From Godwin Tsa, Abuja

The Federal Government yesterday stalled the trial of Senate President Bukola Saraki, his deputy, Senator Ike Ekweremadu and two others on the alleged forgery of Senate Rules.
The procecution was aborted following the inability of the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Mallam Abubakar Malami (SAN), to transfer the case file to the new prosecution team headed by Alhaji Aliyu Umar (SAN).
Justice Yusuf Halilu was to commence hearing of the motions filed by the defendants challenging the propriety of the charge as well as the jurisdiction of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to entertain the case.
Although, all the defendants were in court, Umar expressed his inability to proceed with the trial without the case file, which he said, was yet to be released to him by the AGF.
He prayed the court to grant him an adjournment to enable him access the file and study it.
The adjournment, he said, would further enable him prepare his reply to the multiple motions filed by the defendants.
Responding, the defence counsel accused the government of deliberate attempts to frustrate the trial.  Counsel to Saraki, Mr. Paul Erokoro (SAN), who opposed Umar’s request, informed the court that the matter had been slated since June by the Abuja High Court for trial.
He urged that if the AGF did not deem it fit to hand over the case file to the lawyer he freely appointed then, the charge should be terminated. He said Saraki had also filed a motion since June 22 before the court and served same on the AGF, questioning the legality of the charge on the ground that it constituted an abuse of court process because a similar matter involving the AGF, was pending before a Federal high court in Abuja.
Ekweremadu’s lawyer, Joseph Daudu (SAN), also faulted the request for an adjournment, claiming that since June when the charge was filed and slated for hearing, the AGF ought to have done the needful so as not to scuttle the trial.
Chief Ikechukwu Ezechukwu (SAN), counsel to the former clerk of the National Assembly, Alhaji Salisu Abubakar Maikasuwa and Mahmud Magaji (SAN), counsel to the Deputy Clerk, Benedict Eferuti, also raised objection against the decision of the prosecution not to commence trial.
Justice Yusuf Halilu expressed reservations on the request for adjournment and the inability of the AGF to respond to the motions filed in the 90 days by three of the four defendants challenging the AGF on the propriety of the charge.
“But in the interest of justice and the circumstances of this case and the plight of the defence team, I oblige to adjourn this matter till Friday, October 7 as agreed to by the four defendants,” he said.
The bail granted the four defendants in June, when they were brought for trial, should continue,” the judge ruled.
The AGF had in June this year, filed a two-count charge on criminal conspiracy and forgery of the Senate Standing Rule 2015, against Saraki, Ekweremadu, Maikasuwa, and Efeture, but they all denied the charge, prompting the court to admit them on bail.
An indication that the trial of the Senate President would not commence first came when the AGF after studying the file concluded that the investigation conducted by police into the allegation of forgery was inclusive and in a new move directed the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to begin a fresh investigation into the matter.