The lawyers of Senate President, Bukola Saraki, who walked out on the Code of Conduct Tribunal, have been cleared by the Nigerian Bar Association.
Senior Advocates of Nigeria, Saka Issau, Ahmed Raji and Mahmud Magaji, led 23 lawyers out of the courtroom in protest against the ruling of the Justice Danladi Umar-led tribunal.
Justice Umar had on Thursday, ruled that the false assets declaration trial of Bukola Saraki at the tribunal would continue in spite of his pending appeal with respect to the case at the Supreme Court.
Consequently, Saraki’s legal team staged a walkout, to register their disagreement with the ruling.
“We wrote to the lawyers who were alleged to have walked out. And they replied us stating clearly that they have applied to the tribunal to withdraw. Their application was granted and therefore they had to leave the court. They also said they did not leave the court with an empty bar because there were other lawyers in court.
“When a lawyer has applied to withdraw appearance from that court they have no other business to remain in that court and they are free to leave. The lawyer is free to leave the court.”
“We always implore all courts and tribunals to notify us of conducts of lawyers they consider to be improper. It is the duty of the tribunal if it feels such thing transpired to notify the NBA. The NBA owes a duty to the tribunal members who we have the duty to protect and to the senior advocates and to the entire bar. We won’t take side with one against the other.”
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