President Muhammadu Buhari has said that the attempts to link the ongoing trial of the Senate President Bukola Saraki to him are unacceptable.
President Buhari said this in a statement on Sunday by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu.
He said views to the effect that the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) and the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) could only act upon external instigation were equally uninformed.
According to the presidential aide, there is no place in law that the Bureau and the Tribunal should take instructions from any quarters.
He said as an independent institution equal to any superior court of record; the tribunal is set up by the constitution to determine the issue of default, false declaration or forgery in assets declaration.
“This therefore is purely a judicial process and has nothing to do with the Presidency”, he said.
He said those who had an axe to grind with what they are doing should do it in a judicial manner by challenging those actions in a proper court of law.
“Let them hire a good team of lawyers to prove their innocence,” Shehu said.
“Government has no desire to persecute anybody. The President has vowed to respect the rule of law and this is what he is doing by staying out of this matter. He has said times without number that the war against corruption has no sacred cows,” he added.
Shehu noted that “Even if the president wants to help, there is no way he can do anything. Is he going to ask the judge to stop the trial?”
