The trial of Senate President, Dr.
Bukola Saraki, and his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu, alongside two others on
charges of forgery of Senate
Standing Orders, was stalled before a High
Court of the Federal Capital Territory in Jabi, Abuja, due to the
court’s vacation that commenced today (Monday).
Saraki, Ekweremadu, and two co-accused –
a former Clerk to the National Assembly, Salisu Maikasu, and his then
deputy, Benedict Efeturi – were in court briefly and left as soon as
they were informed that the court was not going to sit.
Meanwhile, as exclusively reported by
The PUNCH, a four-man team led by a former Attorney-General and
Commissioner of Justice of Kano State, Aliyu Umar (SAN), took over the
prosecution of the case from the Director Public Prosecutions of the
Federation, Mr. Mohammed Diri, today.
Diri was not present in court today but the Umar-led team was around to take the new date for commencement of trial.
The trial was adjourned till September 28.
Other members of the new prosecuting
team are a Lagos-based public interest litigation lawyer, Jiti Ogunye;
Raphael Origo, and a state counsel from the Federal Ministry of Justice,
Yetunde Adeola-Cole.
The Federal Government through the
office of the Attorney-General of the Federation had on June 10
preferred the charges against Saraki and the other accused persons.
The accused persons were subsequently on June 27 arraigned on two counts
of criminal conspiracy and forgery before Justice Yusuf Halilu of a
Federal Capital Territory High Court in Jabi, Abuja.
The Federal Government stated that the
offence of conspiracy is punishable under Section 97 (1) of the Penal
Code Act; and offence of forgery with “fraudulent intent” punishable
under Section 364 of the same law.
The court had after the accused persons pleaded not guilty to the charges on June 27, fixed today for commencement of trial.
Source: Punch Newspaper
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