Assets Declaration Trial: We Will Get Saraki Before Monday – IGP

As the case against the Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki, over alleged false declaration of assets took a different turn, Inspector General of Police, Mr. Solomon Arase has promised to arrest the Senate President before Monday.
This was disclosed yesterday by the Force Public Relations Officer, Mrs. Olabisi Kolawole, in a telephone interview with our correspondent. She said, “We are going to promptly arrest the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki and produce him before the Code of Conduct Tribunal on Monday. Since it is a bench warrant issued by a competent court, the order will be carried out without delay. We don’t want to pre-empt anything,” Kolawole stated.

The Code of Conduct Tribunal sitting in Abuja, had on Friday, issued a bench warrant for Saraki’s arrest, for failing to appear in court over his ongoing trial for alleged false declaration of his assets. Prior to the issuance of the arrest warrant by the CCT, Saraki had approached a High Court which gave ruling faulting the process of his planned arraignment at the of Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT).

The Tribunal, however, ordered the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to arrest and produce the Senate President and former governor of Kwara State before it on Monday. The Tribunal ruled that Saraki must be available to take plea in the 13-count charge slammed on him by the Federal Government over alleged false declaration of assets.

A deputy director in the office of the Attorney General of the Federation, Mr. M.S. Hassan, applied for the arrest order following Saraki’s refusal to appear before the Tribunal to enter his plea to the 13- count corruption charge against him.

But the lead Counsel to the Senate President, John B Daudu (SAN) said that they would approach the Court of Appeal to set aside the ruling. Saraki who was billed for arraignment yesterday morning , sent his team of lawyers to serve the Tribunal with a copy of the ruling of Justice Ahmed Mohammed of the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court, which summoned the Ministry of Justice to appear on Monday to show cause why the trial should be allowed to proceed.

Equally summoned by the court were the Chairman of the Tribunal, Justice Danladi Umar and that of the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB), Mr. Sam Saba, as well as Mr. Hassan, who signed the charge against Saraki. However irked by Saraki’s absence at the Tribunal for the commencement of his prosecution over the alleged false declaration of assets, the Ministry of Justice prayed the Justice Umar-led panel to order for his arrest, saying “he cannot sit in the comfort of his chamber and object to his trial in absentia”.

The prosecution further maintained that Justice Mohammed lacked the powers to summon the CCT and CCB chairmen, even as it accused Saraki of engaging in “forum shopping” in a desperate bid to scuttle his trial. According to charge number ABT/01/15, dated September 11, the 13-count charge against Saraki, accused him of making anticipatory declaration of assets, false declaration of assets and maintenance of foreign account contrary to the provisions of the Third Schedule of the 1999 constitution.

It said “In the assets declaration form for public officers on assumption of office as Governor of Kwara State by making an anticipatory asset declaration in that you claimed to have owned and acquired No. 15A and N0. 15B McDonald Ikoyi, Lagos through your company Carlisle Properties Limited in the year 2000 when the said property was in actual fact, sold by the Implementation Committee on Federal Government landed property in the year 2006 to your companies, Tiny Tee Limited and Vitti Oil Limited, for the aggregate sum of N396, 150, 000.”

Saraki also allegedly violated the law barring elected public officers in the country from operating foreign accounts while in office. Specifically, he allegedly operated an American Express credit card account during his tenure as Governor, into which he allegedly wired at least $3.4 million from a Nigerian account.

In a press statement released on Wednesday, Saraki’s office denied all the 13-count charges levelled against him, saying all the allegations were false, incorrect and untrue. The statement stated that “Dr. Saraki has consistently declared his assets as required by law at every point before resuming any political office and that of 2015 is not an exception.

“It is surprising that the alleged charges are now referring his asset declaration made in 2003 while in office as Governor of Kwara State to formulate their charges. They therefore ignored the recent declaration for which they last week issued an acknowledgement.

“That we believe that the Code of Conduct Bureau following their processes in which after a declaration is submitted to the bureau they carried out verification of the assets and ascertained the claims made, should not wait till 12 years later to be pointing out an alleged inconsistencies in a document submitted to it in 2003. This same Dr. Saraki submitted asset declaration form in 2007, 2011 and 2015. It is unexplainable that the case in question is now based on the 2003 declaration,” the statement added.

The media office further alleged that “those behind this plot will definitely meet Dr. Saraki in court as this case, which is based on outright fabrication and mischief, will not and cannot stand the test of justice”.

Saraki had approached an Abuja High Court to challenge the CCB and CCT for allegedly running afoul of Section 24 of the Act establishing them because there is no subsisting Attorney-General of the Federation who should initiate such proceeding. But his prosecutors have asked for bench warrant to compel him to stand trial.

The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on Thursday, had ordered that all parties to the dispute appear before it on Monday to convince the court why the ex-parte application seeking to restrain the Federal Government, Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) and Tribunal from arraigning him should not be granted. The CCT order also asked that all parties appear on Monday.



CCT decision an abuse of the rule of law – Saraki

In his reaction to the issuance of arrest warrant on him however, Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki, said that the decision of the court was an abuse of the rule of law.

A statement signed by Yusuph Olaniyonu, his Special Adviser (Media and Publicity), said the Tribunal ignored a subsisting order of a Federal High Court by sitting.

Parts of the statement titled: “ Defiance of Subsisting Court Order : Our Stand “ reads thus: “ Following the development in the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) today, Friday, September 18, 2015 when the Tribunal chose to ignore the subsisting order of a Federal High Court by sitting, we hereby state our position as follows:
While the Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, had stated and maintains that he is ready to submit himself to due process of the law on any issue concerning him, he also believes he has an inalienable right to resort to the same judiciary for protection when he feels his fundamental rights are about to be infringed upon.
It is for this reason that Dr. Saraki, having satisfied himself that the case filed by the CCB and the manner in which the case was filed show that he will not be given justice, resorted to the Federal High Court for the determination of the issues of competence of the prosecutor as well as compliance with the procedure stipulated in the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act.
The Federal High Court on Thursday, September 17, 2015, therefore ordered that the all parties in the case should appear before it on Monday, September 21, 2015. The implication of this ruling by a Court of competent jurisdiction is that the sitting today has been overtaken by event. It is for this reason that Dr. Saraki chose to go about with his normal official schedule.
Today at the Tribunal, Counsel to the Senate President, Mr. M. A. Mahmud (SAN), raised a motion stating that there is a pending constitutional matter before the Federal High Court to be decided on Monday and that the Tribunal should hold the trial until the constitutional matter is disposed of.
We are however dismayed that the Tribunal chose to disregard the order of the Federal High Court and the motion to suspend hearing till Monday when all parties are expected to argue their positions on the constitutional matter.
It is also a surprise to us that despite the application by the lead counsel to the Senate President that he will produce Dr. Saraki on Monday and the personality of the person involved as the Number three man in the country, the Tribunal insisted on issuing a warrant of arrest as if its intention is simply to embarrass Dr. Saraki. We are not unmindful of the fact that the Tribunal is acting under political influence and external pressure. This is dangerous to our democracy.
The conduct of the Tribunal today left nobody in doubt that it cannot do justice on the matter before it. It is also clear that today’s decision is an abuse of the rule of law which portends danger to our judicial system. The Tribunal has equally set a bad precedent in the way and manner it conducted itself during the proceedings.



Mixed reactions at National Assembly over warrant of arrest on Saraki

However, Saraki’s colleagues at the National Assembly reacted differently when they heard the news yesterday, following a bench warrant issued by Justice Danladi Umar’s of the Code of Conduct Tribunal on the Senate President, Bukola Saraki.

A senator from the North-east zone who spoke to LEADERSHIP Weekend on the condition of anonymity, maintained that he would have appeared before the Tribunal to save himself of this embarrassment, noting that it was not a death sentence as things had really changed.

“Was it a death sentence for Mr Senate President to be invited before a Tribunal? He should have appeared to save himself of this embarrassment, after all others before him have had this kind of experiences too”, he said.

In Saraki’s home state Kwara, mixed reactions have trailed the Senate President’s invitation by the Code of Conduct Tribunal over alleged false claims in his asset declaration. A group known as Maja Elders’ Forum (MEF) has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to save Saraki from the hands of some anti graft agencies in the country.

But the state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) asked the embattled Senate President to face the charges leveled against him with courage. A statement issued on Friday by MEF Coordinator, Alhaji Kayode Yusuf, said the alleged witch hunting of Saraki since his emergence as the Senate President few months ago, should be halted in the interest of peace in the polity.

Chairman of PDP in Kwara, Akogun Iyiola Oyedipo, said, “Senator Saraki should go and face the charges leveled against him. I don’t see anything he is doing to exonerate himself on the pages on newspapers. “I think that his claim that one of the charges happened in 2003 is uncalled for. It is one of the reasons why I urged Kwarans not to solidarise with him, rather, they should allow him to face the charges levelled him at the Code of Conduct Tribunal.”