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Drama as Tinubu appears before Code of Conduct Tribunal
Ayokunle Oloye Newsdiaryonline Sep
21,2011
Related-Revealed:Desperate
Moves to Nail Tinubu
The Code of Conduct Tribunal sitting in Abuja on Wednesday
refused to read the charge to former Lagos Governor, Senator
Bola Ahmed Tinubu who appeared person to answer queries raised
against him just as the case was adjourned till October 26, 2011
for further hearing.
The Tribunal chairman, Justice Danlami Umar, also warned counsel
appearing before his panel to avoid using delay tactics like
substitution of charges to prolong the case which should be
decided expeditiously and summarily.
Leading counsel to the prosecution, Dr. Alex Izinyon (SAN), had
applied that the charge be read to Tinubu so that he could enter
his plea.
This application was opposed by the lead counsel for the
defence, Chief Wole
Olanipekun who led seven senior advocates of Nigeria (SAN) in a
31-member team of lawyers because of what he referred to as
fundamental objections to the charges contained in it.
The silk told the court that Tinubu was not personally served
with the writ of summon as obtained in the law arguing that the
accused person was in court out of his respect for the judiciary
and the rule of law.
Izinyon, in his reply, accepted that the bailiff could not serve
Tinubu personally because of his larger-than-life-posture as he
called the attention of the panel to the huge crowd of
supporters that filled the courtroom to capacity just as the
Tribunal commended Tinubu for the respect he showed to the
judiciary by coming without insisting on proper service of the
writ.
Olanipekun , highlighting another part of the drama at the
tribunal today ,called the attention of the court to the fact
that the old charge which was filed on March 11 had been
substituted and was served on him at the court before the
hearing resumed.
The SAN who raised no objection to the withdrawal of the old
charges and consequent substitution with new one argued that it
would run against the rule of natural justice if the accused
person was made to enter his plea to a charge that he had not
even read.
Izinyon insisted that the charges were brought under the
Criminal Procedure Act (CPA) which he argued had been superseded
by the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) which was applicable before
the three-man Tribunal.
Replying, Olanipekun contended that part of the objections
raised by Tinubu had to do with the jurisdiction of the the
Tribunal to entertain the charge.
According to him, should the Tribunal proceed to read the charge
and continue with the trial when the issue of its jurisdiction
was yet to be determined, the entire process could end up a
nullity.
He further argued that Tinubu Had not even read the substituted
charge not to talk of responding to it in his defence.
Olanipekun concluded that if the court should go along with the
argument of Izinyon, it would amount to a miscarriage of justice
which he noted was not even applicable in a state of anomie like
Libya where nobody seemed to be in charge of the affairs.
After consulting with his colleagues, Justice Danlami Umar
announced that his panel was of the opinion that it was not
right to read the the charge to the accused persons when the
issue of jurisdiction and the objections raised to the
substituted charge was yet to be determined.
Justice Umar thereafter ordered the defence to reply to the
substituted charges within the next five days while the
prosecution had two weeks to respond to the argument of the
defence.
He consequently fixed October 26, 2011 for the next hearing.
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