The Senate president, Bukola Saraki, says he would win at the Appeal Court where the Federal government has filed a petition challenging his acquittal and discharge by the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT).
The tribunal had on June 14th discharged and acquitted Saraki of all charges relating to his case of false assets declaration.
The tribunal held that the evidence put forward by the prosecuting team were not enough to find him guilty.
Upon receiving the judgement, the Federal government filed an appeal against the ruling on Tuesday, June 20th.
In a statement issued by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Yusuph Olaniyonu today, Saraki said he was confident that the appeal court verdict would not be different from that of the CCT as the facts of the case remained the same and the grounds on which the tribunal's decision was based remain unassailable. Read the statement below
Following the decision of the Federal Government to file an appeal against the ruling of the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), which upheld the plea of no case submission he made on the 18-count charge of false asset declaration preferred against him, Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, wishes to reiterate his earlier position that he remains unperturbed by the development.
Dr. Saraki is confident that the verdict at the appellate court would not be different from that of the tribunal as the facts of the case remain the same and the grounds on which the decision of the CCT was based remain unassailable.
Anybody who has been following the proceedings and the evidence given by the prosecution witnesses during examination in chief and cross examination should know that if presented before any court of Justice and law, the same outcome as in the CCT would be arrived at. Those who are running commentary on the ruling by the Tribunal and criticizing it are those who are not even familiar with the case and the details coming out of the trial.
That is why Dr. Saraki continues to wonder how desperate some people in government and their collaborators outside have become to pull him down at all cost and by all means up to the point that they do not care if they destroy the institution of the judiciary in the process. That is why they sponsored stories of allegation of bribery in an online publication against the Tribunal judges. The Senate President seizes this opportunity to call on security agencies to immediately commence investigation on this bribery allegation. It is his views that those who made the allegation should be invited to substantiate their claims.
This same desperation made a man like Prof. Itse Sagay, the Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Anti-Corruption (PACAC) to appear on tape admitting in a foreign country that he interfered with the process in the Tribunal when in an unethical manner he was instructing the judge on how to conduct the trial. Corruption is not just about giving or diverting money. When an official interferes with the judicial process with a view to achieve personal objectives, that is corruption.
The Senate President notes that another sign of desperation by those who want to get him convicted at all cost was the failed antics of the prosecution counsel, Mr. Rotimi Jacobs, who in collusion with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) sought to manipulate evidence at the tribunal. On realising the fundamental flaw in its case as it did not invite the defendant to make any statement at any point in the investigation, the prosecution brought in an agent of the EFCC to tender old statements Saraki made in a totally different and unrelated matter that had nothing to do with false asset declaration. The prosecution forgot that the letter inviting Saraki to make the tendered statements explicitly mentioned the matter being investigated. At least, there are documents to prove this. The prosecution tried to circumvent the judicial process by ensuring that the witness did not enter into the witn
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