Nigeria’s number three citizen Senator Bukola Saraki has lauded the Supreme Court for clearing him of corruption allegations.
The highest court on Friday discharged Saraki of the remaining three chargesagainst him in the case of false declaration of assets.
Saraki, former governor of Kwara state, had filed an appeal at the apex court to challenge the ruling of the Court of Appeal which asked the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) to try him on three of the 18 counts brought against him by the EFCC.
The Supreme Court, in the main appeal, vacated the judgment of the appeal court which held that Saraki had questions to answer with regards to charges 4, 5 and 6 in an 18-count of non-declaration of assets and money laundering before the Code of Conduct Tribunal.
According to the Supreme Court, since the lower court held that the prosecution failed to call those who had direct knowledge about the fact and then turn around to rely on parts of it to reach its position, hearsay evidence cannot be used as proof to establish a prima facie case on three out of the 18 counts.
And Saraki, in a statement personally signed by him, said that the Supreme Court had rekindled his strong confidence in the judicial process.
”At the end of a tortuous journey of 1018 Days counting from September 22, 2015 when the case began at the Tribunal, I am happy that I have been vindicated. The Supreme Court has affirmed that there is no evidence of false declaration of assets,” Saraki wrote
He also said, “This outcome has gladdened my heart and further strengthened my belief in this country and as well as my faith in Almighty Allah, who is the righter of all wrongs. God has vindicated me today before the judgment of man, and I am most thankful and humbled at His grace and infinite mercies.
“Through it all, I refused to be shaken, knowing, as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, that the arch of the moral universe may be long, but it bends towards justice. I knew the day would come when justice would prevail and I would be exonerated.”
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