Senate President withdraws appeal court motion seeking CCT to stop Saraki's trial

Senate President, Bukola Saraki's motion seeking an order stop the proceeding on his trial before the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), has been struck out by the Court of Appeal in Abuja.

The motion was thrown out on Monday, April 25, by a three-man panel of Justices of the appellate court led by Justice Abdul Aboki, following the withdrawal of the motion by Saraki’s lead counsel, Kanu Agabi, SAN.

Agabi, who did not a reason for the withdrawal, however prayed the court for accelerated hearing of the substantive appeal challenging jurisdiction of the CCT to entertain the 13-count criminal charge against Saraki.

He apologised to the appellate court panel for the decision to withdraw the stay of proceeding motion.

‎"We sincerely apologise to your lordships for taking the action after you have already read through such a voluminous motion. It is unfair to say we are withdrawing. But we have to. We want to withdraw the motion", Agabi said.

‎The counsel o the federal government, Mr. Rotimi Jacobs, did not oppose the withdrawal of the application.

While the appellate court has not fixed a date for hearing of the main appeal, the motion that was struck out was filed on April 4.

‎Pulse recalls that on April 5, Justice Danladi Umar, who heads the CCT panel, had declined to suspend further hearing on the criminal case against Saraki pending the outcome of his appeal.

Saraki had challenged the powers of the Attorney General of the Federation to initiate the charge against him, urging the tribunal to hands-off the case and insisting that his trial was politically motivated.