A panel comprising seven Justices of the Supreme Court, will on Thursday (today), hear an appeal filed by the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, challenging his trial on 13 counts of false assets declaration before the Code of Conduct Tribunal, our correspondent has learnt.
The Supreme Court had on November 12, through a five-man panel led by now retired Justice John Fabiyi, granted an order of stay of proceedings of the trial of Saraki before the CCT pending the hearing and determination of the Senate President’s appeal.
After granting the order of stay of proceedings on November 12, the apex court ordered parties — Saraki and the Federal Government — to exchange their briefs of argument within 14 days.
According to Punch, With the exchange of briefs done, the apex court earlier this week issued hearing notice and served same on the parties for the Thursday’s proceedings.
Our correspondent learnt on Wednesday that the CJN would constitute a seven-man panel that would hear the appeal on Thursday.
Saraki’s appeal, filed through his lead counsel, Mr. Joseph Daudu (SAN), is challenging the majority judgment of the Court of Appeal in Abuja delivered on October 30, 2015, affirming the competence of the charges of false assets declaration preferred against him and the jurisdiction of the CCT to entertain the case.
The Justice Danadi Umar-led CCT had dismissed Saraki’s protest against the competence of the charges and the jurisdiction of the tribunal. He was then in September arraigned by the Federal Government on 13 counts of false assets declaration which he allegedly made in 2003 as governor of Kwara State.
Saraki appealed the decision of the tribunal but by a two-to-one split decision on October 30, the Court of Appeal in Abuja dismissed the appeal.
He further appealed to the Supreme Court maintaining that the charges were not competent and that the CCT was not duly constituted as it comprised two instead of three members provided for by the Constitution.
Saraki had, through his lawyer, Daudu, raised seven grounds of appeal against the judgment of the Court of Appeal, urging the Supreme Court to set aside the judgment, the entire proceedings of the CCT and the charges preferred against him before the tribunal.
Daudu had faulted the judgment of the Appeal Court among other grounds that it erroneously affirmed the competence of the proceedings of the CCT, which sat on the appellant’s case with only two members as against the three provided for in the provisions of Paragraph 15(1) of the Fifth Schedule to the 1999 Constitution.
In its respondent’s brief of argument opposing the appeal filed by Saraki, the Federal Government through its counsel, Mr. Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), urged the Supreme Court to uphold the majority decision of the Court of Appeal which held that the Danladi Umar-led CCT was duly constituted.
The Federal Government filed its respondent’s brief on November 18, 2015, in response to the seven-ground notice of appeal dated November 2, 2015 and appellant’s (Saraki’s) brief of argument filed on November 9, 2015.
