Friday 11 November 2016

Opposition Leaders In Rivers & Akwa Ibom corrupted judiciary – Prof. Sagay

Eminent lawyer, Prof. Itse Sagay (SAN), has said opposition leaders in Rivers and Akwa Ibom states corrupted the judiciary after the 2015 elections.

He said this in a statement on Thursday while reacting to allegations by two Supreme Court justices, who are under probe, that the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi attempted to compromise their judgments on election petitions.

The judges, Justice Sylvester Ngwuta and Justice Inyang Okoro, were last month arrested by officials of the Department of State Services, when huge sums of money and incriminating documents were allegedly found in their houses.

Weeks after their arrest, the two judges accused Amaechi of being behind their predicament.

However, Sagay, who is the Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC), described the allegations of the judges as an afterthought.

Sagay, who spoke in his personal capacity on Thursday, said, “This sudden anti-Amaechi narrative is consistent with the objectives and interests of the chief promoters and funders of judicial corruption during election petitions. These powerful opposition politicians are well known. To be more specific, they are from Rivers and Akwa Ibom states.

“They are the ones who financed judicial corruption and brought that great institution, the judiciary, to its knees, after the 2015 elections.

“These allegations are intended to undermine and weaken the Buhari-led Federal Government by depriving it of the service, input, ideas and productivity of some of its brightest stars.

“This is intended to set the stage for charging the government with ineffectiveness and cluelessness. In other words, it is an attempt to reduce the image and perception of this Federal Government to the low level of their own late and unlamented government.”

The SAN said the judges had, by their utterances, reduced themselves to the level of politicians who made frivolous and baseless accusations.

He advised them to use their time to prepare for their trial instead of engaging in frivolities.

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