Agency Report The Appeal Court sitting in Abuja has upturned Senate President Bukola Saraki’s acquittal by the Code of Conduct Tribunal. The ruling was delivered today, a day after a similar court in Lagos ruled that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has no legal right to trial judges.
The three-man panel led by Justice Tinuade Akomolafe-Wilson unanimously ordered the Senate President to return to the CCT to face trial on three of the counts.
On June 14, this year The Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) in Abuja, chaired by Mr. Danladi Umar, discharged and acquitted Saraki over allegations of false assets declaration. His ground was that the prosecution failed to prove its case.
The tribunal said that the evidence against the Senate president was insufficient and washy.
According to Danladi, the defence was able to discredit all the pieces of evidence adduced by the prosecution during cross-examination of witnesses.
The tribunal upheld the no-case-submission of Saraki, stressing that the evidence led by the prosecution was discredited under cross-examination and therefore unreliable.
The CCT further held that no reasonable tribunal would convict a defendant on the evidence led by the prosecution through its four witnesses.
Days after, the government filed a notice of appeal.
In February 2016, the Federal Government had filed an 18-count charge bordering on false assets declaration against the Senate president.
The prosecution team, led by Mr Rotimi Jacobs, filed the amended charge on Feb. 8 after the trial had begun.
Saraki was initially standing trial on a 13-count charge of false asset declaration.
*Details of the Appeal Court Judgment shortly
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