Justice Abdukadir Abdu-Kafarati of a Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday withdrew from the case filed by the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, seeking an order to stop his trial for false assets declaration before the Code of Conduct Tribunal.
This development followed reports on Sahara Reporters an online media which accused the judge of taking bribe from Saraki to compromise in the judgment that was to be delivered in the case on Tuesday.
Justice Abdul-Kafarati had on March 1, heard and fixed Tuesday for judgment in Saraki’s case to stop his trial at CCT. This is even as the Supreme Court had on February 5 held that the tribunal has jurisdiction to try the Senate President. But now Justice Abdu-Kafarati is saying that his integrity had been maligned by the on-line media reports and that the honourable thing for him to do was to disqualify himself from the case.
The Judge, who quoted copiously the online reports, said he had been caught between two devils. The CCT had also fixed March 24 to deliver its ruling on Saraki’s another application challenging the validity of the charges and the tribunal’s jurisdiction to entertain the case.
