The Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee against Corruption, Prof. Itse Sagay ( SAN) has said that judges arrested for corruption should defend themselves and not accuse others of persecuting them.
Sagay’s position was contained in a statement he issued Thursday in response to “frequent enquiries by members of the press.”
The statement read: “Two Justices of the Supreme Court affected by the DSS raids of Saturday 8th October, 2016, have been quoted as stating that Hon. Minister of Transport, Mr. Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi once attempted to induce them to favour the APC in an election petition.
“This outburst by the two justices is surprising, considering that it is totally unrelated to be raids of their premises, their arrest and subsequent charges before our courts. Men of that status should not indulge in such diversionary activities in the midst of grave and ominous charges facing them.
“I would have thought that they would use the time at their disposal to prepare their defences against the serious charges they are facing.
“In any case, given their statuses as Supreme Court Justices, even in the middle of the adversity confronting them, they should not have engaged in a distraction totally incompatible with the dignity and respect that their high offices attract.
“It is demeaning for them to abandon their legitimate defence in order to smear a high official of the Buhari government, which latter, they probably consider to be the source of their predicaments.
“Mere allegations cannot have enough weight to affect the position of such a high official as Amaechi, otherwise knowing the disposition of Nigerians for putting people down, no office holder will be safe in this country.
“It is therefore improper and ridiculous to compare the position of the justices in whose houses millions of naira and hundreds of thousands of dollars were allegedly recovered, to that of Amaechi against whom there is only the mere ipse dixit of the judges.
“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 corruptions and brought that great institution, the Judiciary, to its knees, after the 2015 elections.
“These allegations are intended to undermine and weaken the Buhari 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.“Therefore, the call for Amaechi to step down is malicious and vindictive. It should be ignored with complete ignominy.”
Meanwhile, the All Progressives Congress, APC and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP in Rivers State, however, disagreed with Sagay on who was responsible for the alleged bribery of some judges after the 2015 elections.
While the state APC said Sagay’s statement was in tandem with the party’s position, the PDP insisted that Sagay’s statement was a cover-up for the Minister of Transportation, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi.
The Rivers State APC Publicity Secretary, Chris Finebone, told one of our correspondents that the APC had earlier petitioned the NJC over the allegation of bribery in the judiciary.
“We agree with him (Sagay). There are petitions pending before the NJC, alleging how some judges were bribed. The opposition Itse Sagay is talking about is the opposition to the Federal Government,” Finebone said.
But the State Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Samuel Nwanosike, described Sagay as Amaechi’s ally and should not be taken seriously.
Nwanosike said he disagreed with Sagay because he (Sagay) was only interested in saving a friend.
“The judges have accused Amaechi. So, Amaechi should resign and be investigated. Itse Sagay cannot stop the perception of the Nigerians,” he added.
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