Irked by the absence of Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki in the court, the Federal Ministry of Justice has asked the Code of Conduct Tribunal, CCT, sitting in Abuja to issue bench warrant for the arrest his arrest.
A deputy director in the office of the Attorney General of the Federation, Mr. M.S. Hassan, applied for the arrest order following Saraki’s refusal to appear before the tribunal to enter his plea to the13- count corruption charge against him.
Saraki who was billed for arraignment this morning, sent his team of lawyers to serve the tribunal with a copy of the ruling of Justice Ahmed Mohammed of the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court, yesterday, which summoned the Ministry of Justice to appear on Monday to show cause why the trial should be allowed to proceed.
Equally summoned by the court were the Chairman of the tribunal, Justice Danladi Umar and that of the Code of Conduct Bureau, CCB, Mr. Sam Saba, as well as Mr. Hassan who signed the charge against Saraki.
However, the prosecuting counsel argued that Saraki’s counsel had no right to object to his prayer for the arrest of the senate president since he was not present in court.
He asked the court to dismiss to application of the defendants, adding that the law does not state that only the attorney-general can institute criminal proceedings against anyone.
“It is not exclusive to the attorney-general alone to institute criminal proceedings. An officer in his department can do so as well,” he said.
Hassan further argued that the high court does not have supervised jurisdiction over the tribunal, hence an injunction from the high court does not subsist.
He reiterated his prayer to the court for the arrest of Saraki, saying: “The accused cannot be in the comfort of his house and expect his lawyers to the job for him.
“We urge this court to issue a bench warrant for the arrest of the accused person because objection cannot be taken in absentia.”
The prosecution further maintained that Justice Mohammed lacked the powers to summon the CCT and CCB chairmen, even as it accused Saraki of engaging in “forum shopping” in a desperate bid to scuttle his trial.