Rotimi Amaechi tried to Bribe me over Rivers State Guber Election – Justice Okoro

 

 

Justice John Inyang Okoro has opened up on his re­cent arrest by operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS).

Justice Okoro was one of the Justices of the Supreme Court and five Judges of the Federal High Court whose homes were invaded by the DSS between October 8 and 9, 2016, over alleged corruption.

Contrary to the claims by the DSS, Justice Okoro, who has been granted bail and re­leased, said he was humiliated by the Federal Government for his courageous stance against overtures made to him by the Minister of Transport and for­mer governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi, to influence the decisions of the apex court in the appeals involving the governorship elections in Riv­ers, Akwa Ibom and Abia States in the 2015 general elections.

Justice Okoro made these assertions in a letter he wrote to the Chief Justice of Nigeria and Chairman of the National Judicial Council (NJC), Justice Mahmud Mohammed, on Oc­tober 17, 2016.

Justice Okoro affirms that Hon. Amaechi and the All Pro­gressives Congress (APC) gov­ernorship candidate in the elec­tion, Mr. Umana Okon Umana, had, at different times, visit­ed him at his official residence in Abuja where they asked him to influence the outcome of the election appeals in their favour.

Justice Okoro said: “I told you my Lord, that Mr. Rotimi Amaechi said that the President of Nigeria and the All Progres­sives Congress (APC) mandated him to inform me that they must win their election appeals in re­spect of Rivers State, Akwa Ibom State and Abia State at all cost.

“For Akwa Ibom, he alleged that he sponsored Umana, the APC candidate for that election and that if he lost Akwa Ibom appeal, he would have lost a for­tune.

“He (Amaechi) further told me that Mr. Umana would be paying me millions of naira monthly if I cooperated with them. My response as I told you on that date, was that it does not lie within my power to grant his request and that I would do all within my power not to be in the panel for Akwa Ibom State. My Lord graciously left me out of the panel for Akwa Ibom State.

“My Lord, recall that I also reported that Mr. Umana visited my residence before Amaechi’s visit. He also made the same re­quest of assistance to win his ap­peal at the Supreme Court.

“Mr. Umana talked about ‘seeing’ the Justices who would hear the appeal”.

In the letter titled: “Invasion of My Official Residence by Op­eratives of the Department of State Services,” Justice Okoro urged the CJN and the NJC to discountenance all the allega­tions levelled against him by the security outfit. He described the allegations of corruption as “lies and media campaign orchestrat­ed by those who felt I purpose­ly refused to help them win their election appeals at the Supreme Court.”

He listed the items carted away by the DSS operatives to include one iPad, three phones (only one active), $38,800, N3.5 million and four cheque books.

Explaining the source of the monies, Justice Okoro said that “they asked me to make a state­ment concerning the money found in my house. I told them that having received the sum of $24,000, £10,000 a year for the past three years of my sojourn in this court as annual medical/vacation allowances, and having not spent more than £5,000 on each of three trips I have made abroad, I was entitled to have more than the amount recov­ered from me.

“Put differently, My Lord, the money was the balance of esta­code received from this court for the past three years. This is quite outside the estacode I have re­ceived for International Confer­ences I have so far attended since joining the Bench of this court.”

He reiterated his loyalty to his oath of office and the need to be just and fair in handling mat­ters before him.

 

Also, yesterday, Justice Ad­eniyi Ademola of the Federal High Court, Abuja, bowed out of the trial of former National Secu­rity Adviser (NSA), Col. Sambo Dasuki (Rtd).

Justice Ademola had in a let­ter to the CJN asserted that he was arrested by the DSS for dar­ing to order the release of Dasu­ki and pro-Biafra leader, Nnam­di Kanu.

Ademola also fingered the Minister of Justice and Attor­ney-General of the Federa­tion (AGF), Malam Abubakar Malami, in his ordeal. He said the Minister was after him for ordering his arrest over pro­fessional misconduct when he was a Judge of the Federal High Court in Kano.

The Federal Government had on September 1, 2015, ar­raigned Dasuki on charges bor­dering on unlawful possession of firearms and money laun­dering.

At the resumed proceed­ings yesterday, Justice Ademola told the court that he could not continue to preside over the criminal case in view of the recent raid on his home in Abuja and that of other Judges in the country.

Ademola said: “I’m sure the prosecution and defence coun­sel are conversant with what is going on in the last seven days in this country.

“One of the allegations being made against me by the Depart­ment of State Security is that I received certain sums of unspec­ified money from the defendant.

“Of course, I have respond­ed to that allegation of receiv­ing unspecified sums of money from the defendant but it will be wise for him to answer some questions.

“Do you know me at all or have you come in contact with me?”, the Judge asked.

“I don’t know you, my Lord,” Dasuki responded.

“Did you at any time give me money in respect of the ongoing trial?”, the Judge asked and Das­uki responded: “No, my Lord, I didn’t give you any money.”

After hearing from the counsel, Justice Ademola said, “This court is minded to trans­fer this case to the Chief Judge.”