Barring any unforeseen circumstances,
the Federal Government will, this week, arraign all the judges accused
of corruption, an authoritative source who prefers anonymity told New
Telegraph yesterday.
In a bid to kick-start the trial, the
Federal Government has listed politicians, senior lawyers and some bank
officials to testify against the judges.The Department of State Service,
DSS, had on October 8 and 9, raided the apartments and arrested seven
judges over alleged corruption. The judges were consequently released on
bail.
The seven judges affected include
Justices Sylvester Ngwuta and John Okoro of the Supreme Court; Justice
Adeniyi Ademola of the Federal High Court, Abuja, and Justice Muazu
Pindiga of the Federal High Court, Gombe Division.
Another Judge of the Abuja Division of
the Federal high Court, Justice Nnamdi Dimgba’s residence was also
searched, but he was not arrested. Others are Justice Mohammed Tsamiya
of the Court of Appeal, Ilorin, and the Chief Judge of Enugu State, I.
A. Umezulike. According to the source, the judges would be arraigned in
batches. He said: “All is set for arraigning of the judges. The charge
is ready and it will be filed this week.
There are several people that were
invited by the investigative bodies. Such people are senior lawyers,
politicians and even some bankers. Statements have been taken from them,
and some of them will testify against the judges.
“Also call logs of some of the judges
and the links who brought the bribe for them will also be tendered as
evidence against the judges.
Some of their bankers too will be
brought as witnesses. “When their trial commences, a lot of revelations
will be made and everybody will believe President Muhammadu Buhari was
right when he said that the judiciary was his greatest headache”, the
source said.
He noted that the FG had started the
process by filing criminal charges against the Chief Registrar of the
Supreme Court, Gambo Saleh and two others over N2.2 billion scam before
an Abuja High Court.
The DSS had, in a statement soon after
the raid of the Judges’ houses, given a breakdown of the recovered funds
from the judges. The secret service said it recovered N93,558,000.00,
$530,087, £25,970, €5,680,1,010 Rupees, 380 UAE Dirham, 430 Gambian
Dalasi, among others.
Further, the DSS said that it also
recovered from Justice Ademola N54 million, $171, 779.00, £80.00
1,010.00 Rupees and €4,400. It said that it recovered from Justice
Ngwuta, N35,208,000, $319,475, £25,890, €280, 380 Gambian Dalasi 420,
Argentine notes—420 Ghana Cedis.
The service also said that it recovered
from Justice Okoro, N4,350,000, $38, 833, £25,890 and €1,000.00. The
security outfit also said that other foreign currencies, banking and
real estate documents were recovered. Soon after the DSS stated its
position and released the judges, four of them defended themselves of
allegations levelled against them by the DSS.
While Justice Ngwuta said that his
ordeal was as a result of his refusal to accept the offer by a former
Governor of Rivers State and Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi
that he (Justice Ngwuta) should set aside the election of Governor Ayo
Fayose, Justice Okoro said his arrest was because he never danced to the
tune of Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonaya Onu.
For Justice Ademola, he submitted that
his ordeal was a result of a clash he had with the Attorney General of
the Federation, AGF and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN
sometime ago.
Justice Kanu submitted in his letter to
the CJN that his persecution was as a result of the cases involving the
DSS that he is handling.
Alongside, the seven judges, the
Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) had sent the names of
additional six to the secret service for investigation. The Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission had also invited eight for interrogation.
This has brought the total number of judges under investigation to 21. Speaking on the decision of the NJC sacking the judges.
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