22nd September, 2015
Ayorinde Oluokun/Abuja
President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki has pleaded not guilty to all the 13-count charge bordering on false declaration of assets levelled against him.
The 13-count charge was read to him after he was docked Tuesday at the Code of Conduct Tribunal, sitting in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital.
Just before he pleaded not guilty to the last charge, Saraki protested again that the charges were not made known to him before now.
“The Judiciary is on trial,” Saraki declares.
But the prosecution counsel, Rotimi Jacobs (SAN) insisted that the charges were made known to the accused.
Chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal, Justice Danladi Umar, ruled that trial before the tribunal was criminal in nature and as such further argument will be taken after the accused had taken his plea.
The remorseless Saraki eventually entered the dock to take the plea after much legal rigmarole.
The trial was ongoing at the time of this report.
The courtroom of the Code of Conduct Tribunal was filled up, with Senators constituting the higher percentage of the audience as the trial of Senator Saraki.
The management of the tribunal ordered TVC and Channels television to stop live transmission of the proceedings which was ignored.
More to follow…