A mild drama ensued yesterday before the Code Conduct Tribunal (CCT) when the lawyer to former Governor of Lagos State Governor Bola? Tinubu, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN),? canvassed fierce argument? that his client would not enter the dock on the grounds that the jurisdiction of the CCT to try him is being contested.
But the prosecutor, Dr Alex Izinyon (SAN), informed the tribunal that if the ex-governor was not in the dock, it was as if he was not present at the tribunal.
The Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) is prosecuting Tinubu on a three-count charge of alleged operation of foreign accounts while in office.
At the resumed hearing of the matter yesterday, Olanipekun insisted? that the issue of? jurisdiction and? the competence of the three-count charge brought against his client? by the Federal Government must be resolved before the case could proceed.
The legal argument ensued when the CCT Chairman, Justice Dalandi Umar,? asked Tinubu to take his place for the business of the day, Olanipekun urged?? the tribunal to clarify the exact place his client would sit. Responding to the question, Justice Umar? said the dock was? the appropriate place for Tinubu to sit .
But? Olanipekun? reminded the tribunal that? his client had? raised objection to the competence of the three -count charge and the jurisdiction of the tribunal to try him in the first place.
?Olanipekun said, “Since there is no arraignment, Tinubu cannot be docked because he is not yet an accused person before the tribunal and it is only when you overrule our application that he stands. It is just out of respect for this honourable tribunal that Tinubu came here.
“When Nuhu Ribadu objected to the charge filed against him before this tribunal, he never one day entered this dock and you now the chairman was a member of that panel.”
But? the tribunal chairman, who led other two members in the panel interjected, “Ribadu was nowhere to be found at that time.”
On the argument whether Tinubu should be put in the dock,? Izinyon, said, “When an accused is in the court and he is not docked,? it means that he is not present as required by the law.
“This can only arise if the accused has been arraigned first and he took his plea, he can talk about whether he would be in dock or not as the proceedings continues. But where his arraignment has not taken off and he has not taken his plea, he cannot be absent.”
Justice Umar later said that the tribunal had taken judicial notice that the accused was in court and that it could? proceed with the business of the day. Consequently, Tinubu took his seat in the front row inside the courtroom.
Coming to the business of the day, the defence counsel, Olanipekun moved his motion notice seeking to quash the amended three-count charge filed against the accused person, saying that CCT did not invite his client for questioning.
He told the tribunal that the charge filed against Tinubu did not link the accused to any of the offences alleged because no proof of evidence was attached.
According to him, the prosecutor is trying to lay an ambush on the defence.
He added?? that the amended charge was an abuse of court process on the grounds that there was? a pending application since 2007 which is before the Court of Appeal.
But? Izinyon? said that the business of the day revolved around the amended charge and not the old application being referred to by Olanipekun.
In addition, he said Olanipekun could not? be complaining that there was no sufficient material to prefer the charge against his client ,? saying that the prosecution had listed? several foreign bank accounts operated by the former governor while in office as he claimed that the development was? enough to try him
?Tinubu is being tried by the CCB over his alleged failure to declare his foreign accounts in Form CCB1, as provided for by the Code of Conduct Bureau Act, an offence that is contrary to Section 15 (2) of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act, Cap C15 LFN, 2004 as amended and punishable under paragraph 18, Fifth Schedule to the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended).
Three state governors: Babatunde Fashola (SAN) Lagos, Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti) and Rauf? Arebesola (Osun) as well as other chieftains of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) attended the proceedings.