The Lagos State High Court in Ikeja has convicted a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Dr. Joseph Nwobike, of 12 counts bordering of perversion of the course of justice.
He was sentenced to one-month in prison without a fine option.
Justice Raliat Adebiyi, who pronounced the verdict on Monday morning, said the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission proved beyond reasonable doubts that the SAN was in constant communication with court officials to influence the assignment of his cases to his preferred judges.
The prosecutor, Rotimi Oyedepo, said the offence carries a prison term of two years, but the defence counsel, Wale Akoni (SAN), said sentence is at the judge’s discretion, and pleaded with Justice Adebiyi to temper justice with mercy.
In her judgment, she found the behaviour of Nwobike of “unbecoming of a senior member of the bar”.
“The evidence against the defendant is damning, the court finds that the behaviour of the defendant is unbecoming,” she said.
“Why does the defendant, a senior member of the bar with juniors and other lawyers have the need to personally liaise with court registrars? The court finds that the prosecution was able to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the defendant perverted the course of justice by sending text messages to court registrars.”
After the judgment was read, Olawale Akoni (SAN), Nwobike’s lawyer, asked the court to temper justice with mercy.
“The fact that the defendant is a first-time offender who has never had any brush with the law before until now,” he said.
“He is a senior member of the bar who has conducted himself appropriately, he has run a law firm which has quite a number of practitioners, he is a family man with aged parents and children.
“Your Lordship, we listened to your judgment carefully and ask that a non-custodial sentence be appropriate. He has a lot to offer and I pray that Your Lordship considers this in deciding the nature of punishment to give. I pray the court tempers justice with mercy and impose a very heavy slap on the wrist.”
Nwobike was first arraigned on a five-count charge on March 9, 2016 but the EFCC later amended the charges on two different occasions, each time leading to the re-arraignment of the SAN.
The last amendment to the charges saw Nwobike re-arraigned on February 8 , after which the lawyers canvassed their final arguments.
In the charges, EFCC claimed that Nwobike offered N750,000 and N300,000 gratifications to Mohammed Yunusa and Hyeladzira Nganjiwa, two judges of the federal high court.
The EFCC alleged that Nwobike offered them the money to pervert the course of justice but the lawyer pleaded not guilty.
Akoni had urged the court to discharge and acquit his client, contending that the EFCC failed to substantiate its allegations against him.
Akoni said contrary to the claim by the EFCC, the N750,000 that Nwobike gave to Yunusa was not a bribe but for the specific purpose of helping the (sick) mother of the gentleman.
He said all the judgments which the EFCC claimed that Nwobike paid Yunusa to give in his favor were all upheld by the court of appeal.
Details soon…
