The legal team of the Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki, has vowed to send a protest letter to the National Judicial Council (NJC) over the biased conduct of the chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal CCT), Mr. Danladi Umar, in the trial of their client who is facing charges of false assets declaration in Abuja.
Three Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs), Ahmed Raji, Mahmoud Magagi and Saka Abimbola Isah, who led the legal team of the Senate President, all staged a walkout on the conduct of the tribunal chairman to protest bias during the trial.
A source last night said that the legal team had resolved to report the tribal chairman to NJC.
“You just wait and see the action we will take in the next few days. We cannot continue like this in this country. The judicial body has to intervene in this matter,” the source said.
The angry lawyers, accompanied by about 100 others, withdrew their services in the prosecution of Saraki by the Federal government, accusing the tribunal of open bias against the Number Three citizen and displaying judicial rascality in handling the case.
The anger of the lawyers arose when the tribunal Chairman Umar, ruled that he would not stay the trial in spite of Saraki’s pending appeal at the Supreme Court.
Magaji, who first withdrew his services in the trial, told the tribunal point-blank that going ahead with the prosecution amounted to daring and prejudicing the Supreme Court in the pending appeal of the Senate President.
He told the chairman that as a senior counsel in the bar and a minister in the temple of justice, he would not wish to be part of an illegality and an affront on the apex court.
Raji, who followed suit in withdrawing from the suit, told the tribunal chairman he was setting a bad precedent by sitting on the same issue at the same time with the Supreme Court.
Raji explained that apart from the law and practice, it was the tradition of respect that when the Supreme Court had been invited into a matter, the lower court will, as a matter of tradition, allow the apex court to decide the matter first before taking over.
“In my capacity as a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, I have not seen where this kind of conduct will be exhibited against the apex court of the country. The action of this Code of Conduct Tribunal is an affront on the Constitution and to the Supreme Court and, from my own side, I will not wish to be part of this act.
“I find it most impossible to sit down here and participate in a proceeding whose legality is being challenged at the Supreme Court.”
Earlier, both Magaji and Raji had asked the tribunal to stay proceedings pending the time the Supreme Court will make pronouncement in Saraki’s appeal in which he is challenging the legality of his trial.
They cited several authorities to buttress their arguments on the need for the tribunal to grant adjournment.
But in a ruling, the chairman of the tribunal dismissed the application for adjournment and agreed with the prosecution counsel, Mr. Rotimi Jacobs (SAN) that trial should go ahead in spite of the appeal at the Supreme Court.
The tribunal chairman held that the action of the defence was a ploy to delay the trial, adding that the arguments canvassed by Saraki’s lawyers had been overtaken by the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) 2015 which, he said, gave no room for delay in trial.
“It is an obvious fact that where a party wants to delay trial, the party normally rushes to the higher court, as in this case, but the intendment of the ACJA has taken care of such attitude where criminal trials are unjustly delayed. We will not allow that; we are going ahead with the trial,” he ruled.
The tribunal, however, ran into trouble when no lawyer showed up to defend Saraki and he was then asked whether he would defend himself.
But the Senate President told the tribunal that he was trained in the medical line and not in law, and that it would be unfair to ask him to defend himself in a terrain he knew nothing about.
He pleaded for one month to enable him persuade his lawyers to come back or for him to look for alternatives but the tribunal insisted that one month was too long.
The case was subsequently adjourned till November 19 for trial.
Saraki: SERAP asks NBA to probe lawyers for walking out on CCT
A civil society organisation, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), Thursday called on Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) to investigate the conduct of lawyers to the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, for walking out on the Code of Conduct Tribunal.
SERAP, in a statement in Lagos, said that the action of the lawyers offended the basic rule that lawyers should act with integrity and professionalism, and maintain at all times their overarching responsibility to ensure civil conduct.
The statement, which was signed by SERAP’s Executive Director, Adetokunbo Mumuni, also stressed that walking out on CCT for simply and correctly applying section 305(e) of the newly enacted Administration of Criminal Justice Act was disrespectful.
“We believe that a lawyer’s duty to the court is a fundamental obligation that defines a lawyer’s role within the adversarial system. Lawyers should at all times act to promote the rule of law and the public’s confidence in the administration of justice, and not to be seen to undermine it or facilitate an infringement of the law,” SERAP stated.
“As we have seen many times, without the rule of law, the rule of the jungle takes hold and the economically and socially vulnerable fall victim to the strong, and nobody is safe. The rule of law also creates a disincentive for would-be corrupt officials.”
Why we stopped Dasuki from travelling out – DSS
The Department of State Services (DSS) has denied illegally blocking the residence of the former National Security Adviser (NSA), Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd), in violation of a subsisting court order granting him the freedom to travel oversea for medical treatment.
According to a statement by Tony Opuiyo of DSS, the security agency is preventing Dasuki from travelling out because of his refusal to honour an invitation to explain his role in the procurement processes relating to a $2b billion arms transaction by the last administration.
According to the statement, “It may be recalled that Dasuki was initially arrested and charged to court for unlawful possession of firearms and money laundering, for which reason his international passport was seized and, on the order of the court, returned to the registrar for custody. What has however brought the seeming standoff between Sambo and DSS, despite the court-ordered release of his international passport on November, 4, 2015, is his refusal to appear before a committee investigating an entirely different case.
“The public may wish to note that the government set up the committee to investigate procurement processes relating to a $2 billion arms transaction by the last administration, under which Dasuki was the NSA.
“It was on this premise that he was invited by the committee to shed more light on his involvement in the deal. It, therefore, remains surprising and shocking that Dasuki has refused to honour invitations of the committee but instead resorted to grandstanding and subtle blackmail of the Service. His refusal to appear before the committee has left the Service with no option but to adopt legal means to ensure his attendance.”
The statement further added that Dasuki had been “pulling all strings available to him to evade justice and put the Service in bad light.
“The simple fact is that the DSS is not persecuting him. Nigerians are therefore enjoined to disregard the impression being created by him. This Service wishes to re-emphasise its commitment to the rule of law and strict adherence to democratic ideals.”
The DSS, however, warned that any person or group, no matter how highly placed, that may wish to test the will of the present administration would be brought to account in line with the laws of the land.
Justice Adeniyi Ademola of Federal High Court in Abuja had, in his rulling on Dasuki’s request for medical treatment abroad, dismissed the counter argument by the prosecuting counsel, opposing Dasuki’s need for medical check-up outside the country.
Justice AdemoIa held that, in criminal trial, an accused person is assumed innocent until proved guilty and that a citizen’s health is very paramount in any trial before the law.
He, therefore, ordered for the release of the applicant’s international passport to enable “him to attend a three-week medical treatment”.
According to an informed security source, Dasuki was supposed to travel out of the country Wednesday night but had to return to his home when he got wind that DSS operatives were waiting for him at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.
“Col Dasuki was on his way to the airport Wednesday night when he was told that some security operatives from the DSS were waiting for him at the airport to prevent him from traveling. Their thought was that he might not return for trial if allowed to go,” the source disclosed.
“As if that was not enough, this morning (yesterday), the DSS operatives surrounded his house in Asokoro as if he has been put under house arrest and as we talk now, they are still there.”
The source further disclosed that the former Adamawa State governor, Mr Boni Haruna, who is his guarantor, was invited after the court ruling by DSS operatives where he was cautioned over the implications of standing as a guarantor to Dasuki who may not return for his trial.
The former NSA was first charged on Monday, August 24, 2015, on a one-count charge of illegal possession of firearms but was immediately granted bail on self-recognition with Justice Ademola ordering the DSS to submit his seized passport to the court registrar.
On the day of the hearing, the prosecutors brought additional charges of possession of local and foreign currencies against Sambo Dasuki and also sought secret trial of the case.
Concerned about his ill-health, Dasuki asked the court for the release of his travel passport to enable him attend to his health issues abroad. He also objected to the secret trial requested by the federal government, preferring an open trial of the case for the benefit of the public.
I Was Not Invited – Dasuki
But in a swift reaction, Dasuki has denied receiving any invitation by any panel on arms purchase under the Office of the National Security Adviser.
According to one of his close aides who sought anonymity, “Dasuki was surprised that the DSS is the one claiming to represent the committee by inviting him a day to his medical trip?”
-Leadership
