Dr. Bukola Saraki, the Senate President disclosed that he has lost count of the data of charges of false asset declaration instituted towards him earlier than the Code of Conduct Tribunal.
He additionally stated that details about the fees were not recent in his reminiscence because they bordered on offences that he was accused of committing between 5 and 14 years ago.
Saraki acknowledged this in an affidavit, which he personally deposed to in support of his recent utility seeking the quashing of the fees towards him on the CCT and the discharge of the alleged offences.
“The facts relating to these matters are no longer fresh in my memory, quite apart from the fact that I have lost many of my records pertaining to them,” he acknowledged within the affidavit.
Saraki’s recent utility, dated and filed on March 4, 2016, seeks to halt his trial, which the Supreme Court validated by its judgement delivered on February 5, 2016.
He was arraigned on 13 counts of false asset declaration earlier than the CCT on September 22, 2015.
A seven-man panel of the Supreme Court, led by the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Mahmud Mohammed, dismissed Saraki’s objection to his trial in its judgement.
The apex court, in the stated judgement, affirmed the competence of the 13 counts filed against him and the tribunal’s jurisdiction to hear the case.
In the fees instituted by the Federal Government, Saraki was accused of creating false asset declarations in his forms submitted to the Code of Conduct Bureau upon assuming his office and leaving throughout his two terms as Governor of Kwara State between 2003 and 2011.
The Senate President, who was stated to have submitted four asset declaration forms, allegedly “corruptly acquired many properties while in office as Governor of Kwara State, but failed to declare some of them in the earlier forms filled and submitted.”
He additionally allegedly made an anticipatory declaration of property upon his assumption of workplace as governor, which he later acquired.
Saraki was additionally accused of sending cash overseas to acquire property in London and maintaining an account outside Nigeria while serving as governor.
But in his recent application, Saraki stated the fees weren’t within the interest of justice but politically motivated and filed in violation of due process and his right to honest listening to.
He additionally acknowledged that the fees couldn’t be legitimate since they had been filed in the name of the Federation’s Attorney-General.
He stated he was denied honest listening to as neither the CCB nor the Attorney-General of the Federation confronted him with any infraction within the 4 property declaration varieties.
He stated he declared his property first when he assumed office as Governor of Kwara State in 2003 and then when he completed his term in 2011.
He stated he subsequently made one other asset declaration and submitted the shape to the CCB upon his reelection in 2007 and on ending his second time period in 2011.
He stated that if he had been aware of any inconsistencies in his asset declaration forms, he would have corrected them.
He stated, “I am not aware of any petitions challenging my declarations, and the bureau (CCB) has never drawn my attention to any. I would promptly have corrected or explained (the reason for) any alleged discrepancies or inconsistencies in my asset declaration had my attention been drawn to them.”
His prayers within the utility embody, “An order quashing and/or striking out the charges contained in Charge No: CCT/ABJ/01/2015 by the complainant/respondent against the applicant.
“An order pursuant to Paragraph 1 above, discharging the defendant/applicant herein.”
Saraki’s new lead counsel, Mr. Kanu Agabi (SAN), who led 5 different Senior Advocates of Nigeria and about 60 different attorneys within the Senate President’s authorized workforce on Friday, can also be difficult the jurisdiction of the tribunal to entertain the case towards his shopper.
Saraki’s trial was scheduled to begin on Thursday following the Supreme Court’s judgement validating it, but it was stalled on Friday.
The trial was stalled after Agabi launched his shopper’s recent utility and insisted that it should be heard earlier than the matter might proceed.
But the lead prosecuting counsel, Mr. Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), described the movement as “a deliberate attempt to stop the trial from going on.”
“The defendant keeps saying that there is no case against him and that he is being persecuted; why doesn’t he let the trial start so that the whole world can see the persecution?” Jacobs requested.
The prosecutor, who stated he had not been served with the movement, insisted that the day’s enterprise was for the prosecution to open its case, taking advantage of the Supreme Court’s judgement delivered on February 5, which validated the trial.
