A senior advocate, Dr Joseph Nwobike, who is standing trial on
charges of offering gratification to some judges, on Monday told an
Ikeja High Court why he gave money to the judges.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Nwobike is being
tried by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on an
11-count charge bordering on perverting the course of justice and
offering gratification to public officials.
The anti-graft agency alleged that Nwobike offered
gratifications to some judges of the Federal High Court and the
National Industrial Court to influence them to act contrary to
their official capacities.
The EFCC also claimed that Nwobike engaged in sending illegal
text messages with four registrars of the Federal High Court in a
bid to unduly influence his cases being tried by the judges.
Nwobike, however, denied all the charges.
The SAN, while being led in evidence by his lawyer, Mr Olawale
Akoni (SAN), denied giving gratification to Justice Samson Uwaifo
(SAN), a retired justice of the Supreme Court.
“I don’t know retired Justice Samson Uwaifo of the Supreme Court
personally, long after Justice Uwaifo retired, we had a client who
had a dispute with the National Examinations Council (NECO).
“The parties went to court and the court appointed Hon. Justice
Uwaifo as the sole arbitrator to the dispute.
“As it is customary in arbitration, we and the other party were
asked to provide money for the preliminary stages of the
arbitration.
“We sent some money to him and one Mr Seun Ibitoye, a registrar,
to kickoff the preliminary stages of the arbitration.
“My Lord, Justice Uwaifo had retired about eight or nine years
before he was contracted to do the arbitration.
“We initially purchased a bank draft for N1.5 million in the
name of Justice Uwaifo as the arbitrator, but we were later advised
to purchase it in the name of the registrar,” Nwobike said.
He denied giving false information to the anti-graft agency by
saying that the only judicial officer he had ever helped was
Justice Mohammed Yinusa.
“I did not give false information to the EFCC and there was no
intention on my part to give false information to the EFCC or their
officials.
“In my statement to the EFCC, I stated that I gave Justice H.A
Ngajiwa money for the purchase of books for his library.
“I wrote in my statement that I gave N300,000 to Justice Ngajiwa
and N750,000 to Justice Yinusa and I stated their purposes.”
On the alleged gratification he gave to Justice James
Agbadu-Fishim, the SAN said the money was given as a form of
`assistance’ to a friend.
He said: “Justice Fishim and I became friends when we were
post-graduate students of the University of Lagos, he left for the
University of Abuja.
“I did not see him until after a while and it took a long time
before I got to know that he had been appointed a judge of the
National Industrial Court.
“Justice Fishim told me that his guardian who trained him died
and as it is customary among friends, I made my contributions
toward the burial.
“He told me some time later that his father died and I
contributed some money for him as it is customary among
friends.
“Some time later, he told me that he had eye problems and he
needed to go for eye surgery and that I should pray for him.
“I gave him some money as it is customary among friend to help
each other.”
Nwobike told the court that he was innocent of the allegations
of the EFCC.
“I have contributed to the law, I have no other job but
litigation and practice. I have a lot of respect for the law and I
have
been very generous to people.
“I am an employer of lawyers and I don’t pervert the course of
justice and I will never pervert the course of justice,” he
said.
Under cross-examination, Mr Rotimi Oyedepo, counsel to the EFCC,
confronted Nwobike with a text message he allegedly sent to a
registrar of the Federal High Court to unduly influence one of the
cases he was handling.
“You sent this text to one Mr Jide of the Federal High Court,
the text reads: ours should go to Justice Yinusa or Justice
Aneke.
“The ‘ours’ in the text message was it a case that you filed? ”
Nwobike said: “I can’t say.”
Oyedepo alleged that the suit Nwobike allegedly tried to unduly
influence was between AMCON V Delta Steel Company Ltd with suit no
FHC/L/CS/127/2015.
“I put it to you then what you were seeking Jide to do was in
not in exercise of his judicial function, ” Oyedepo said.
Replying Nwobike said: “Jide has no judicial function and the
text was conversational as Jide has no power to assign cases.
“Mr Felix Deckon is our Senior Litigation Clerk , upon filing of
the AMCON case, he sent the particulars of the case to me to
confirm which of the judges did the earlier one.
“Felix being my subordinate, speaks to me before sending texts
and he called me on another line after sending that particular
text.”
Oyedepo, however, disputed Nwobike’s claims about the timing of
the text messages and asked: “Are you aware that your phones
records your phone logs? Will you be surprised that Felix did not
call you before sending the text.
“You received a text from Felix at 12.53pm on Feb. 12, 2015, at
12.56 p.m. you forwarded the particulars of the case to Mr Jide of
the Federal High Court.
“By 1.07 p.m. you sent a text message to Mr Jide which reads:
“The one Aribisala filed is before Justice Idris.’’
“You immediately forwarded the text message to him saying, “ours
should go before Justice Yinusa or Justice Aneke, we need to do so
today please’,” Oyedepo said.
Justice Raliatu Adebiyi adjourned the case until July 4 for
continuation of trial.
A senior advocate, Dr Joseph Nwobike, who is standing trial on
charges of offering gratification to some judges, on Monday told an
Ikeja High Court why he gave money to the judges.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Nwobike is being
tried by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on an
11-count charge bordering on perverting the course of justice and
offering gratification to public officials.
The anti-graft agency alleged that Nwobike offered
gratifications to some judges of the Federal High Court and the
National Industrial Court to influence them to act contrary to
their official capacities.
The EFCC also claimed that Nwobike engaged in sending illegal
text messages with four registrars of the Federal High Court in a
bid to unduly influence his cases being tried by the judges.
Nwobike, however, denied all the charges.
The SAN, while being led in evidence by his lawyer, Mr Olawale
Akoni (SAN), denied giving gratification to Justice Samson Uwaifo
(SAN), a retired justice of the Supreme Court.
“I don’t know retired Justice Samson Uwaifo of the Supreme Court
personally, long after Justice Uwaifo retired, we had a client who
had a dispute with the National Examinations Council (NECO).
“The parties went to court and the court appointed Hon. Justice
Uwaifo as the sole arbitrator to the dispute.
“As it is customary in arbitration, we and the other party were
asked to provide money for the preliminary stages of the
arbitration.
“We sent some money to him and one Mr Seun Ibitoye, a registrar,
to kickoff the preliminary stages of the arbitration.
“My Lord, Justice Uwaifo had retired about eight or nine years
before he was contracted to do the arbitration.
“We initially purchased a bank draft for N1.5 million in the
name of Justice Uwaifo as the arbitrator, but we were later advised
to purchase it in the name of the registrar,” Nwobike said.
He denied giving false information to the anti-graft agency by
saying that the only judicial officer he had ever helped was
Justice Mohammed Yinusa.
“I did not give false information to the EFCC and there was no
intention on my part to give false information to the EFCC or their
officials.
“In my statement to the EFCC, I stated that I gave Justice H.A
Ngajiwa money for the purchase of books for his library.
“I wrote in my statement that I gave N300,000 to Justice Ngajiwa
and N750,000 to Justice Yinusa and I stated their purposes.”
On the alleged gratification he gave to Justice James
Agbadu-Fishim, the SAN said the money was given as a form of
`assistance’ to a friend.
He said: “Justice Fishim and I became friends when we were
post-graduate students of the University of Lagos, he left for the
University of Abuja.
“I did not see him until after a while and it took a long time
before I got to know that he had been appointed a judge of the
National Industrial Court.
“Justice Fishim told me that his guardian who trained him died
and as it is customary among friends, I made my contributions
toward the burial.
“He told me some time later that his father died and I
contributed some money for him as it is customary among
friends.
“Some time later, he told me that he had eye problems and he
needed to go for eye surgery and that I should pray for him.
“I gave him some money as it is customary among friend to help
each other.”
Nwobike told the court that he was innocent of the allegations
of the EFCC.
“I have contributed to the law, I have no other job but
litigation and practice. I have a lot of respect for the law and I
have
been very generous to people.
“I am an employer of lawyers and I don’t pervert the course of
justice and I will never pervert the course of justice,” he
said.
Under cross-examination, Mr Rotimi Oyedepo, counsel to the EFCC,
confronted Nwobike with a text message he allegedly sent to a
registrar of the Federal High Court to unduly influence one of the
cases he was handling.
“You sent this text to one Mr Jide of the Federal High Court,
the text reads: ours should go to Justice Yinusa or Justice
Aneke.
“The ‘ours’ in the text message was it a case that you filed? ”
Nwobike said: “I can’t say.”
Oyedepo alleged that the suit Nwobike allegedly tried to unduly
influence was between AMCON V Delta Steel Company Ltd with suit no
FHC/L/CS/127/2015.
“I put it to you then what you were seeking Jide to do was in
not in exercise of his judicial function, ” Oyedepo said.
Replying Nwobike said: “Jide has no judicial function and the
text was conversational as Jide has no power to assign cases.
“Mr Felix Deckon is our Senior Litigation Clerk , upon filing of
the AMCON case, he sent the particulars of the case to me to
confirm which of the judges did the earlier one.
“Felix being my subordinate, speaks to me before sending texts
and he called me on another line after sending that particular
text.”
Oyedepo, however, disputed Nwobike’s claims about the timing of
the text messages and asked: “Are you aware that your phones
records your phone logs? Will you be surprised that Felix did not
call you before sending the text.
“You received a text from Felix at 12.53pm on Feb. 12, 2015, at
12.56 p.m. you forwarded the particulars of the case to Mr Jide of
the Federal High Court.
“By 1.07 p.m. you sent a text message to Mr Jide which reads:
“The one Aribisala filed is before Justice Idris.’’
“You immediately forwarded the text message to him saying, “ours
should go before Justice Yinusa or Justice Aneke, we need to do so
today please’,” Oyedepo said.
Justice Raliatu Adebiyi adjourned the case until July 4 for
continuation of trial.
Read more https://nairalaw.com/gratification-why-i-gave-out-money-to-judges-by-nwobike-san/