By Ikechukwu Nnochiri

ABUJA – The Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, Thursday, pleaded not guilty to an amended 16-count criminal charge the Federal Government entered against him before the Code of Conduct Tribunal, CCT, sitting in Abuja.

Saraki was re-arraigned on a day the tribunal chairman, Justice Danladi Umar, refused to disqualify himself from presiding over the trial.

In a ruling, Justice Umar, dismissed the motion Saraki filed through his lawyer, Mr. Raphael Oluyede, asking him to hands-off the case on the ground that he was likely to be biased against the defendant.

Meanwhile, barely an hour after the ruling was delivered, Saraki, served the CCT with a copy of an appeal he has lodged against it before the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal.