21st September, 2015
Chairman, Code of Conduct Tribunal, Danladi Umar has ordered the Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase, to bring Senate President, Bukola Saraki, before the tribunal on Tuesday, 22 September by 10:00 am.
Saraki on Monday failed to appear before the Code of Conduct Tribunal in Abuja, where he was expected to take a simple plea of guilty or not guilty to a 13-count charge of false declaration of assets.
He had refused to appear before the tribunal on Friday,15 September when he was first summoned.
On Friday, the tribunal issued a bench warrant against the Senate President, asking the police to arrest him and bring him for trial Monday.
The police claimed that they did not get any warrant to arrest Saraki, who himself tweeted he was not hiding.
Reports at the weekend indicated that the Senate President would challenge not just the planned trial on Monday but also the validity of the arrest warrant, based on legal advice that an order procured on Thursday night from the Federal High Court in Abuja, ought to have been enough to stop the Tribunal from sitting on Friday.
The order given by Justice Ahmed Muhammed of the Federal High Court in Abuja, summoned the CCB and CCT to his court on Monday, the same day that the trial at the Tribunal was billed to start.