Following media reports that he has been compromised by Senate President, Bukola Saraki, a Federal High Court in Abuja, Justice Abdukadir Abdu-Kafarati, has withdrawn from the case brought before him.
Saraki, who is facing criminal prosecution by the Code of Conduct Bureau, had filed a petition urging the court to stop his false assets declaration trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal.
However, a recent report by Sahara Reporters had insinuated that Saraki had bribed Justice Abdu-Kafarati.
In a bid to uphold his integrity, the Honorable Judge on Tuesday, disqualified himself from the case.
He said: “If I grant the prayers of the applicant. The reading public will say yes, the judge has been compromised. If I refuse the prayers, they will say the judge has been threatened or intimidated.”
“The most honourable thing for me to do is to disqualify myself from this case. I hereby disqualify myself from this case and the file is returned to the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court for re-assignment.”
Saraki, who had emerged as the senate president through a means that was considered unsavory by his political party, the All Progressive Congress, had severally posited that his trial was politically motivated.
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