• NJC succumbs, judges being investigated must step down
• APC fingers Wike, Akpabio, Okowa, Emmanuel of being behind accusations against Amaechi
•Ruling party accuses governors of bribing Ngwuta, Okoro
The federal government has moved to
tighten the screws around corruption in the judiciary, with the
Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission
(ICPC) filing a nine-count charge against the outgoing Chief Registrar
of the Supreme Court, Mr. Gambo Saleh, for allegedly diverting N2.2
billion.
Saleh has just been confirmed by the
National Judicial Council (NJC) to take over as the secretary of the
council, effective July 2017.
In the charge sheet filed by the ICPC at
the Abuja High Court, Saleh has been charged alongside the Director of
Finance of the Supreme Court, Mr. Muhammed Sharif, and one Rilwanu Lawal
also of the Finance Department.
This came just as the NJC finally bowed
to pressure, saying yesterday that it would no longer allow judicial
officers under investigation for corruption to perform judicial
functions.
Saleh, Sharif and Lawal were also accused by the federal government of obtaining gratification in the sum of N74.4 million.
The charge sheet was dated November 3, 2016 and was filed on behalf of the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) by the ICPC.
They were accused of illegally diverting the sum of N2.2 billion into a private account in the United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc.
The offences were said to have been committed between 2009 and 2016.
The charge sheet was signed by Mr. Hajara H. Yusuf, Principal State Counsel in the Office of the AGF.
Saleh was appointed the Chief Registrar
of the Supreme Court on November 24, 2014 by the incumbent Chief Justice
of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Mahmud Mohammed.
At the just concluded NJC meeting, he
was appointed secretary of the council. However, his new appointment
will come into effect by July next year, before which he will understudy
the incumbent secretary of the council, Danladi Halilu, who will be
attaining the retirement age of 60.
Indicted Judges to Step Down
But as the NJC came to terms with the
knowledge that its new chief registrar has a case to answer, it finally
succumbed to pressure yesterday on the indicted judges, saying that it
would no longer allow judicial officers who are being investigated for
high profile corruption cases to perform judicial functions.
This decision was taken at the 79th meeting of the council held on the 2nd and 3rd of November 2016.
A statement issued by the council’s
acting Director of Information, Mr. Soji Oye, said: “Council also
decided that judicial officers shall not be standing trial for alleged
corruption related offences and be performing judicial functions at the
same time.
“Council however decided that it will
ensure that judicial officers who are being investigated for alleged
high profile criminal offences do not perform judicial functions until
their cases are concluded.”
The council also said that it had
commenced implementation of specific aspects of the National Judicial
Policy, which came into force in April 2016 and was launched on Monday,
October 24, 2016.
During the meeting, council also set up a
Transparency and Anti-Corruption Policy Implementation Committee
comprising Justice E. O. Ayoola (retired Justice of the Supreme Court) –
chairman, Justice Kashim Zannah, Chief Judge of Borno State – member,
A. B. Mahmoud (SAN), President Nigeria Bar Association – member.
The council stated that Section 6 of the
National Judicial Policy aimed at putting in place multifaceted
strategies and guidelines would ensure transparency and eliminate
corruption in the judiciary.
The policy seeks, among other measures,
to provide a platform and opportunity to citizens who profess factual
and credible knowledge of information on the nature and modalities of
corruption in the judicial system to ventilate them.
APC Accuses Wike, Others
Meanwhile, the ruling All Progressives
Congress (APC) has accused the Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike, his
Delta and Akwa Ibom State counterparts – Ifeanyi Okowa and Udom Emmanuel
– and former Akwa Ibom State governor, Senator Godwill Akpabio, of
being behind the accusations levelled against the Minister of
Transportation Rotimi Amaechi by two Supreme Court justices.
Justices Sylvester Ngwuta and John
Inyang Okoro, both of the Supreme Court, were two of the seven judges
arrested by the Department of State Services (DSS) for alleged
corruption last month.
Shortly after the seven judges were
granted bail, Justices Ngwuta and Okoro, in separate letters to the CJN,
blamed their travails on Amaechi, whom they accused of trying to
influence them into giving judgments that were favourable to the APC
governorship candidates that contested the Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Ekiti
gubernatorial elections between 2014 and 2015.
All the three states are currently held by the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
But in a statement yesterday, the
chairman of the Rivers State chapter of the APC, Chief Davies Ibiamu
Ikanya, claimed that the allegations against Amaechi by Justices Okoro
and Ngwuta had been linked to several top PDP leaders.
He alleged: “The governor of Rivers
State, Nyesom Wike, the governor of Delta State, Ifeanyi Okowa, the
governor of Akwa Ibom State, Udom Emmanuel and the immediate past
governor of Akwa Ibom State who’s now the Senate Leader, Godswill
Akpabio (all PDP leaders), have been linked to the Supreme Court
justices’ allegations against Amaechi.
“These big four PDP politicians are said
to be the biggest spenders who allegedly induced and bribed the Supreme
Court justices with hefty sums of money to get favourable judgments.
“They are said to be the major sources
of the money, wealth and properties that have been traced by the DSS to
Justices Okoro and Ngwuta.
“These PDP bigwigs are said to have
advised the justices to drag Amaechi into their arrest and investigation
by the DSS. They believe doing so would muddle the waters, divert the
media and public attention from the corruption allegations against them
and make the whole arrest and investigations look like a political
vendetta against the justices.
“Our findings indicate that they told
the justices that the Buhari government is after them, wants to bring
them down, and that they must drag Amaechi down as well.
“They deceived the justices to think and
believe that Amaechi is the one behind their travails because of some
state governorship electoral matters the Supreme Court handled, that the
All Progressives Congress (APC) lost.
“Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Delta
governorship election appeals were cited to hoodwink Justices Okoro and
Ngwuta into believing that Amaechi orchestrated their arrest and
investigation.”
APC further recalled that in the recent
past, some media organisations had written articles on the scandal and
the link between Justices Okoro and Ngwuta and the four PDP leaders.
It said that an online news medium had
specifically written about how huge sums of money in different
currencies were channelled by these PDP leaders to induce the Supreme
Court justices to influence courts’ rulings and get favourable judgments
in the governorship election appeals of Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Delta
States.
“Amaechi was targeted because the four
of them – Wike, Akpabio, Udom and Okowa – see Amaechi as a big threat to
their political ambitions and calculations ahead of 2019 elections.
“All four are from the South-south
region, just like Amaechi. They are scared of Amaechi, his closeness to
President Muhammadu Buhari, and they are afraid that Amaechi’s continual
towering presence in the Buhari administration would truncate their
plans and calculations for 2019.
“They want to damage Amaechi irreparably
and destroy him politically. The ultimate target is President Buhari,
and to get to the president, the conspiracy is to take out Amaechi
first.
“Furthermore, our investigations reveal
that all four PDP leaders hold one grudge or another against Amaechi.
They desperately seek to destroy him. But they will fail,” APC said.
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