Shocking! CCT chairman, Danladi Umar is just a puppet?

Editor’s note: In this opinion piece, Ifeanyi Elvis writes on the ongoing trial of the Senate President, Bukola Saraki at the Code of Conduct Tribunal. He also questions the intergrity of the chairman of the CCT, Danaldi Umar especially with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) clearing Umar of all bribery allegation against him.

As the trial of Senate President Bukola Saraki trudges on at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), it is becoming lucid that Danladi Umar, chairman of the tribunal, is not acting alone.

From his rulings to his “attack-dog” demeanor towards the lawyers of Saraki, it is not out of place to say that there is a puppeteer pulling the strings of Umar.

To buttress this assertion, the hurried trial of the senate president, is undoubtedly a clue into the claim that “the persecution, and not prosecution” of Saraki, is a high-calibre engineered process. And this implies that, Umar, is a mere puppet in the hands of a “Gulliver-puppeteer”.

In fact, the questionable hurried trial of Saraki defies legal and moral logic when viewed against the background of a case that has been at tribunal for three years.

This case, which has become geriatric for it started in 2013, is one of bribery involving the CCT chairman himself.

Here is a cursory background of the case. Taiwo Rasheed, a former comptroller of customs, who is being tried at the CCT for failing to declare his assets, allegedly bribed Umar with N10m to influence his trial.

READ ALSO: N10m bribery: CCT chairman under fire

Rasheed claimed that he wired N1.8m to Umar, through his personal assistant, but the CCT chairman denied the claim. Nevertheless, the details of this matter are fodder for another day.

However, since the case commenced at the tribunal in 2013, there have been a series of adjournments. Even, when it came up on Wednesday, May 10, 2016, the CCT chairman adjourned it for another two weeks.

And so, the beat goes on. The question, this scenario, raises is: Why is Umar quick to adjourn a trial he is linked with (allegedly bribed to influence), but insists that that of the senate president must go on from day to day?

This is irresponsible, and a clear display of judicial rascality.

Again, the CCT judge has never granted Saraki an adjournment of not more than 10 days, but he freely adjourned the trial of Godsday Orubebe, a former minister of Niger Delta affairs, by a month.

So why the mad rush and undue exuberance in Saraki’s case? Umar claims he is going by the stipulations of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015 (ACJA), but is the Act only applicable to the case of the senate president?

As stated earlier, going by these facts, the CCT chairman is not acting alone in Saraki’s trial. The rough lines of the trial have shown this.

Umar is just a puppet on the strings of a cowardly puppeteer, afraid of showing his face.

Ifeanyi Elvis is a public commentator and political analyst.

This article expresses the authors’ opinion only. The views and opinions expressed here do not necessarily represent those of NAIJ.com or its editors.

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