Fashola, Fayemi, Hail Tinubu’s Acquittal

Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State and his counterpart in Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi and the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, have hailed the judgment of the Code of Conduct Tribunal which dismissed allegations levelled against the former governor of Lagos, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.

The Code of Conduct Bureau, CCB had accused Tinubu of operating foreign accounts while in office and charged him before the Code of Conduct Tribunal but the Tribunal acquitted the former governor yesterday.

Fashola described the judgment of the Tribunal as being of great benefit to the people of Nigeria. “The judgment shows that there is still the capacity of the Judiciary to independently assess matters brought before it in a way that shows that the rights of citizens are not trampled upon.”

He said one of the findings of the Tribunal was that there seemed to be a persistence of harassing the applicant with a series of petty processes and charges, adding: “This is not sustainable or, indeed, permissible in a constitutional democracy.”

“The court was assisted by counsels who appeared for both sides in the maiden case where a lot of profound issues as it relates to how the Code of Conduct should operate, what it can do, what it cannot do; the processes by which it should do it.

“This is, perhaps, a maiden case where all of these issues are adjudicated. In a sense, therefore, our public life will be better for this judgment, will be enriched by it and by the jurisprudence that it offered,” Fashola said.

Ekiti State governor, Fayemi hailed the ruling of the Tribunal, saying that the ruling had shown clearly that the case had no basis.

“It is absolutely impossible to build something on nothing, hence I am not surprised that the entire case has collapsed like a pack of cards, because really, there was no basis for the trial.”

— Kazeem Ugbodaga