The Supreme Court of Nigeria on Thursday ordered the suspension of proceedings at the Code of Conduct Tribunal, CCT, trial of Senate President Bukola Saraki, pending the conclusion of an appeal filed by him at the apex court.

At the hearing of Saraki’s appeal, the prosecutor told the court that he will sign an undertaking refraining him from doing anything at the tribunal pending the determination of the suit.

The prosecutor said this while urging the court not to grant a stay of proceedings and requested for accelerated hearing so as not to give room for an accused person to continue to delay his trial.

In its ruling, the Justice John Fabiyi – led five-man panel of justices held that “all the parties, including the Code of Conduct Tribunal, should tarry a while to enable this court to determine the appeal before it”.

Earlier, the Senate President had appealed against the October 30 judgment of the Court of Appeal, which affirmed the competence of the charges instituted against him and the jurisdiction of the CCT to try him.

Some lawyers who appeared for Saraki at the tribunal on November 5, withdrew from the case and walked out in protest against a ruling of the CCT led by Justice Danladi Umar.

The tribunal had rejected their request to adjourn the trial indefinitely because of the pending appeal before the Supreme Court.

The tribunal chairman had adjourned the trial till November 19, to enable Saraki to engage new lawyers.

Later, a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos had dismissed the fundamental human rights application filed by Saraki, seeking to stop his trial before the Code of Conduct Tribunal, CCT, in Abuja.

In the suit, Saraki asked the court to declare that his arraignment and trial before the CCT fall short of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Right and Section 36 of the Nigerian Constitution which guarantee his right to fair hearing and personal liberty.