Legal Nigeria

Saraki’s trial resumes June 7

The Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) had fixed June 7, 8 and 9 for the continuation of trial of the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, on alleged false declaration of assets.
In a statement signed yesterday by the Head, Press and Public Relations, CCT, Ibraheem Al-hassan, the Chairman of the Tribunal, Danladi Umar, had yesterday fixed the dates for continuation of cross-examination of the Principal Witness 1 (PW1), Mr. Michael Wetkas.
According to the statement, the decision for the adjournment to the new dates was sequel to the abrupt written request from the lead prosecution counsel, Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), stating that his PWI, Mr. Wetkas, was scheduled to testify before the Federal High Court, Abuja, the same date (June 1).
“The letter, which was captioned; Charge No: CCT/ABJ/01/2015 Federal Republic of Nigeria V Dr. Olubukola Saraki Request For Adjournment and addressed to the Registrar of CCT, was dated June 1 and signed by Rotimi Jacobs & Co.
“It reads in part: “We refer to the above-named charge in respect of which we act as the prosecution counsel. This matter was earlier adjourned to today, June 2, 2016 for continuation of cross-examination of PW 1.
“We, however, regret to inform the honorable tribunal today as he is billed to testify before the Federal High Court, Abuja, (Justice Ademola).”
According to Hassan: “The letter had shown that the initial impression that the tribunal had adjourned indefinitely was false, as publicised yesterday by some media organisations.”
Guardian