matter being
investigated. At least, there are documents to prove this. The prosecution
tried to circumvent the judicial process by ensuring that the witness did not
enter into the witness box so as not to be on oath. However, the tribunal, as
it is obvious in its ruling, saw through the dirty trick. It therefore
disregarded that piece of evidence and described it as irrelevant and of no
value to the case.
If not desperation by the prosecution, why is the EFCC so
involved in a case of false asset declaration which is an exclusive preserve of
the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB)? All the evidence presented during the trial
were from the EFCC. The Commission rendered the CCB a second fiddle player.
That is why the only CCB witness presented by the prosecution gave what the
tribunal referred to as ‘hearsay evidence’. The CCB chief prosecutor testified
that he got his instruction to investigate the case orally. He made his report
from the investigation orally. Even the directive to ‘collaborate with EFCC’ on
the investigation was given orally, a development the tribunal found strange
and unknown to law.
All these antics aimed at perverting the course of justice
were obvious throughout the period of the tribunal’s sitting. Though, one is
conscious of the fact that the anti-graft agency and its allied bodies are
frantically looking for a poster-case to sell its anti-corruption campaign and
there is the hunger for conviction in a celebrated case to advertise in the
international arena government’s determination to pursue the anti-graft
campaign, we implore them to achieve this aim by allowing Justice to take its
normal course.
This Appeal against the CCT ruling is nothing but another
attempt to grandstand and embark on another media trial without any substance.
This is why the Senate President is sure it will be another exercise in
futility.
Dr. Saraki has demonstrated his unflinching belief in and
respect for the judicial process and its ability to resolve issues relating to
fundamental rights of Nigerians. That belief in the judiciary is the basis for
his assurance that the position of the CCT that he is not guilty of the charges
preferred against him would be sustained in the higher courts.
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