Saraki’s CCT Trial Adjourned Till 18 March As He Storms Court With 30 Senators

Senate President, Bukola Saraki on Friday appeared at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) for his ongoing trial over alleged false declaration of assets. Saraki arrived CCT at about 9:56am in company of about 30 senators. Prominent among the 84 senators who stormed the CCT in solidarity with the senate president are , Sen. Ike Ekweremadu, Ben Murray-Bruce, Dino Melaye, Stella Oduah, Samuel Anyanwu.


Recall that the Senate President is expected to be confronted by witnesses who will testify that he lied in the assets declaration forms he submitted to the Code of Conduct Bureau, CCB during his eight years tenure as governor of Kwara State. In the 13-count charge of false assets declaration filed against the Senate President at Tribunal on September, 2015, CCB had alleged that he made false claims in the four assets declarations forms he submitted on his assumption and exit from office at different times between 2003 and 2011. Specifically, the Senate President was in the 13 counts charge alleged to have corruptly acquired many properties while in office as Governor of Kwara State.

According to CCB some of the assets traced to him at the end of his tenure as governor were not declared in the assets declaration forms he filled and submitted on assumption of office. Similarly, Saraki was accused of making anticipatory declaration of assets as some of the assets he listed as belonging to him upon his assumption of office as governor was discovered to have been acquired later.

The prosecution and the defence counsel have agreed on next Friday, March 18 for the argument of the motion on jurisdiction of the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) to try Senate President Bukola Saraki on a charge of alleged false asset declaration slammed on him by the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB)

President of the CCT, Danladi Umar, asked the defence to ensure that he served all motions and processes on the prosecution counsel to avoid further delay of the trial. He therefore adjourned the case to Friday, March 18, 2016, for moving of the motion and possible hearing of the substantive matter. The Senate President sat in the dock as the lawyers prosecution and the defence exchanged arguments