[Amaechi] 'I didn't try to bribe any judge,' Minister dismisses allegation
The Minister of Transportation, Mr Rotimi Amaechi, has dismissed the allegations of attempted bribery brought against him by Justice Inyang Okoro.
He
said the Supreme Court judge is acting like a child and trying to
shamelessly trivialise the allegations of corruption against him and his
colleagues.
Amaechi said this in Abuja on Wednesday, October 19, in a statement signed by him.
Justice
Okoro, who was one of the judges recently arrested by the Department of
State Service (DSS) over alleged corruption, had in a letter to the
Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Mahmud Mohammed,
alleged that Amaechi attempted to bribe him to influence the outcome of
the governorship election cases in Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Abia states.
He said the Minister and the All Progressives Congress governorship candidate for Akwa Ibom State, Mr Umana Umana, visited him and pleaded that the cases, which were pending before the Supreme court be ruled in favour of the APC.
Justice Okoro also alleged that the Minister told him President Muhammadu Buhari and the APC were interested in the cases.
According to him, his refusal to dance to Amaechi and the APC's tune was why he was arrested by the DSS.
In his statement, Amaechi denied ever having such discussion with Justice Okoro or any judge for that matter.
He stated:
"My attention has been drawn to a letter purportedly written by
Honourable Justice Inyang Okoro, Justice of the Supreme Court, one of
the judges recently arrested by the DSS as part of its investigation
into the allegations of massive corruption involving some officers of
the judiciary.
"Given the level of
mischief in the social media, I would ordinarily have ignored the letter
because the allegations contained in the said letter are wild, baseless
and unrelated to the issues in contention between the Justice of the
Supreme Court and the Department of State Services. To that extent, I
had grave reservation that this letter emanated from his lordship.
"However,
for the avoidance of doubt, let me say clearly that I have never
discussed any matter pending before the Supreme Court of Nigeria with my
lord, Honourable Justice Inyang Okoro, in his house or anywhere else.
"I
make bold to also state that the only time I have ever spoken with the
Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Mahmud Mohammed, was at the
inauguration of the Abuja-Kaduna Railway project on the 26th of July,
2016 at Idu in Abuja."
He described the allegation of attempted bribery levelled against him by the judge as shameful and a serious national tragedy.
Amaechi further said: "I
believe that the issue of corruption at the highest level of our
judiciary should be addressed objectively. It is to say the least
demeaning and childish of a Justice of the Supreme Court to imply that
the security operatives of our nation will arrest a Justice of our
Supreme Court for no reason other than the instructions of a minister.
"Those
faced with serious allegations should treat the issue with the
seriousness it deserves and stop trying to court public sympathy and
trivialise what is clearly a national tragedy."
He has
directed legal representative "to contact Justice Okoro and take
whatever legal steps necessary to clear my (Amaechi) name of this
baseless allegation."
Amaechi asked the Justice
Okoro to be "objective in dealing with the issue at hand and not whip up
unnecessary sentiments against innocent public officers."
He
stressed that he has no influence on the DSS, adding that he would
focus on his job as the Minister of Transportation and not be dragged
into unrelated matters.
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