The embattled Nigerian Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki has faulted the EFCC for clearing the Chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), Justice Danladi Umar, over a N10 million bribery allegation.
According to Saraki, only the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice had the powers to shield an accused person from criminal prosecution under the Nigerian law.
Saraki who spoke through his lawyer, Mr. Ajibola Oluyede, said the clearance the EFCC issued to Umar was irrelevant to the recommendation made by the immediate past AGF in 2014 for his prosecution.
He further contended that the clean bill of health the anti-graft agency gave the CCT chairman, confirmed his position that the tribunal, under Umar, would not ensure fairness in his ongoing trial.
Oluyede argued that only the AGF could reverse a decision to prosecute an accused person, insisting that his client’s application urging Justice Umar to disqualify himself from the trial was still pending before the tribunal.
He explained that “We are not saying he (Umar) is guilty. We are saying he is tainted and that he cannot act independently while the EFCC that is investigating him and had indicted him is now prosecuting our client before him. That is why we asked him to excuse himself from the trial.
“He did so before in the case involving former FCT Minister, Jeremiah Useni, where he excused himself from the hearing on the grounds that he had a close relationship with Useni. We are asking him to do so again now because of the facts that we have presented.”