SARAKI DRAGGED BEFORE AN INCOMPETENT COURT ON A 13-COUNT CHARGE
Source: Gongnews
By Agency Reporter
Thursday September 16, 2015
 
*On false declaration of assets plus four other criminal issues
*Judge not competent to try him. Details revealed
By Olajide Fashikun

Senate President and the nation’s number three man, DR ABUBAKAR BUKOLA SARAKI, is going to test the ambit of the Rule of Law under the Muhammadu Buhari administration which has dragged him vide the Code of Conduct Bureau on a 13-count charge before the Code of Conduct Tribunal.

The charges were filed in the court on the 11th September 2015 by the Deputy Director in the office of the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) M.S Hassan. It has suit number CCT/ABJ/01/15.

Among other charges, SARAKI was accused of making false declaration of assets on assumption of office as Kwara State governor in 2003.

SARAKI was also accused of not declaring some assets he acquired while in office from 2003 to 2011, acquiring assets beyond his official earnings and operating foreign accounts in contravention of the law as a public officer.

SARAKI may be tried by a judge who is having loads of corruption allegations hanging on his own neck and beyond that, there are allegations that he is not medically fit to try the former Kwara state governor who is the chairman of the National Assembly. No date has been fixed yet for the beginning of the trial of the nation’s top most parliamentarian.

SARAKI, according to Ministry of Justice sources may be having about five criminal matters to answer. It would be recalled that www.gongnews.net had reported how the Justice ministry had requested from the Inspector general of Police to forward all criminal matters investigated concerning SARAKI to them. “The matters have been consolidated. He may be facing several criminal issues which are not related but needs to be cleared in the different four other courts.”

Justice Danladi Yakubu Umar who is the chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal is classified as “above the law” for refusing to appear before anti-corruption agencies. He was later to appear before the EFCC but none of the agencies have filed any issue before any competent court of law.

In addition, there are further allegation that he is not medically fit to sit over judicial issues. At personal levels, he is accused of being a chronic borrower of funds. He is alleged to have borrowed in 2010 the sum of N370,000 from the zonal coordinator of the Tribunal and is yet to pay. This had led to a shouting match once.

Beyond all these, there are bigger but more fundamental issues surrounding his academic qualification. He is alleged not to be a judge and is not qualified to be a judge. A friend of his, a former Chief Justice of the Federation, got him the job.

Some dirty but knee-weakening allegations bother on some staff of the Tribunal who used official means to award contracts to themselves by proxy. They were made to face a panel which indicted them. They were to return some monies back to the Tribunal. These monies were allegedly paid into the private accounts of the chairman. All the indicted officers had paid the monies but not to the tribunal accounts, said our sources.

The local cooperative in the Tribunal borrowed the chairman the sum of N2million. He paid back N1m and has since 2010 refused to pay back the balance. For instance, there are allegations that Murtala Sanni (SAN), the immediate past chairman of the tribunal when he died on the 24th January 2011, the sum of N24million was gotten from both the house and the office. The money was alleged to have been stolen.

www.gongnews.net had made several efforts in the past to reach the Code of Conduct Tribunal by telephone calls and SMS to confirm or deny the allegations levied against him.

Question is, can a judge whose hands as so dirty try an accused person brought before him?

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The needful shld be done

Time to face the music and dance!

Gong News? Is it located in Ilorin, Kwara state?

Op all these escape tactics won't help you. Tell Saraki to be ready to explain to the Judge(s) at Code of Conduct Tribunal. He (Saraki) is part of the problems of Nigeria.