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Bukola Saraki, the Senate president on Monday, April 25, has withdrawn an application to stall his trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT). At the appeal court, Kanu Agabi, the lead counsel to Saraki, who challenged the jurisdiction of the CCT to try his client asked the court to hasten hearing to his appeal. “When your lordship has read such a voluminous motion, it is unfair to say we are withdrawing. But we have to.
We want to withdraw the motion. “In the motion, dated April 4, we prayed your lordship to stay proceedings at the CCT pending the hearing of our appeal.

READ ALSO: Saraki’s trial: Drama as judge loses temper in court room “But we now want to urge your lordship to grant accelerated hearing to our appeal. “My Lord, we appeal to you to grant us accelerated hearing,” he said. However, Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), the counsel to the federal government, agreed to the request by not objecting to Agabi’s motion to withdraw the application.

The motion which was dated for April 4, was thereby struck out by Abdul Aboki, who led a three-man panel of justices. Saraki, had urged the tribunal through Agabi to stop his trial on the basis that he was not given fair hearing by the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) but the CCT on March 24, dismissed the application by the Senate president to squash the charges against him.



READ ALSO: Saraki Pleads With Supreme Court Recall that Saraki filed the suit against Danladi Umar, the chairman of the tribunal and others involved in his ongoing trial. In the suit, he argued that his trial before the CCT, as currently constituted was a violation of his right.

 At the ruling Justice Abdul Kafarati of the Federal High Court, said Saraki’s application did not tally with Section 4 of the 1999 constitution as amended which premises on the infringement of his fundamental human rights. Kafarati also said that the court will not interfere with the proceedings of the tribunal but when the CCT dismissed his application,

Saraki appealed against the judgment at the Appeal court in which a date for the hearing of the substantive suit is yet to be fixed. Saraki is currently facing trial for false declaration of assets before the Code of Conduct Tribunal.