Nigeria: Senate chief to face corruption charges

By Rafiu Ajakaye

LAGOS, Nigeria

Nigeria’s senate president Bukola Saraki will be charged with three counts of false assets declaration and corruption, the appeals court ruled on Tuesday, reversing an earlier ruling of the conduct tribunal which had acquitted the top politician.

The code of conduct tribunal had in June discharged and acquitted Saraki of an 18-count corruption charge, upholding the politician’s argument that no case was established against him.

But a three-member appeals panel chaired by Justice Tinuade Akomolafe-Wilson said the prosecution established a prima facie case against the politician in at least three of the 18 charges.

Akomolafe-Wilson said the politician must explain the perceived discrepancies in his claims regarding properties he allegedly bought with loans from commercial banks in the country's commercial capital Lagos -- contrary to his claim that he had bought them with funds from sales of his farm produce.

Saraki said he would appeal the ruling before the Supreme Court.