ABUJA (Sundiata Post) – A constitutional and human rights lawyer, Ms Carol Ajie, has blasted the national chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief John Odigie- Oyegun, over his criticism of the Justices of the Supreme Court (JSC), following the recent apex court judgement that went against his party in Rivers, Akwa Ibom and some other states.
Ajie in one of her usual interventions at the weekend, disagreed with Oyegun and absolved the Supreme Court of any blame. She rather advised the APC chairman to channel his anger on the lead counsel that handled those cases, especially the Akwa Ibom and Abia States cases.
According to Ajie, the lead counsel in the cases, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), contradicted himself and must be blamed for the failure to secure victories for his clients.
She said: “APC should blame the lead counsel in the Abia State governorship election petition, Chief Olanipekun (SAN), who had argued one position of the law in Akwa Ibom State governorship election petition at the Supreme Court and argued the exact opposite for his other client, Abia State governor. PDP Abia won and APC Akwa Ibom lost, she said.[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”70560”]
“I was at the Supreme Court yesterday (Friday) and per chance met one of the lawyers who had worked with the same person in the Governor Adams Oshiomhole’s petition, the learned colleague said the same Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN) had walked away with all the fees in the election petition matter in Edo State governorship race at the time.
“The same Olanipekun picked the fees in excess of N240million from Umana/APC in the Akwa Ibom State governorship election matter that he lost after changing sides and did not pay the juniors over a dozen of them, who worked with him on the case from different law firms,” she alleged.
In the same vein, an Abuja-based lawyer and National Coordinator for Advocates for Legal Reforms, Valentine Offia, has threatened the Rivers State APC gubernatorial candidate in the last election, Dr. Dakuku Peterside, with a criminal defamation suit for his recent accusation against Justices of the Supreme Court.
According to Valentine Offia, “it has become the fad for politicians to vilify judges, courts and the legal system whenever they do not agree with judgments of the courts”, adding, “often, they launch into diatribes against the personalities of the judges and sponsor publications alleging corruption or other vice against judges”.
He said: “The singular purpose of the publications is to smear the personal reputation of the judges; these politicians do not care that they are destroying the legal system.
“The latest of such infamous vilification came from Mr. Peterside Dakuku, the candidate of the APC in the Rivers State gubernatorial election of 2015.”
According to him, Peterside was the beneficiary of the judgments of the Rivers State Election Petition Tribunal and the Court of Appeal when both adjudication organs ruled in his favour.
However, he said, as soon as the Supreme Court had ruled against him, he issued inflammatory statements alleging corruption against the judiciary.
He quoted Peterside to have alleged in press conference “that Governor Nyesom Wike met justices of the Supreme Court in Imo State, Dubai and Saudi Arabia, before the January 27, 2016 judgement that upheld his election.”
Offia, qouting news report, said that “Peterside, who made the allegation while addressing a press conference in Port Harcourt recently, said it is obvious that the decision of the Supreme Court on the governorship election in the state was not a product of justice, but a product of compromise orchestrated to legalise electoral violence,”.
He further quoted Peterside as saying “Credible information confirmed that Nyesom Wike had earlier confessed to some persons of having met one of the Justices of the Supreme Court in Mbaise during an important burial, another at Owerri, in a hotel and yet others in Dubai and Saudi Arabia respectively. These Justices were in the panel that decided the matter in Wike’s favour.”
Offia said that the politicians always take advantage of the code of conduct imposed on judges which prohibits them from trading words or joining issues with them.
He challenged Peterside to substantiate “these allegations (which are obviously false) or be ready to face charges of criminal defamation”, adding, he “will no longer condone this nefarious antics which impugn the legal profession of which he is a proud member”.