Justice Abdul Kafarati of the federal high court, Abuja, has withdrawn from a fundamental rights suit filed by Senate President Bukola Saraki to quash the charges of false declaration of assets brought against him by the federal government at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT).
Kafarati explained that his integrity had been called into question in the matter, hence he would disqualify himself from it.
The development which followed reports on Sahara Reporters and online media accusing the judge of having been compromised by Saraki stalled the judgment that was to be delivered in the case on Tuesday.
Having read a report of an online medium accusing him of corruption to the tune N2bn, he said that if he ruled against or for Saraki his decision would be interpreted differently.
“It is only in this country that people can wake up and start calling people names,” he said.
“In the circumstance, I disqualify myself from this case. I will hereby send the case file to the chief judge for re-assignment to another judge.”
In February, after the judgment of the supreme court dismissing Saraki’s appeal to stop his trial, his lawyer Ajibola Oloyede filed the lawsuit asking the federal high court to stop his trial and to disqualify the chairman of the CCT, who is presiding over the trial.
The senate president couched his prayers in the violation of his rights to fair hearing by the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB), which he said did not invite him for explanation before it filed charges against him at the CCT.
Kafarati had fixed Tuesday for judgment on the case, but instead of delivering the judgment, he announced his withdrawal from the case.
Read the story by Sahara Reporters accusing the judge that led to his withdrawal below….
Justice Abdul Kafarati, a federal judge who owns the distinction of having issued the highest number of injunctions on a cash-and carry basis in Nigeria, will rule on Tuesday on an application by beleaguered Senate President Bukola Saraki to have the corruption charges against him quashed by the court.
Saraki approached the court after a federal judge in Lagos dismissed a similar request for lack of jurisdiction. It would also be recalled that last year, his lawyer, Ajibola Oluyede, approached another federal judge also in Lagos with a fundamental rights lawsuit as the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) prepared to commence trial against him for false declaration of assets. However, as public pressure mounted on the law courts for doing Saraki’s bidding, the judge ruled that he didn’t have jurisdiction to continue the case.
Last month, soon after the Supreme Court ruled that the CCT has jurisdiction to try the Senate President, Oloyede secretly filed a lawsuit with Justice Kafarati, asking him to disqualify the lead judge at the CCT and stop his trial in its entirety.
Legal observers who spoke to SaharaReporters at the weekend said the case was legally faulty because a court of similar jurisdiction had dismissed it in Lagos and that as soon the Supreme Court ruled on the matter of trial a lower court should never have entertained a lawsuit challenging any portion of the ruling of the highest court in the country.
People knowledgeable about Justice Kafarati and Saraki’s Prince Oloyede said the two have always partnered to assist the rich and powerful to abort the efforts of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and other security agencies seeking to bring some highly-connected Nigerians to justice.
One source told SaharaReporters that Oloyede is the lawyer who has helped Buruji Kashamu, the United States-wanted drug baron turned Senator, to evade justice. He is equally the lawyer who assisted Ifeanyi Uba, the notorious oil subsidy scammer, to obtain a permanent injunction. That injunction was also granted by Justice Kafarati. Only last week, Ifeanyi Uba’s Authority newspaper tried to twist the Saraki case by claiming the government prosecutor was planning to drop some charges.
Justice Kafarati, on his part, has several petitions against him before the EFCC and the National Judicial Council. An EFCC investigation into his financial dealings shows he was found with a vast treasure chest of N2billion in his private account. He claimed he realized the funds from farming.
The trial of Saraki ought to have started at the CCT last week but his new lawyer, who appears to have been hired because he is a former boss of the government Prosecutor and the lead judge at the tribunal, was able to get the trial postponed in anticipation of Kafarati’s favorable ruling tomorrow.
Government investigators said the action of the lead judge has become suspicious in view of another revelation that he received a bribe from a former minister of Niger Delta, Godsday Orubebe, to scuttle his case.
On Monday, hours to the awaited ruling of Justice Kafarati on Saraki, Justice Danlami Umar [of the CCT was forced to issue a rebuttal affirming that the case of Orubebe is still “intact,” the only difference being that some charges were substituted.
