Chekwas Okorie, presidential candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) says the supreme court must protect itself against the antics of politicians who always want to abuse the judicial process for selfish ends.
Okorie in a statement sent to Elendu Reports also called on Nigerian Judicial Council (NJC) and the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) to rise to the occasion and save the judiciary from destruction by the inordinately ambitious politicians.
He lamented that the ambition of Victor Oye and his sponsors to control the soul of the party induced the Nigeria police to drag the supreme court to an “unprecedented opprobrium and disgrace”.
Read the full statement below
APGA: ABOMINATION IN THE JUDICIARY
The mad ambition to control the soul of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) at all costs has led Chief Victor Oye and his sponsors to induce the Nigeria Police to throw all cautions overboard to drag the Supreme Court of Nigeria, the apex court of the land to an unprecedented opprobrium and disgrace.
It will be recalled that the Supreme Court in its judgment on 14th October 2021, in Appeal No. SC/CV/687/2021, erroneously based on the slip of pen and tongue referred to Chief Victor Oye as the National Chairman of APGA.
This unfortunate error was brought to the attention of the Panel that delivered a unanimous judgment on the matter. On 6th May 2022, Chief Edozie Njoku drew the attention of the Panel to the error. On 9th May 2022, this error was duly corrected, especially on page 13 of the judgment where the name of Chief Edozie Njoku, the authentic National Chairman of APGA was duly reflected.
Surprisingly, Chief Victor Oye whose name was appropriately substituted with that of Edozie Njoku wrote a petition to the Inspector General of Police alleging that Chief Edozie Njoku forged the judgment of the Supreme Court.
It was shocking that the Nigeria Police in its investigation deliberately refused to follow the proper procedure of verifying the authenticity of the judgment from Hon. Justice Mary Ukaego Peter-Odili (retired), who wrote and delivered the lead judgment and later made the correction, or from the remaining four Justices who delivered their concurrent judgments as well.
The Police did not also interrogate the Senior Executive Bailiff of the Supreme Court, Mr Paul Bawa Ajiake, who served the lead judgment, four concurrent judgments, and an enrolled order of the court on all the parties in the Suit including the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and swore to an affidavit of service to validate his action. Instead, the Police relied on a surreptitious letter written to it by Hajo Sarki Bello, the Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court, to charge Chief Edozie Njoku, the National Chairman of APGA, and Chukwuemeka Nwoga, the National Youth Leader of APGA for forgery.
This irregular action of the Police landed Chief Njoku and Mr Nwoga in an unwarranted and unfair incarceration at the Suleja Correctional Centre. Two days after, Chief Njoku and Mr Nwoga were granted bail by the Federal Capital Territory High Court at Bwari and the matter was adjourned to 14th February, 2023.
On the resumption of the hearing on the adjourned date, the Police amended its charges against the defendants to now include Mrs Ogunseye Adebiyi who was Secretary to Justice Mary Odili at the material time as an accused person, and Hon. Justice Mary Odili (retired) and Hajo Sarki Bello, the Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court as witnesses. The Police in its amended charges unashamedly alleged that it was Mrs Adebiyi that forged the judgment at the behest of her boss, Hon. Justice Mary Peter-Odili (retired).
This summersault by the Police effectively transferred the offence of forgery from their earlier victim Chief Njoku to a new victim Mrs Adebiyi.
This is a new twist and an abominable act in Nigerian jurisprudence where the presiding Justice of the Supreme Court, the Chief Registrar, and staff of the Court will be dragged to a trial court on a “criminal” charge for merely carrying out their statutory function as Judicial Officer and staff of the Supreme Court of Nigeria.
The Supreme Court of Nigeria has been embattled in recent times on multiple allegations including the Independent Corrupt Practices and Related Offences Commission (ICPC) that referred to it as one of the most corrupt institutions in Nigeria. But what the Police is reducing the Supreme Court to in this APGA controversial case is unprecedented. It poses the danger of destroying the Nigerian Judiciary.
We therefore call on the leadership of the Supreme Court to protect itself. We call on the Nigerian Judicial Council (NJC) and the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) to rise to the occasion and save our Judiciary from destruction by the inordinately ambitious politicians who have access to State Treasury and use same to bring Nigeria to local and international ridicule.
