Rotimi Jacobs, the prosecuting counsel has told the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) that he is ready for the trial of Nigeria’s senate president, Bukola Saraki and that his witnesses are in court.
However, the defence counsel, Kanu Agabi, according to PM News, said a motion has been filed to challenge the juridisction of the tribunal. He said the tribunal cannot proceed without a ruling on the motion which he said was filed on Monday.
According to him, the motion has been served on the Ministry of Justice. “Your Lordship must rule on the motion no matter how frivolous it is,” Agabi told Justice Umar.
Jacobs called attention of the court to the ruling of the Supreme Court that the trial must go on. Jacobs said he has not been served any motion until now though the defence counsel knows that he is the prosecutor in the case.
He recalled that the defence counsel had served him a letter asking for adjournment, but failed to serve him the motion challenging the continuity of the trial.
As such, Jacobs said he must enquire from the Ministry of Justice if indeed a motion has been served. He argued that the business of the day is trial. “This is aa deliberate attempt to frustrate the case, so that the trial will not go on,” said Jacobs. “The business of the day is the trial,” Jacobs said.
Kanu argued that the Ministry of Justice accepted the service of the motion challenging the jurisdiction of the tribunal.
The tribunal however accepted the motion.
“Why did they accept it? It is the Ministry that wants to delay the proceedings,” Agabi said.
The defence lawyer further argued that the Tribunal should rule on the application challenging its jurisdiction before the trial can proceed.
But Jacobs countered with argument that the defence had always served him every motion in addition to serving the Ministry of Justice.
He drew the attention of the court to a provision in the Administration of Criminal Justice Act which he said empowered the Court to continue with the trial and consider the application at the end.
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