Tribunal rejects application to adjourn Saraki’s trial indefinitely

The Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, this morning, failed to persuade the Code of Conduct Tribunal sitting in Abuja to grant an indefinite adjournment on the 13-count criminal charge that is pending against him. The Justice Danladi Umar-led tribunal, while rejecting the application which Saraki made through his lawyer, Mr. Mahmud Magaji, SAN, ordered him to appear before it ‎on November 5. Justice Umar said the tribunal was minded to adjourn full-blown hearing on the substantive case till next month, to enable it to ascertain the outcome of the appeal that Saraki lodged before the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal. Meantime, Saraki, who stormed the court today with ‎34 Senators and 50 lawyers, initially declined to mount the dock, placing reliance on the fact that a higher court is already seized with the ‘Res’ of the case against him. He was eventually compelled to enter the dock by the tribunal‎ at exactly 10:59am, even as the prosecuting counsel, Mr. Rotimi Jacobs, SAN, urged the court to as a mark of respect for judicial hierarchy, defer further proceeding on the matter for two weeks.