The Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, has asked a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Jabi, Abuja, to quash the forgery charges instituted against him and other co-defendants.
He urged the court to alternatively adjourn the case indefinitely.
Saraki, in the application which his lawyer, Mr. Ahmed Raji (SAN), filed on Wednesday, said compelling him to face the fresh forgery charges alongside his ongoing trial before the Code of Conduct Tribunal would jeopardise his right to fair hearing.
The Senate President is currently being prosecuted before the CCT on 16 counts of false and anticipatory asset declaration.
On June 10, the Federal Government preferred two counts of criminal conspiracy and forgery of the Standing Rules of the Senate used for the leadership election of the presiding officers of the Senate in June last year against him, the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, and two others.
The other two co-accused are a former Clerk to the National Assembly, Salisu Maikasu, and his deputy, Benedict Efeturi.
The Federal Government stated that the offence of conspiracy is punishable under Section 97 (1) of the Penal Code Act; and offence of forgery with “fraudulent intent” punishable under Section 364 of the same law.
Justice Yusuf Halilu of the FCT High Court in Jabi where the accused were charged, had on Tuesday ordered that the charges preferred against them be pasted to the notice board of the National Assembly.
The judge fixed Monday (June 27) for arraignment of the four accused persons.
But in his fresh motion, Saraki challenged the competence of the charges which he said disclosed no prima facie case against him.
He also contested the mode of service through pasting of the court summons alongside the charges to the notice board of the National Assembly on Tuesday.
He asked the court to set aside the service for being invalid.
Isaac Nobenz
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