sai Nigeria!!! sai Jonathan!!!

The Code of Conduct Tribunal sitting in Abuja today has dismissed all charges against former governor of Lagos state, Chief Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Delivering his ruling, the Chairman of the Tribunal, Justice Danladi Yakubu Umar said the prosecution had failed to establish a prima facie case against the accused and no evidence of proof or affidavit was attached or issued to the court.

He ruled that in the circumstance, the Tribunal lacked the jurisdiction to hear the case and quashed the charges.

He had earlier agreed with the submission of the accused that he was not given the opportunity to explain about his forms at the Code of Conduct Bureau before he was brought to the Tribunal and dismissed the first and second charge for abuse of court proceedings.

Tinubu was accused of operating 10 foreign bank accounts in the United Kingdom and the United States in his name and in the name of his wife and children, maintaining the accounts and misinformed the Code of Conduct Bureau between 1999 and 2000 when he was governor and refusing to declare in his Code of Conduct forms.

The former governor, had challenged the jurisdiction of the tribunal to try him. His Counsel, Wole Olanipekun (SAN) also argued at the last hearing that his client was being charged before a tribunal which is unknown to the Nigerian Constitution. He argued that the mandatory conditions precedent for referral of complaints by the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) to the tribunal and the subsequent exercise of jurisdiction by the tribunal have not been complied with.

Olanipekun also described the amended charge filed by the prosecuting counsel, Alex Iziyon (SAN) at the last sitting, as abuse of court process since the initial one-count charge was still in existence at the time.

However, Iziyon urging the tribunal to dismiss the application saying the CCB had at various times invited Tinubu but he refused to appear and was evasive

http://dailytrust.com.ng/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=148873:cct-dismisses-charges-against-tinubu&catid=2:lead-stories&Itemid=8