FG Refuses To Doze On Saraki, Unleashes 80 Specially Trained Lawyers On Him, Ekweremadu Over Forgery Suit

The federal Government through the Ministry of Justice has resolved to mobilise 80 specially trained lawyers to handle the forgery case filed against the embattled President of the Nigerian Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki, his Deputy, Ike Ekweremadu and two others who have been sued over alleged forgery of the Senate Standing Rule, Punch Newspaper reports

The identities of the lawyers, who were said to have been specially trained for the tasks ahead, have not been made known.

It was learnt that the Prof. Itse Sagay-led Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption was involved in the training of the special prosecutors.

Our correspondent gathered that the training, which ended in June, lasted for over one month.

Sources in the Federal Ministry of Justice in Abuja confirmed on Thursday, according to Punch Newspaper that one of the teams of prosecutors had been assigned the forgery case recently instituted against Senate President Bukola Saraki; his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu, and two others.

According to Punch Newspaper, the Federal Government has set up 20 teams of prosecutors, comprising 80 lawyers, who will handle a number of high profile criminal cases investigated by law enforcement agencies, including the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

Each of the teams, according o Punch Newspaper had four lawyers with a Senior Advocate of Nigeria as the leader.

The new prosecuting team will fully take over the forgery case from the Director of Public Prosecutions of the Federation, Mr. Mohammed Diri, when the trial resumes on Monday, our source says

The Federal Government, through the office of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minster of Justice, had, on June 10, preferred against Saraki, Ekweremadu and others, two counts of criminal conspiracy and forgery of Senate Standing Rules used for the leadership election of the presiding officers of the 8th Senate on June 4, 2015.

The two other co-accused persons are a former Clerk to the National Assembly, Salisu Maikasuwa, and his then 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.

On June 27, the four accused persons were arraigned and they pleaded not guilty to the charges before Justice Yusuf Halilu of a Federal Capital Territory High Court in Jabi, Abuja.

Shortly after their arraignment on June 27, they were granted bail on the conditions that each of them should produce two sureties, who must have property either in Asokoro, Maitama, Wuse 2 or Garki (all in Abuja).

Sources confirmed to our correspondent on Thursday that the AGF and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, deliberately assigned the case to the special prosecution team for “efficient prosecution and management of the case”.

It was learnt that the team was given the liberty by the AGF to review the case file “and make necessary adjustments or amendments” where necessary to enhance the prospect of a successful prosecution of the case.

When contacted, the AGF’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Salihu Isah, confirmed to our correspondent that the forgery case was one of the high-profile criminal cases that had been assigned to one of the special teams of prosecutors.

“The prosecutors, 80 in all, are constituted into 20 teams. After they were trained, cases have been assigned to the first six and one of the cases is the Saraki’s case that you mentioned,” Isah said.

Though he declined to mention the names of the lawyers in the team, Isah said the matters assigned to the various teams varied from terrorism to corruption cases, among others.

According to him, the National Prosecution Coordination Committee, inaugurated by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, would review some of the cases either being prosecuted or still being investigated by the EFCC, the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission and others agencies.

The committee, he added, would also recommend the re-assignment of suitable cases among them to the teams of prosecutors.

“The teams will take up cases investigated by the various law enforcement agencies – ICPC, EFCC, DSS – and even some being handled by the ministry,” he said.

A source explained that some of the cases that would be assigned to the teams of prosecutors were the over 1,500 terrorism cases said to have been filed before the Federal High Court in Abuja since last year while the accused persons had yet to be arraigned.

Saraki, Ekweremadu Forgery Case: "Don't Dare Us", Senate Spits Fire At FG

Following a forgery suit filed by the Federal Government against the Senate President, Bu­kola Saraki, his deputy, Ike Ekwerenmadu and other clerical staff of the National Assembly, at the Federal High Court, Abuja, the Senate yesterday spat fire, warning that the FG should  not dare the senior legislative arm

The Senate warned against mistaking its maturity and hand of co-operation being extended to the Presidency as a sign of weakness.

The FG, through the of­fice of the Attorney-Gener­al of the Federation (AGF), on June 10, 2016, slammed a two-count charge border­ing on criminal conspiracy and forgery against Salisu Abubakar Maikasuwa, Benedict Efeturi, Saraki and Ekweremadu.

In the suit, Saraki, Ekweremadu and oth­ers allegedly “caused the Standing Order to be believed as the genuine Standing Orders, 2015 and circulated same for use during the inauguration of the 8th Senate of the Na­tional Assembly of the Fed­eral Republic of Nigeria, and thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 364 of the Penal Code Law.”

But the Senate, through its spokesman, Abdullahi Sabi described the suit as unconstitutional, viola­tion of the principles of separation of powers as enshrined in the constitu­tion and danger to Nige­ria’s democracy.

Senate accused the executive of plotting to muzzle the legislature and criminalise legislative process in order to force a leadership change, “or, in the extreme case, ground the Red Chamber of the National Assembly. Or how does one interpret a move in which the two presiding officers are be­ing set up to be remanded in Kuje Prison or inca­pacitated from sitting at plenary through a day-to-day trial on a matter that is purely an internal affair of the Senate.”

The senate spokes­man also alleged that the presidency was desperate to return to the era of im­punity and lack of respect for due process.

“We urge President Muhammadu Buhari to call his Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, to order. The Senate of the Federal Republic voted freely to elect its leader­ship into office and con­tinuing attempts to change that leadership through the wanton abuse of judi­cial processes cannot stand in the eyes of the world.”

This is even as Ekwer­emadu said he was not scared of the fresh suit filed against him.

Speaking through his media aide, Mr. Uche Ani­chukwu, Ekweremadu not­ed that the media reports on his purported invitation by the Nigeria Police and the charges reportedly preferred against him be­fore the FCT High Court, Abuja, in connection with the alleged forgery of the Senate Standing Orders 2011 was a fresh attempt to witchhunt him.

“The hands of Senator Ike Ekweremadu are clean because he has no business whatsoever with the pro­duction of Senate Standing Orders. This latest attempt to try and convict him in the court of public opinion notwithstanding, we do not want to mount a public defence. We would rather meet them in court if they so wish,” the aide said.

The crisis rocking the Red Chamber started last year following the emer­gence of Saraki as Sen­ate President against the wishes of some powerful interests in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

Dissatisfied with the Saraki’s “coup”, some sena­tors under the aegis of the Unity Forum approached an Abuja Federal High Court, seeking the nul­lification of the election based on claims that the Senate Standing Rules were forged.

But the Senate spokes­man said the Attorney General and party leaders behind the latest court action either lacked the understanding of the underlining principles of constitutional democracy, the concept of separation of powers, checks and bal­ances and parliamentary convention or they do not care if the present democ­racy survived or collapsed “in their blinded determi­nation to get Saraki and Ekweremadu by all means necessary, including abuse of office and sacking the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“The Nigerian people have enough economic hardship at this time requiring the full attention and cooperation of the three arms of government, instead of these attempts to distract and politicise governance. We are in a state of economic emer­gency such that what the National Assembly needs at this time are executive bills and proposals aimed at resolving the crises of unemployment, currency depreciation, inflation, crime and insecurity.

“What the National Assembly needs now are executive bills to build and strengthen institutions to earn revenues, fight corruption and eliminate waste. Instead, we are getting hostile actions aimed at destabilising the National Assembly, distracting Senators from their oversight functions and ensuring good and ac­countable governance.”

The Senate further maintained: “We must make it clear here to the individuals in the Execu­tive arm and party leader­ship behind these plots not to mistake the maturity and hand of co-operation being extended to the Presidency by the legisla­ture as a sign of weakness.

“The National Assembly bent backwards to accom­modate various infrac­tions and inefficiencies in pursuit of inter-arms co-operation and national interest. We did not follow up the various infractions because we believe there are bigger issues which the government has to at­tend to in order to ensure that every Nigerian have food on his table and live comfortably in a secure environment. We know that the country is actu­ally in a state of economic emergency and all hands must be on deck.”

Daily Sun