Group demands discharge of Saraki
A non-governmental organisation (NGO), known as Nigeria Needs Positive Change Group (NNPCG), at the weekend, called on the Federal Government to, as a matter of urgency, discharge and acquit the President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki or re-arraign a former governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT).
The group, in a statement signed by one Mr. Jide Jokotade, said that “this has become imperative following developments at the Friday sitting of the CCT at the ongoing trial of Dr. Saraki on an alleged false declaration of assets where the lead counsel of the Federal Government, Mr. Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), publicly admitted to have erred both in the charges and procedure leading to his prosecution”
“If Dr. Saraki were not acquitted immediately, the FGN must be honourable too to re- arraign former governor of Lagos State Bola Ahmed Tinubu whom the same prosecutor, Mr. Jacobs, equally admitted was discharged in error even though evidence proved he had a case to answer.
“Earlier, the fact that two charges were also dropped by the Federal Government owing to lack of evidence against Dr. Saraki is clear testimony that there were and there are still errors in the charges. And this confirms earlier claims by Saraki and his supporters that the exercise at the CCT was persecution, not prosecution. And it is politically motivated. The most honourable option available was for the CCT to discharge and acquit him without further delay,” NNPCG insisted.
The statement described the continuation of the trial at the CCT as an abuse of power and judicial process maintaining that “since the prosecutor had pronounced publicly and admitted to established flaws in the trial and any further action in that direction amounted to persecution and political vendatta.
