Following the fresh forgery charges instituted against the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, he has asked a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Jabi, Abuja, to quash the charges against him and other co-defendants. Saraki also urged the court to alternatively adjourn the case indefinitely.In the application which his lawyer, Mr. Ahmed Raji (SAN), filed on Wednesday, he said facing the fresh forgery charges alongside his ongoing trial before the Code of Conduct Tribunal would jeopardise his right to fair hearing.
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. 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.
