Supreme Court clears Saraki of false asset declaration charges

The Supreme Court has cleared the Senate President Bukola Saraki of all allegations of false asset declaration.

The Nigerian government had filed 18 counts of false and anticipatory asset declaration charges against Mr Saraki in 2015.

All the charges were initially cleared at the Code of Conduct Tribunal in 2017, but the government appealed that ruling.

However at the Court of Appeal all but three of the charges were cleared with the others returned to the Tribunal for retrial.

The Senate President’s legal team then contested the verdict of the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal at the Supreme Court, arguing that Saraki had no case to answer.

In its ruling on Friday, the Supreme said the Court of Appeal panel had engaged in “forensic somersault” when it held that Mr Saraki should answer three of the charges.

A jubilant Senator President declared his satisfaction on his Twitter account after the court’s verdict:

At the end of a tortuous journey of 1018 Days counting from September 22, 2015 when the case began at the Tribunal, I am happy that I have been vindicated. The Supreme Court has affirmed that there is no evidence of false declaration of assets. https://t.co/V5RjEm7EvV pic.twitter.com/2HIVOqRDH6

— Bukola Saraki (@bukolasaraki) July 6, 2018