In a move by the judiciary to absolve itself of claims that some judges have been taking bribes, leading to their recent arrest by the Department of State Services (DSS) and further probe by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), one of the Supreme Court justices arrested by the DSS, Justice John Inyang Okoro, has alleged that he was targeted because he refused to help the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) deliver judgments in the Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Abia governorship election appeals that were favourable to the party.
In a letter he wrote to the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Mahmud Mohammed on Monday, October 17, 2016, detailing his ordeal in the hands of the DSS, Justice Okoro said that a former governor of Rivers State and now Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, came to his house to persuade him to give judgments in APC’s favour and also promised to offer him millions of naira if he delivered.
This is just as Justice Adeniyi Ademola of the Federal High Court, who had also written to the CJN on the circumstances which he claimed led to his arrest by the DSS, yesterday withdrew from the trial of the former National Security Adviser (NSA), Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd). However, Justice Okoro’s allegations were strenuously denied by Amaechi’s media office yesterday, which said in a text: “The accusation from Justice Okoro against Amaechi is a figment of his imagination, concocted to obfuscate the real issues for his arrest and DSS’ investigation of allegations of corruption against him.
“The claims by Justice Okoro against Amaechi are blatant lies, bereft of any iota of truth or even logic. Amaechi did not, and has never approached Justice Okoro in respect of the cases Okoro mentioned or any other case.”
This Day
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