Corruption charges: Appeal Court orders fresh trial of Saraki

The Court of Appeal, sitting in Abuja, has added a retrial of embattled Senate President, Bukola Saraki, earlier discharged by the Code of Conduct tribunal.

The three-man Court of Appeal panel led by Justice Tinuade Akomolafe-Wilson, on Tuesday, upheld counts 4, 5, and 6 challenging the acquittal of Nigerian Senate President Bukola Saraki and has ordered him to return to the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) to face trial on the three counts bordering on corruption and failure to disclose assets.

The Abuja court noted that the prosecution was able to establish a prima facie case against Saraki, saying that the property he claimed to have bought from the proceeds of rice and sugar sales was purchased using loan facilities from commercial banks.

Justice Akomolafe-Wilson, in the 70-page unanimous judgment, struck out 15 of the 18 charges brought by the government against the ruling of the tribunal on the grounds that they were incompetent.  

On counts 4, 5, and 6, which concerned the purchase of No. 17A and B MacDonald Street, Ikoyi, Lagos, allegedly by Saraki, the prosecution was able to establish a prima facie case against the defendant. Specifically, the appellate court upheld the tribunal’s ruling that the prosecution established that there were false claims in the Senate President’s declaration forms, as he had two properties in Ikoyi.