Days after the raiding of senior judges’
residence and their subsequent arrest by operatives of the Department of State
Services, an angry letter surfaced on Tuesday, penned to President Muhammadu
Buhari by the outgoing Chief Justice of the Federation (CJN), Mahmoud Muhammed
A source who saw the letter told
the Nigerian Times that Justice Muhammed left very little unsaid about various
attempts by senior members of the administration to bribe judges and subvert
the
cause of justice.
cause of justice.
Based on the letter, Rotimi Amaechi
(former governor of Rivers State, Nigeria and current minister of transport)
& Daura Lawal (Director General of the Department
of State Services) were listed. They were
listed of seeking for favourable judgement during the sitting of the Rivers
State Governorship Elections Tribunal with huge amount of money. The outgoing
CJN professed that the matter was followed up to the supreme court by both men
with huge amount of money on behalf of the All Peoples Congress (APC) Dakuku
Peterside. Dakuku Peterside won at the Appeal court but was flattened out at
the Supreme Court. Justice Muazu Pindiga who was arrested by the DSS was the
head of the Rivers State governorship Elections Petitions Tribunal but was
later removed due to untold reasons.
It
was said the demoralized President was hobble at the CJN’s straightforwardness letter
and the seriousness of the accusation
Nigerian Times learnt from a
source in the Villa that given the CJN’s disgust at the DSS action on the
judges, the Presidency is worried that if the content of the letter became
public, it would make nonsense of the government’s much vaunted war on
corruption.
He said President Buhari’s
dilemma arose from the fact the normally unflappable CJN did not mince words in
the letter and had been was livid with rage in an initial meeting with the
President where he first made the allegation before the President asked him to
put it down in writing. The source said that with Justice Mahmoud due for retirement in November, which is
barely one month away, there’s no telling what he could do particularly as the
DSS by insinuating that the National Judicial Council, which he heads as
chairman, was shielding corrupt judges from justice.
The source said the Presidency
has moved to enlist it’s friends in the media to cushion the effect the letter
might have on the citizenry should it be leaked. He said to stave off that
eventuality the presidency has deployed media hacks to smother the story. A
planned leak to journalists is to the effect that a letter from the CJN to
Buhari exists but it’s by no stretch a protest letter.
“The stories will go out in
the next few hours and the concerned media outfits have already been put on
standby. The idea is to water down the effect any sudden leak of the letter
might have,”our source said.
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