The All progressives Congress, APC, has been thrown into panic as the Lagos State Chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has asked the Code of Conduct Tribunal, CCT, to re-visit the case against the National Leader of the APC, Ahmed Bola Tinubu.The Lagos PDP Publicity Secretary, Taofik Gani, in a recent statement, “demanded the immediate invitation, arrest and prosecution of Tinubu, for violating the laws of the land and breaching public trust by operating several foreign accounts during his tenure as Lagos state Governor between 1999 and 2007.”This came after it was revealed at the ongoing trial of Senate President, Bukola Saraki, that Tinubu was discharged in error during his trial fiveyears ago, for allegedly operating foreign accounts while serving as Governor of Lagos state.Saraki’s counsel, Kanu Agabi, had recently urged the tribunal to discharge his client (Saraki), since Tinubu who was accused of a similar allegation was set free.In his reaction, the Lagos APC Publicity Secretary, Joe Igbokwe, on Tuesday described the call as, “silly rants of frustrated losers desperately splashing mud to tar others when they are facing weighty corruption cases.”He added, “Lagos PDP and indeed the entire PDP are suffering from acute Tinubu-phobia borne out of the fact that Asiwaju Tinubu constitutes the greatest nightmare for PDP rank and file, given his prosecution of the defeat of the PDP last year.”Recall, that Tinubu was accused of operating 10 foreign accounts during his tenure as Governor between 1999 and 2007.However, the three-man panel of the Tribunal dismissed the case at Tinubu’s second appearance at the court as it declared that, “there is no significant basis to proceed against Tinubu as the charges were “defectiveand shoddy.”The tribunal also, said that the prosecution abused the process of court by not seeking leave of the Tribunal to file two additional counts and that the filing of two sets of charges simultaneously constitutes an abuse of process.The Chairman of the Tribunal, Danladi Umar, who is also presiding over the ongoing case against the Senate President had also noted that the charges did not disclose a ‘prima facie case’ against the accused person as there was no proof of evidence attached to the charge.The Tribunal further said in its judgment that contrary to the rules, the Code of Conduct Bureau, CCB, hadnot afforded Tinubu an opportunity to be confronted with the complaints made against him and be allowed to admit or deny before the charges were filed against him, a right that is also being denied by Saraki.
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