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Senators that are loyal to Senator Bukola Saraki have taken a swipe at the present impasse  between the number three citizen and the Code of Conduct Tribunal, following the issuance of warrant of arrest. They said the ruling party, All Progressives Congress, APC was drifting Nigeria into a state of anarchy.

In their separate reactions, the Senators who were however shocked that the present situation could happen in Nigeria especially coming some months after Nigerians eagerly voted for change to engender rapid socio-economic development and good governance at all levels.

Senate President Bukola Saraki is presently facing trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal, CCT following a 13- count charge levelled against him by the Code of Conduct Bureau, CCB, bordering on alleged corruption and false declaration of assets in 2003 and summoned him to appear before it on Friday.

But the President of the Senate through his lawyers, approached a Federal High Court in Abuja on Thursday where he obtained an exparte order to stop the tribunal proceedings. His Counsels actually got a ruling, summoning the Code of Code Bureau ( CCB), the Code of Conduct Tribunal, the Federal Ministry of Justice and Saraki himself to appear before it on Monday for hearing of the suit.

However, ignoring the order, the Code of Conduct Tribunal went ahead with Saraki’s trial, thereby resulting in the tribunal Chairman, Justice Danladi Umar ruling that no federal high court has any jurisdiction to stop the tribunal’s proceedings, claiming that Federal High Court and the Tribunal have coordinate jurisdiction.

The judge later issued warrant of arrest on Saraki for refusing to appear before it after two days of notification to that effect, just as Saraki’s counsels quickly moved to file an appeal against the ruling at the Federal Court of Appeal Abuja the same Friday

Commenting on the development, Senator Sonni Ogbuoji, PDP, Ebonyi South noted that the current travail of the President of the Senate was an indication that the APC has no programme of governance for the country but to use state apparatus to witch-hunt political enemies, adding that the Code of Conduct Tribunal was treating Nigeria to a new form of Constitution, whereby a deputy director instead of the Attorney-General of the Federation was the one that took Saraki to court.

Describing Saraki’s treatment as politically motivated, Senator Ogbuoji noted that those behind the saga were not fighting for the growth of democracy, but for their selfish interest, which he said was to the detriment of the country. When asked whether he would advise the President of the Senate to resign in view of the dimension his opponents had taken to fight him, Senator Ogbuoji, who noted that there was no basis for anyone to demand for Sarak’s resignation, stressed that even if Saraki was eventually arrested and arraigned before the court, that would not remove him from his seat as the President of the Senate, adding that such would only be seen as a judicial process.

He said, “resign for what reason, what is his offence? Something that happened in 2003 and nobody talked about it, why is it coming up now?