Do SAN ‘Judicial Donors’ know of:
1.
NBA Lagos Branch
secretary Babatola Akpata Esq., a young man at 40 years old who died at about
the same time the father-in-law of Justice Yunusa died Mr Damasa may Mr Damasa’s
gentle soul rest in peace. Amen.
2.
May the soul of
Babatola Akpata Esq rest in peace Amen. He left a widow who under shock of
losing her spouse midnight after his accident on his way from Lagos to NEC he
actually died in the lawful course of his duties. Where were the Judicial
donors? He needed money to get the accidented car out and money for his medics
he died from internal bleeding where were the donors? Half of the sum a hundred
thousand perhaps would have saved a young man in his prime and saved NBA Lagos
Branch the pain of mourning a Great soul. Where were Greek Gifts Givers?
3. Ten years earlier, a
sitting Judge Nike Coker lost her dad, not father-in-law. He was NBA National
Secretary, what did the donors do? Professor Akande his learned widow died after,
where were Nigeria’s famous judicial
donors?
4.
And lately Segun Onakoya
Esq passed at the age of 75 years in August
2015. May the souls of all the faithful departed rest in peace. Amen Where were
those who mourn the fathers-in-law of Judges they present before.
N225,000 was a donation not bribe, says Rickey Tarfa
Posted By: Robert Egbeon: February
20, 2016In: Featured, NewsNo
Comments
Embattled Senior Advocate of Nigeria
(SAN) Chief Rickey Tarfa yesterday admitted that he gave N225,000 to Justice M.
N. Yunusa of the Federal High Court, but explained that the money was not a
bribe.
He said it was a donation from him
and some of his friends towards the burial of Justice Yunusa’s father-in-law
who died on December 28, 2013.
In an affidavit filed on his behalf
at the Federal High Court, Lagos, before Justice Mohammed Idris by one John
Olusegun Odubela, Head of Chambers of Messrs Rickey Tarfa and Co., dated
February 18, the senior advocate denied bribing the judge with the money
or “any other sum at all.”
Tarfa appeared yesterday before
Justice Idris in continuation of his N2.5 billion fundamental rights suit
against the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for wrongful arrest
and detention.
He was represented by Bolaji
Ayorinde (SAN), Anthony Idigbe (SAN) and four other SANs as well as 115 other
lawyers.
The EFCC was
represented by Mr. Wahab Shittu and five others.
Tarfa was
arrested by operatives of the commission on February 5, within the premises of
the Lagos State High Court in Igbosere after a five-hour stand off during which
the EFCC claimed that he prevented its operatives from arresting two of Tarfa’s
clients.
The
commission alleged that Tarfa hid the foreigners in his car from about 11:30 am
until some minutes past 5pm.
In response
to the senior lawyer’s suit, the EFCC filed preliminary objection on the
grounds that the court lacks jurisdiction to entertain the matter.
In a
counter-affidavit filed on February 19 by one of the commission’s operatives
that arrested Tarfa, Moses Awolusi said that a check carried out on the
Access Bank account of Tarfa’s law firm revealed that a sum of N225,000 was
sent to Justice Mohammed Yunusa on January 7, 2014.
The EFCC
claimed on Thursday that the amount was a bribe.
Awolusi
said: “I know from the facts revealed during investigation that the said bribe
of N225,000 was accepted and acknowledged by Justice Yunusa in a text message
to the applicant, wherein he said, ‘Thank you, my senior advocate.’
“I also know
that investigations have revealed that the applicant’s law firm was in the
habit of asking the Chief Registrar of the Lagos Judicial Division of the
Federal High Court to assign his cases before His Lordship, Honourable Justice
M.N. Yunusa in furtherance of the understanding between the applicant and the
particular judge.”
However,
Tarfa averred through Odubela that the money in question was a donation from a
committee of friends of the judge, including him, to support the judge in
respect of the burial of his late father-in-law in Maiduguri since they
could not be there physically.
Odubela
stated that his principal, Tarfa, was not informed upon his arrest and
detention on February 5 by the EFCC that he was arrested on the allegation of
bribing the judge.
He said the
claim of the EFCC that the judge acknowledged the receipt of the alleged bribe
by a text message which reads: “Thanks my senior advocate”, was untrue.
In urging
the court to dismiss Tarfa’s claim for exemplary damages of N2.5b, Shittu said
from the facts available the commission never set out to arrest the
applicant.
He said
Tarfa invited arrest by obstructing the commission’s officials from carrying
out their lawful duties.
“I urge the
court to dismiss the entire suit with punitive costs,” Shittu added.
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