CCT clears Saraki of false asset declaration charges

The Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) has dismissed 18-count charge of false asset declaration against Senate President Bukola Saraki.

On May 4, the senate president told the tribunal that he would file a no-case submission, which implies that he is not opening a defence but asking the tribunal to discharge him of the charges because there is no case against him.

This was after the prosecution led by Rotimi Jacobs called its final witness and closed its case.

On Wednesday, Danladi Umar, chairman of the tribunal, held that the prosecution did not prove its case against the accused person. He said the testimonies of four witnesses presented by the prosecution were discredited, and as a result were unreliable.

He, therefore, dismissed the case,  discharging the senate president of the charges.

The federal government had brought multiple counts of false asset declaration against Saraki. But the witnesses it brought to his trial gave contradictory testimonies.

A witness from the Code of Conduct of Bureau (CCB), which filed the charges on behalf of the government, even said that the agency did not conduct an independent investigation before filing them.

During his trial which started in 2015, Saraki was represented by at least five lawyers, who are senior advocates of Nigeria, and about 106 other lawyers.

Before the senate president’s discharge on Wednesday, the CCT had dismissed two applications he filed asking it to dismiss the charges against him.

He had even gone to the supreme court to have the charges quashed, but the apex court returned him to the tribunal which eventually cleared him of the charges on Wednesday.