By Clifford Ndujihe, Henry Umoru, Ben Agande, Dapo Akinrefon, Charles Kumolu, Simon Ebegbulem, Gbenga Oke, Joseph Erunke, Bartholomew Madukwe & Chioma Onuegbu
ABUJA—THE polity was awash with mixed views, yesterday, over Justice John Inyang Okoro’s allegation that his travails in the hands of the Department of State Services, DSS, was in connection with the alleged desire of the Presidency and the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, to win the Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Abia states election appeals.

Justice Okoro is one of the two Supreme Court justices and five High Court judges, whose homes were invaded by operatives of the DSS, penultimate week, over alleged graft.

Justice Okoro

The justices arrested were John Inyang Okoro and Sylvester Ngwuta of the Supreme Court and a former Chief Judge of Enugu State, Innocent Umezulike.

Others are Nnamdi Dimgba and Adeniyi Ademola of the Federal High Court, Abuja; Kabiru Auta, from Kano, Muazu Pindiga of Federal High Court in Gombe.

Justice Okoro had, in a missive, dated October 7 but released on Monday to the Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, and Chairman of the National Judicial Council, NJC, Justice Mohammed Mahmoud, alleged, among others, that Rotimi Amaechi, who is now the Transportation Minister, visited him at his residence and pleaded with him to help ensure that the APC won election appeals in the affected states.

Among those, who spoke on the issue yesterday, were senior lawyers and politicians and Niger Delta leaders. The reactions ranged from outright dismissing of the bombshell as an afterthought to calls on Amaechi to resign as minister.

This is coming as the Senate, yesterday, waded into the matter and declared its readiness to summon the affected justices and judges.

Senate moves in, to summon affected Judges

The judges, according to the Upper Chambers, will appear before the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters on yet to be fixed date.

Relying on a Point of Order, Chairman, Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matter, Senator David Umaru, APC, Niger East, said that the judges would appear to make personal explanations.

Senator Umaru said:  “Mr President, by virtue of the 1999 Constitution as amended and order 96, Rule 37 of our rules, the powers of this committee to oversight the Judiciary and particularly its powers include judicial matters and Judges and Justices of the court.

“I am bringing this to the attention of the Senate so that we can take the permission of this Senate to conduct proper oversight on this matter and invite the justices to enable us interact with them as we are enjoined by the provision of our rules and the 1999 constitution.”

Responding, Senate President Bukola Saraki, who approved the request, said:  “You do not need to come to us, you have your powers under the oversight and you should be able to use the powers and do whatever you deem necessary. So do your job in line with your powers.”

It’s unbecoming of Justice Okoro  – Sagay

Reacting to Justice Okoro’s allegation, Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee against Corruption, Prof. Itse Sagay, SAN, urged the embattled justice to defend himself against the charges levelled against him.

“It is unbecoming of Justice Okoro, even if that happened and with all that has happened to him, he should consider his status too senior to start saying that a little boy prompted me one time and I did not accept. What he is saying is irrelevant because that is not the issue for which he is being tried.

Also, he is too senior to start saying that Amaechi told me to do this and I refused. He sounds like a secondary school child. He is too old and too senior for that. He should not indulge and degenerate into that, he should just defend himself against the charges,” Sagay said.

Okoro’s allegations should not be dismissed  – PDP

On its part, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, said Justice Okoro’s allegations against Amaechi and Umana should not be dismissed with a wave of the hand but thoroughly investigated because they are “grievous, dangerous, criminal and unhealthy for our democracy and the rule of law.’’

In a statement by its Spokesman, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, the party said, This information by a high ranking Judge must not be swept under the carpet like previous petitions and the Report of the Rivers State Judiciary Commission of Inquiry that revealed so many misappropriations of funds by the former Governor when he held sway from 2007 to 2015.”

“We wish His Lordship, Justice Inyang Okoro and the CJN/Chairman of NJC did not keep quiet over this bribery attempt since February 2016 until now for an administration that has touted to have zero tolerance on corruption. It appears that the public would have remained in the dark without the prompting of the DSS harassments and invasion of his home.

“This allegation against the former Governor of Rivers State and now Minister of Transport, Rt. Hon. RotimiAmaechi has again vindicated us that there are so many corrupt leaders and members of the APC, but due to party affiliation and their huge contributions to the Buhari Presidency are seen as ‘sacred cows’ and shielded from prosecution.

“We wish to therefore to reiterate that the recent arbitrary and Gestapo style of arrest, detention and release of Justices of the High Court, Appeal Court and Supreme Court by the APC led Administration is a charade targeted at gagging the Nigerian Judiciary to sway justice in favour of the President and his Party, the APC. We once again condemn in the strongest terms the frequent use of security agencies by this Government to molest, harass and intimidate well-meaning Nigerians and opposition figures in the country.’’

Nwoko gives DSS seven days to  apologise to Okoro

Speaking, immediate past Attorney General and Akwa Ibom State Commissioner for justice, Barr Uwemedimo Nwoko, gave the DSS seven days to apologize to justice Okoro for the attack on him.

He also called for investigation of Justice Okoro’s allegations against Amaechi and Umana.

His words: “I am demanding that the DSS should apologize to justice Okoro within seven days. They owe him an unreserved apology. And they should arrest Rotimi Amaechi and investigate the allegation against him, Umana and others by Justice Okoro as having tried to influence other justices of the supreme Court to decide cases of named states including Rivers, Abia and Akwa Ibom in favour of the APC. Okoro is not speculating because these are facts that we have known before now. Okoro is giving facts, instances and dates. It is not a hidden thing.

The Chief Justice of Nigeria has this record, so let them investigate Amaechi, Umana Umana and apologize to Justice Okoro otherwise we are considering very strong legal action against the DSS.”

Okoro lied against me – Umana

The 2015 Governorship Candidate of the APCin Akwa Ibom State,  Obong Umana Okon Umana, blasted Justice Okoro, for allegedly lying against him.

Umana, who is now the Managing Director of Nigeria’s Oil and Gas Free Zone Authority, was reacting to widely circulated claims by Justice Okoro that he tried to bribe him to influence the Supreme Court to deliver judgement in the Akwa Ibom governorship election petition in his favour. Okoro alleged that both Umana and Amaechi, met him separately all in their desperate bids to compromise him to reach out to members of the Supreme Court panel that sat on the state governorship election petition to alter the outcome in Umana’s favour.

Umana, who spoke in a statement signed by his Media Adviser, Mr. Iboro Otongaran, said he never held any meeting with Justice Okoro for the purpose of compromising him to alter the election petition outcome as claimed.

Describing Justice Okoro’s allegation as baseless, Umana said: ‘’The meeting Justice Okoro is reporting is fiction. No such meeting to discuss how to bribe judges took place between him, Mr Umana Okon Umana and Dr (Pastor) Ebebe Ukpong as alleged. If we assume, without conceding, that such a meeting took place, for a man of Justice Okoro’s standing and knowledge of the law, he ought to have known the legal implications of such a visit, and should have reported it to appropriate authorities immediately. He did not do that, but he is only reacting after the authorities have established a case against him.

‘’Justice Okoro’s claim in his purported letter to the Hon. Chief Justice of Nigeria is therefore not only false, it is diversionary and an afterthought. Justice Okoro should address himself to the facts of the case, which is between him and the State, and leave Umana out of it. Contrary to Justice Okoro’s claim, Umana had no appeal before the Supreme Court arising from any court judgement on the 2015 governorship election in Akwa Ibom State. Umana had won at the Court of Appeal and therefore was not and couldn’t have been an appellant at the Supreme Court. Umana had won both at the tribunal and at the Court of Appeal. He was therefore confident of victory at the Supreme Court because of the concurrent judgements of the lower courts.

‘’It would be recalled that after the Supreme Court judgement, which ignored the concurrent judgements of both the tribunal and the Court of Appeal, and also totally disregarded the reports of the international observers, including those of the United States Government and the European Union, which stated that the elections in Akwa Ibom and Rivers states were marred by widespread violence and irregularities, Umana had issued a statement expressing disappointment at the verdict and said he had moved on and left everything in the hands of God. Umana should therefore be left alone.’’

Justice Okoro should shut up for now  –  Mohammed

Second Republic lawmaker, Dr Junaid Mohammed, said Justice Okoro has no moral justification to open his mouth and accuse people.

He said: “It is obvious that people like Amaechi has become a problem for the Buhari administration. However, Justice Okoro has shown that he is not reliable and has no integrity. So opening his mouth now just to get Amaechi out of his ministerial job is funny. ‘’I don’t believe Okoro can be relied on to be the one who will implicate Amaechi or Umana just because he is now being investigated. I believe that Okoro should keep his mouth shut for now and face the consequences of his actions.”

If Okoro is right, Amaechi should resign – Tsav

Retired Police Commissioner, Alhaji Abubakar Tsav, said: ‘’Did Okoro report to the judge immediately when it happened? If he did, it would be assumed that he reported the matter. And it would mean that the Chief Justice did not take action. But if he did not, whatever he is saying now will be assumed as an afterthought and may not be taken seriously.  Then, if what Okoro said is true, Ameachi has no business remaining in the cabinet.’’

Amaechi should step down – Odumakin

National Publicity Secretary of the pan-Yoruba socio-political body, Afenifere, Mr Yinka Odumakin said it was imperative for Mr Amaechi to step down as minister of Transportation.

His words: “There is need for Amaechi to step aside as a Minister and clear his name of the criminal charges levelled against him. Amaechi should step aside as a minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. There is a criminal allegation before Amaechi, which he must explain before he continues as a minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.’’

He also tackled Justice Okoro, saying: ‘’As a justice, why didn’t he file a criminal case against Amaechi and Umana? As a justice, he (Okoro) is not allowed to meet with litigants, why did he meet with Umana? Is he in the habit of meeting with those who have cases before him?”

Allegation against Amaechi laughable  – N’Delta leaders

Some Niger Delta leaders also described Justice Okoro’s allegation against Amaechi as laughable

The Niger Delta leaders who spoke through the Niger Delta Intelligence and Transparency Group, NDITG, said it was shameful for a Justice of Supreme Court to descend so low to make childish allegations that Amaechi tried to bribe him, and wondered why Justice Okoro didn’t make it public as at the time Amaechi tried to bribe him.

“For Justice Okoro to be revealing such now after his arrest by DSS and being investigated over allegations of corruption clearly shows that it is an attempt to blackmail the Transportation Minister, Amaechi.”

In a statement yesterday, by its National Secretary, Micheal Awhawha, the Niger Delta leaders condemned the plot and warned that any attempt  to blackmail Amaechi will fail, adding that Justice Okoro’s allegations against Amaechi has further exposed  his ulterior motives which justified his arrest by the DSS over his alleged involvement in corrupt activities.

Corrupt polity affecting all sectors  – Pedro

Mr Lawal Pedro SAN, immediate past Solicitor -General of Lagos State, said the matter was a face-off between the Judiciary and the Executive that should be handled with caution.

However, he said: ‘’Though I agree that there is need to sanitize the Judiciary of corruption, there are many ways of handling things…Now, I cannot say who is saying the truth and who is telling a lie. I agree that it is good to flush out anything that is corrupt in our system, especially in the judiciary. But in trying to do that, we must not at the same time muscle the Judiciary as an institution. Whether we like it or not, we should respect it. All we need to do is to remove those ones that are corrupt  and spoiling the Judiciary. Now it is Justice Inyang Okoro’s word against Rotimi Ameachi.

‘’Justice Okoro should have opened up before now and not after the DSS had raided his home. If you listened carefully with what the CJN said on Tuesday about corruption in the Judiciary, you will agree with him. He said it is the political arena that is so much corrupt than the other arm of government. I agree with the CJN totally. If you look at all the cases that corruption is being mentioned, is it not election tribunal matters. Is it not the politicians that are bribing and corrupting people? It is the political landscape itself that is totally corrupt and it is corrupting other sides. What we all need now is to change from whatever evil that we may have been doing.’’

Okoro’s allegation an afterthought  – Vincent

Mr Tomi Vincent, a senior lecturer with the Pan Atlantic University, Lagos, the allegation ‘’is an afterthought. Why are we getting to hear of it after the DSS raid at his home and money allegedly recovered? The law says that he who alleges must prove.’’

Amaechi should speak up – Uwazurike

President of Aka-Ikenga, Chief Goddy Uwazurike, said: ‘’There are three independent arms of government. If you tailored it to one thing, the DSS is a department under the Presidency.  Justice Okoro has said that his house was raided because he refused to be bought over by Rotimi Ameachi in the Akwa Ibom governorship election case and the person that responded from Ameachi’s end was his media spokesman. I had wanted Ameachi to come out to say that at no time did he try to buy the judge, and then the case is settled. Was there any visit? If there was a visit, what was it for? Why did Umana visit the judge’s residence before Ameachi?’’

Justice Okoro will never tell a lie – Ogunlesi

Mr  Lanre Ogunlesi SAN, former Ogun State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, said: ‘’ Justice Okoro is a man of integrity. I know him when he was in Court of Appeal, Lagos. He will not tell a lie. In this case, there is no formal allegation against him before the NJC, so it won’t do anything. Just like Justice Ademola too said that it was a revenge action by the Attorney General when there were petitions against him. I know that Justice Okoro will not tell a lie. It appears that it is an attempt to tie the hands of the Judiciary to enable this government has its way in all matters.  It is bad for our democracy.’’

Okoro’s confession disgusting, an afterthought – Ikpomnwen

However, former Provost Marshal of the Nigerian Army and military lawyer, Brig.Gen.Idada Ikponmwen, has described Justice Okoro’s allegation as disgusting and an  afterthought.

His words:  “The whole episode is very disgusting. As a person I am unable to give any credibility to most of what he said. I consider it an afterthought, I do not find his statement as credible. I want to add that all these stories about Amaechi and Umana seeing him in his house would have have been reported to the CJN. If they had been reported to the CJN the CJN would have brought it to the attention of Mr President at the appropriate time not to wait until after his arrest before making these statements. I don’t believe the statements are credible.”