What is Good for Saraki Is also Good for Tinubu

Tinubu

As the saying goes, what is good for the goose is good for the gander. This implies applying the same standard to all men and women who are in similar and same circumstances. No double standard. No discrimination.

William Shakespeare in his epic drama, ‘Macbeth’ said that fair is foul and foul is fair, meaning that the same standard should be applied at all times in similar situations. It then means that whatever that is applied to one should be applied to another and in Nigeria’s parlance, there is no need changing the goal post in the middle of a football game.

The present trial of the President of the Nigeria’s Senate, Dr. Abubakar Olubukola Saraki presents an epic example of where the above phrases is applicable. The trial of the former governor of Lagos state, Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu in 2001 and the present case against the former governor of Kwara state are very than similar in fact, nature and circumstances. Therefore, the judgement meted out to Tinubu has represented itself in the current trial of the Senate President, Saraki. By implication, a similar judgement should be given to Saraki.

Both instances present a perfect case of political persecution. The then Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) led Federal Government persecuted Tinubu for his audacious move in championing the cause of the opposition political party, then the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). In like manner, Saraki is being persecuted for daring to contest and winning the office of the Senate Presidency despite the fact that some powerful people in his party, the APC have a preferred candidate. Apart from that, both leaders contributed immensely towards the formation of the now ruling party, the APC.

Both have a horde of lawyers in their defence. Tinubu had as one of his lawyers, Prof. Yemi Osibajo ( now the Vice President) joining 68 other lawyers, while Saraki initially had J.B. Daudu leading other Senior Advocates of Nigerian (SANs). Now, the former Attorney General of the Federation, Kanu Agabi is his lead counsel with several SANs and lawyers numbering 80.

Also, the current chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal, Danladi Umar presided over the trial of the former governor of Lagos State. The same Danladi Umar is the presiding chairman that is presiding over the Saraki case. Tinubu was discharged and acquitted by the Code of Conduct Tribunal chaired by Umar because the condition precedent was not fulfilled before the charges of false declaration of assets were filed against the former Lagos State governor.

Specifically, section 3 (D) of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act stated that the Bureau shall among other things, “receive complaints about noncompliance with or breach of this Act and where the Bureau considers it necessary to do so, refers such complaints to the Code of Conduct Tribunal established by section 20 of this Act in accordance with the provisions of sections 20-25of this Act; Provided that where the person concerned makes a written admission of such breach or noncompliance, no reference to the tribunal shall be necessary”.

It was in furtherance of this provision of the law and in compliance to section 3 (d), that Justice Umar said while discharging Tinubu : “I feel compelled by the argument of the learned SAN for the accused. It is a condition precedent for referring a charge to this Tribunal that the accused ought to have been invited to either deny or admit the allegations against him. This is missing in this case as the complainant has no such evidence of prior invitation”.

It was for this reason that the lead Counsel for Saraki, Kanu Agabi insisted that for the purposes of equity that the Senate President was not invited by the Code of Conduct Bureau as required by law to deny or admit the alleged discrepancies in the asset declaration form submitted to the Bureau. Agabi told the tribunal that up till now, Saraki as a defendant has not made any statement to the Bureau upon which he can be effectively put to trial.

The former Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) said that it was wrong in law in initiating the charge against Saraki because the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act vested the power to accept asset declaration form, investigate assets declaration form and prosecute the offender on the Bureau and not on any external force like the AGF, ICPC or EFCC.

He said the failure of the CCB to fulfill the conditions precedent of summoning Saraki to first make statement on discrepancies in his declared assets was fatal to the charge before the tribunal and cannot operate to the detriment of the defendant.

Accordingly, Kanu Agabi said, “CCB is a peculiar institution; it has the duty to accept, to examine, to keep custody of assets declaration forms submitted to it and also has power to accept complaints from the public on the discrepancies that may arise from any form submitted to it.

“In the instant case, there is no petition or complain before the CCB and the power of the CCB to refer any offender to the CCT for trial cannot be delegated to the AGF”, ha said.

Agabi recalled the trial of former Tinubu, who was accused of false declaration of assets but was set free by the tribunal because of the failure of the CCB to fulfill necessary conditions of inviting him first to make statement on the alleged discrepancies before referring him for trial.

Accordingly, Agabi said, such measures should also apply to Saraki because he was not first invited by CCB to make statement of denial or confirmation of discrepancies in his assets declaration form.

The former Chief Law Officer of the Federation recalled how ten other former governors who had the opportunity of being invited to defend their asset declaration before CCB were not referred to the tribunal after explanations on their declared assets.

He therefore urged the tribunal to dismiss the charge against Saraki for being incompetent, baseless and having been filed without observing the due process of the law.

It is therefore in line with the principle of equity, equality before the law and fairness to all and sundry that the same treatment meted to the former Lagos state governor, Bola Tinubu should be extended to the former governor of Kwara state because of the noncompliance of due process. As the saying goes, what is good for the geese is good for the gander. That is to say, the same standard applied in the Tinubu case should be extended to Saraki. This is what equity is all about; fairness and impartiality to all concerned. Anything else is nothing other than discrimination and double standards. The similarities between the Tinubu and Saraki cases are too striking such that the best option is for the Justice Umar led CCT to just copy and paste his judgement in the Tinubu case for Saraki.