CCT Chairman should resign

CCT chairman should resign:
FG queries Saraki's moral right


– The Senate president Bukola Saraki is
insisting the CCT chairman, Danladi Umar
withdraw from his trial over bribery
allegations
– Rotimi Jacobs, the lead prosecution
lawyer said the investigation of the bribery
allegation against Umar had been concluded
and the AGF and had cleared him of the
alleged bribery
– He said it was absurd that Saraki would
insist on remaining Senate president while
urging Umar to disqualify himself
– Also speaking, Umar said he has been
cleared of the allegation by both the EFCC
and the AGF
The federal government said it was
laughable that Bukola Saraki who is on trial
for corruption would insist on remaining the
Senate president while urging the Code of
Conduct Tribunal Chairman, Danladi Umar, to
withdraw from his trial over bribery
allegations.
Saraki asked Umar to withdraw from his trial
over bribery allegations against him.
At the hearing on Wednesday, April 27,
Rotimi Jacobs, the lead prosecution lawyer
in the trial of the Senate president, queried
the moral right of Saraki to question the
integrity of Umar and to ask him to
disqualify himself from the trial, The Nation
reports.
Jacobs said: “ This motion is absurd. The
defendant (Saraki), who has been charged to
court, is still performing his statutory duty as
a senator till today, saying that the
Constitution guarantees him presumption of
innocence.

“He is saying that he remains a senator. He is
saying that he will continue to be Senate
president and he will continue to perform his
duties. But he is saying that your lordship
(Umar), who was merely investigated, should
not be allowed to enjoy the presumption of
innocence and that your lordship should not
be allowed to continue to perform his duties.
“Your lordship has not been charged before
any court. No charge has been filed against
your lordship. That is the absurdity in their
motion. This application is only filed to
achieve one purpose; to embarrass the
tribunal .”
He explained that the investigation of the
bribery allegation against Umar had been
concluded and the culprit has been charged
to court by the Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Saraki’s lawyer, Ajibola Oluyede insisted that
Umar must disqualify himself from the trial,
arguing that the June 24, 2014 letter by the
then EFCC chairman, Ibrahim Lamorde and
which was addressed to the then AGF, Bello
Adoke, did not exonerate him of the bribery
allegation.
According to him, the AGF office would have
to issue another letter overriding the earlier
directive to the EFCC to go ahead with the
prosecution of Umar and his co-suspect,
before the tribunal chairman could be said
to have been cleared.


However, Umar said he has been cleared of
the allegation by both the EFCC and the
AGF.
“ A group called Anti-Corruption Network wrote
a petition against me at the House of
Representatives.
“The House committee invited me and I went
there three times but the petitioner did not
come. The committee asked me what I think
should be done and I said, if it were to be
court, when the person who filed a case
refuses to come, the court will strike it out.
But the chairman said, let’s give them another
time ,” he said.
Umar stated that the AGF was invited and
he appeared before a committee of the
House where he told them that the CCT
chairman had been cleared.
The tribunal will rule today on the motion.
On Thursday, April 21, Umar had thrown
away the application by the Senate
president asking him to withdraw from the
trial.
In the application, Saraki argued that the
CCT chairman was biased.