Abuja, on Wednesday withdrew from the case filed by Saraki against the
Code of Conduct Tribunal and the Code of Conduct Bureau.
The court therefore ordered that the case file should
be returned to the Chief Judge of the FHC, Justice
Ibrahim Auta, for re-assignment.
At the resumed hearing of the case on Wednesday,
Justice Mohammed attributed his decision to return
the case file to what he described as "negative
reports" on the case.
The judge expressed displeasure at the reports in the
media that he ordered the CCB and CCT to stop the
prosecution of Saraki, adding that the reports had
already created a negative opinion in the mind of
many Nigerians.
Precisely, two weeks ago, Justice Mohammed had
summoned the CCB and the CCT over the planned
arraignment of Saraki by the CCB.
Justice Mohammed had while granting the motion ex
parte that was argued before him, directed the CCB
and the CCT to appear before him on September 21,
2015 and show cause why the interim injunction
being sought by the Senate President should not be
granted.
He also directed that all the plaintiffs should be
served with the motion ex parte and the accompanied affidavit while
hearing notice should be served on all the respondents.
Meanwhile, President Muhammadu Buhari has said
he can be impeached if he interferes in the Code of
Conduct Tribunal case against Saraki over charges of
false assets declaration.
Saraki, on September 11, had been served a 13-count
by the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation. The Senate
President responded by calling it a witch-hunt.
But in a statement on September 20, the Presidency
denied any responsibility for the Senate President's
trial and described the attempt to link Buhari to
Saraki's trial as unacceptable.
The Presidency had argued that the trial of the Senate
President was purely a judicial and constitutional
issue.
Buhari, in an interview with Sahara TV, which was
monitored by one of our correspondents on
Wednesday, however, said he could not interfere in
the trial because it would be unconstitutional to do
so.
He said, "What has the President got to do with it as a
person? The case is in court. Do Nigerians expect me
to tell the Chief Justice to tell whichever court that
they shouldn't try the Senate President?
"Do Nigerians know the constitution of their country;
that the Legislative, Judiciary and Executive have got
their roles within the Constitution of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria? Then how do they expect me to
interfere? I can be successfully impeached if I do it."
Asked if he would pass any vote of confidence in the
Senate President, in the light of the backing of Saraki
by 83 senators on Tuesday, the President said, "That
would depend on the outcome of the trial."
Responding to questions about his current relationship with the Senate
President, Buhari said
that he had been communicating with Saraki through
letter.
"There are some appointments which the Senate has
to approve and I cannot remember how many letters
I have personally written to him, because it is
constitutional.
"There are people I want to work with but I cannot
work with them unless the National Assembly approves. So, I have been
writing to the Senate
President and to the Speaker of the House (of
Representatives) and it is constitutional," he said.
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