The Chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal, Danladi Umar, has dismissed in its entirety the application of the President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki.
The application is seeking Umar’s disqualification from further trial of the case.
Mr. Umar said since no case was found against him, his trial could not have been ordered by the Attorney General.
He therefore said it was a matter of undue intimidation on the part of the defence to have come up with its application.
“The tribunal holds that the application of counsel to the accused lacks merit and is hereby dismissed in its entirety,” Mr. Umar held.
Elombah.com had reported on Wednesday that the Senate President has filed another application seeking to disqualify the CCT chairman.
Counsel to Saraki, Ajibola Oluyede filed the application shortly after the trial resumed on Wednesday morning.
Mr. Oluyede argued the tribunal chairman still had a serious corruption case hanging over him with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission [EFCC].
There, he lacks the moral jurisprudence to preside over another corruption matter.
Oluyede also applied Section 36(1) of the Constitution which addresses issues of bias and the rule of natural justice.
Mr. Oluyede had unsuccessfully moved a similar application last week, which resulted in a heated exchange between him and Mr. Umar.
After reading his motion, Mr. Oluyede called the attention of the court to a letter written to the Attorney-General by the EFCC chairman in February 2015, which was part of his exhibits against Mr. Umar.
The letter read in part:
“There are indications that the tribunal chairman might have demanded and collected money from the complainant through his said personal assistant.
“However, efforts made to recover the telephone handset used by Justice Umar proved abortive, as he claimed that he had lost the telephone in 2012.
“This has made it impossible to subject it to independent scientific analysis with a view to corroborating the allegation.
“In the same vein the complainant could also not make available his telephone set for analysis on the grounds that he had lost it.
“Justice Umar also admitted that he met privately with the complainant in his chamber at the tribunal.
“This is a most unethical and highly suspicious conduct on his part.”
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