The Court of Appeal in Abuja has dismissed an
appeal by the Senate President, Bukola Saraki,
seeking to quash corruption charges brought by
the Code of Conduct Bureau against him.
The appeal court ruled Friday, upholding the
authority of the Code of Conduct Tribunal to try
Mr. Saraki.
Mr. Saraki is facing a 13-count charge of alleged
false declaration of assets and corruption.
He denies the charges.
Mr. Saraki had challenged the jurisdiction of the
tribunal and had asked the Court of Appeal to
nullify the trial which is set to begin in
November.
The Court of Appeal ruled that the “The CCT is a
court of criminal jurisdiction, albeit limited
jurisdiction”.
It added: “There is no inherent difference
between a court and a tribunal. The only
difference is that tribunals in most cases handle
special cases”.
The three-member panel of judges, led by Moore
Adumein, also affirmed that the tribunal was
properly constituted- another kernel of Mr.
Saraki’s suit.