Reacting to the judgement, a legal practitioner and former President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Mr. Olisa Agbakoba (SAN), said even though he had yet to see a copy of the judgement, the decisions of the Supreme Court is final and whatever the apex court says has to be obeyed.

On his part, Dr. Konyinsola Ajayi, also a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, said the Supreme Court should not have even entertained the case initially, noting that the administration of justice and speedy trial demands that such trial cases should be allowed to carry on.

He said, “Supreme Court is inundated and is being made to share or by itself agrees to share cases that should not go beyond trial. In this case, the belief is that the new administration of justice law is pretty clear as in procedures to take in criminal trials, and apart from this provision, the philosophy behind the constitutional provisions on speedy trial is such that one would expect that such an appeal should not have been taken, rather, it (the Supreme Court) should have announced that the case should carry on and the matter disposed of.

“At the end of the day, I guess that is the result we have achieved because the apex court has ruled that trial should continue. But, if I were in Supreme Court, I will not consider it (the Senate President’s application to stop his trial by the CCT). I will dismiss it. The Supreme Court is to lay down compelling or controlling authority but the problem we see today is that the apex court handles too many cases.”