Presidency: Leave Buhari out of Saraki’s trial

Buhari

The Presidency on Sunday declared that attempts to link the ongoing trial of the Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki to the Presidency are unacceptable.

It also said that those claiming that the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) and the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) were acting on external instigation were uninformed.

A statement by Garba Shehu, the Senior Special Assistant to the President said that there is no place in law that the Bureau and the tribunal should take instructions from any quarters.

As an independent institution equal to any superior court of record, he pointed out that the tribunal is set up by the constitution to determine the issue of default,false declaration or forgery in assets declaration.

The statement reads: “This therefore is purely a judicial process and has nothing to do with the presidency.

“If anyone has an axe to grind with what they are doing, they should do it in a judicial manner by challenging those actions in a proper court of law.
“Let them hire a good team of lawyers to prove their innocence. Government has no desire to persecute anybody,” he added.

He said that the President has vowed to respect the rule of law and is doing that by staying out of the matter.

According to Shehu, the President has said times without number that the war against corruption has no sacred cows.

“Even if the President wants to help, there is no way he can do anything. Is he going to ask the judge to stop the trial?

“It is purely a judicial process, the type of which are routinely dealt with by the CCB and the CCT. There are many cases like this that are going on.

“The President has sworn to an oath to protect the constitution and will not violate that oath,” he stated.