panel that will hear the appeal filed by Senate President Bukola Saraki, challenging the
jurisdiction and competence of the charges by the Code of Conduct Tribunal over
alleged false asset declaration preferred against him.
Our correspondent learnt on Wednesday that the CJNwas set to disband the Justice
John Fabiyi-led five-member panel which on November 12, 2015, granted an order of a
stay of proceedings in the Senate President’s trial before the CCT.
A valedictory court session is to be held for Justice Fabiyi, who attains the retirement
age of 70 on November 25, 2015, his birthday.
Other Justices of the Supreme Court, who are on the panel with Justice Fabiyi, are
Justices Suleiman Galadima, Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, John Okoro and Amiru Sanusi.
The decision to disband the panel, according to judiciary sources, is partly due to the
outcry generated by the Supreme Court’s ruling and the imminent retirement of Justice
Fabiyi from the bench on November 25.
Eminent lawyers, including Prof. Itse Sagay (SAN), Chief Folake Solanke (SAN), Chief
Adegboyega Awomolo (SAN), Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), Jiti Ogunye and Malachy
Ugwummadu, had described the Supreme Court’s ruling as contravening provisions of
sections 306 and 369 of the new Administration of Criminal Justice Act.
The ACJA prohibits granting of a stay of proceedings in criminal cases.
Sources said the CJN, who was on an official trip abroad when the Supreme Court’s
ruling was delivered on November 12, would likely head the fresh panel to be
constituted.
It was learnt that Mohammed might head the fresh panel that would be constituted due
to a number of contentious issues in the appeal filed by Saraki in his appeal.
A source said, “With the
public interest in the case and coupled with the retirement of Justice Fabiyi next week
Wednesday, the panel has to be disbanded.
“It is the practice of the Supreme Court that when a number of contentious
constitutional issues are raised in an appeal such as this one (Saraki’s case), the CJN is
likely to head such appeal panel.”
The media aide to the CJN, Mr. Ahuraka Isah, said he was not in a position to confirm
the development.
“There is no way I can know what has happened or what will happen. It is strictly a
judicial issue that cannot come within my knowledge,” Isah, who spoke to our
correspondent on Wednesday, said.
With the order of a stay of proceedings by the Supreme Court, the CCT, which had on
November 5, adjourned till November 19 for the commencement of Saraki’s trial, must
await the decision of the apex court on the Senate President’s main appeal.
Saraki, through his lawyers, led by Mr. Joseph Daudu (SAN), had appealed to the
Supreme Court to challenge the September 30, 2015 judgment of the Court of Appeal,
which affirmed that the 13 counts of false asset declaration preferred against him
before the CCT were competent.
The appeal court also affirmed that the Justice Danladi Umar-led CCT had the required
jurisdiction to entertain the charges against the Senate President.
All the arguments by Saraki’s lawyers against the jurisdiction of the CCT and
competence of the charges preferred against him before the tribunal were dismissed by
a two-to-one split judgment of the Court of Appeal.
But the issues dismissed by the Court of Appeal form Saraki’s seven grounds of
appeal, which his lawyers filed before the Supreme Court.
Following an application by Saraki’s lawyers for the appeal to be heard by the full panel
of the Supreme Court, the number of Justices in the fresh panel will likely increase from
five to seven.
The full panel of the Supreme Court comprises seven Justices as against five that were
in the old panel.
Part of the appellant’s grounds of appeal to be finally decided by the apex court are
whether the proceedings of the CCT, which sat 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, are competent.
The appellant also faulted the majority decision of the appeal court, where it held that
there was a lacuna regarding the quorum of the tribunal.
The Supreme Court will also decide whether the CCT is a court of limited criminal
jurisdiction as held by the Court of Appeal. Meanwhile, a Lagos-based lawyer, Johnson
Esezoobo, has called on the CJN to review the granting of a stay of proceedings in the
trial of the Senate President at the tribunal.
A statement by Esezoobo on Tuesday described the decision by the Supreme Court as
an abuse of and misuse of power, advising that “institutional safeguards should be put
against abuse and misuse of power”.
He said, “From the provisions of the constitution, it is absolutely not a difficult issue to
resolve except that the remedy available is not what we have been used to in our
democratic practice.
“If it is agreed that when an illegality is committed, it must be redressed, we must also
find out how to go about it under the constitution.”
According to Esezoobo, the order in the Saraki’s case marked the first time the apex
court would commit an illegality, adding that the illegality this time round concerned a
vexed national issue agitating the minds of the populace.
Esezoobo added, “I sincerely believe that the President as the Head of State and Chief
Executive of the Federation, by virtue of Section 130 of the constitution, has the power
to express concern and call on the CJN to explain what happened.
“He can do this through the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation as the chief
law officer of the state. In his capacity, the President as the chief executive can,
through the AGF, direct the Federal Judicial Service Commission or the National Judicial
Council, both as Federal Executive bodies under the Third Schedule to the Constitution,
to query all the justices of the Supreme Court involved in this scandalous illegality.”
A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Chief Mike Ozekhome, has however, faulted the criticisms
trailing the order of a stay of proceedings granted Senate President Bukola Saraki by the
Supreme Court on his false asset declaration trial.
Ozekhome described the criticisms of the order by human rights lawyer, Femi Falana
(SAN), and Chief Adegboyega Awomolo (SAN) as incredible “perverse interpretation” of
the law, contending that the senior advocates “seek to bind the Supreme Court with the
uninterpreted provisions of a law that only applies to trial courts”.
Ozekhome, in an opinion article titled ‘Awomolo-Falana’s comment – A case of
unfortunate sentiments Vs law’, argued that Section 306 of the Administration of
Criminal Justice Act, which states that “an application for a stay of proceedings in
respect of a criminal matter before the court shall not be granted,” only applied to the
trial court, and not to appellate courts.
“It ought to be noted that the trial of Saraki, which is currently before the CCT, is not
before the Supreme Court of Nigeria. From the plain wording of section 306, the ACJA
does not apply to the Supreme Court of Nigeria, or any other appellate court for that
matter, but to the CCT,” he added.
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