How Amaechi visited me, told me to ensure that APC wins Akwa Ibom, Abia, Rivers Gov. Appeal – Hon. Justice John Inyang Okoro. . . . . .

How Amaechi visited me, told me to

ensure that APC wins Akwa Ibom,

Abia, Rivers Gov. Appeal – Hon.

Justice John Inyang Okoro. . . . . .

A new twist has been added to the on-

going investigation of judges being accused of corruption. This time, Hon. Justice John Inyang

Okoro of the Supreme Court has

alleged that he was being victimized

over his refusal to do the bidding of

the All Progressives Congress, APC, in

the election appeal cases as it concerned Rivers, Akwa Ibom and

Abia States. The Justice of the apex court in a letter

to the Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN,

alleged that former Rivers Governor

and now transport minister, Rt. Hon

Rotimi Amaechi specifically visited him

and asked that the judgement be delivered in APC’s favour.

The letter reads in full:

On Friday, the 7th day of October,

2016, at about 9.00pm, I received a

phone call from an unfamiliar caller. He

introduced himself as an official from

the Presidency. He told me he had a letter for me from Mr President. I

immediately left my study room and

went to open the door. Upon the door

being opened, I saw so many heavily

armed men with an inscription “DSS”

on their uniform. One of them who was in mufti told me they were to

search my house. I requested that I be

allowed to inform the Chief Justice of

Nigeria but they rebuffed, rather, they

seized my phone from me. My Lord, the operatives of the

Department of State Security searched

all the rooms in the house

meticulously. They also searched the

boy’s quarters and my official vehicles

parked outside. At the end of the search, which lasted till about 1.30am

of 8th October, 2016, they took away

the following items. 1. One (1) IPad

2. Three phones (only one active)

3. USD 38,800 (Thirty eight thousand,

eight hundred dollars)

4. N3.5 (Three million, five hundred

thousand Naira) only 5. Cheque books (Four in number) The above items were documented on

the back page of the search warrant

they produced and we signed.

Also, the DSS operatives informed me

that their Director-General wanted to

see me that night. I requested to visit

their office upon the break of the day

but they refused. In view of the

presence of the heavily armed men who accompanied them and who

were pointing their gun at me from all

angles, I had no choice than to follow

them to their office that night. I was

detained by them in their office till

Sunday, 9th October, 2016 and upon your Lordship’s intervention that

Sunday, they released me in the

evening of that Sunday. My Lord, I noticed that they also

brought other judicial officers (serving

and retired) to their office. So, before

releasing us, they asked me to make a

statement concerning the money

found in my house. I told them that having received the sum of USD

24,000.00 (Twenty four thousand

dollars) and £10,000 (Ten thousand

pounds) a year for the past three

years of my sojourn in this court as

annual medical/vacation allowances, and having not spent more than

£5,000 (Five thousand pounds) on

each of three trips I have so far made

abroad, I was entitled to have more

than the amount recovered from me.

Put differently, My Lord, the money was the balance of my estacode

received from this court for the past

three years. This is quite outside the

estacodes I have received for the

International Conferences I have so

far attended since joining the bench of this court.

My Lord, as at the time of writing this

report, the DSS has not confronted me

with any petition or complaint from

any quarters whatsoever. Rather, they

have grilled me, asking questions on

some none existing properties around the country. They have also doubted

the age of my children alleging that

they are toddlers. This is sad and

unbelievable. My Lord, I strongly believe that they

my travail is not unconnected with the

verbal report I made to you on 1st

February, 2016 about the visit to my

official residence by H/E, Rotimi

Amaechi, former Governor of Rivers State and now Minister of

Transportation. In that report, I told

you My Lord, that Mr Amaechi said that

the President of Nigeria and the All

Progressives Congress mandated him

to inform me that they must win their election Appeals in respect of Rivers

State, Akwa Ibom State and Abia State

at all costs. For Akwa Ibom State, he

alleged that he sponsored Mr Umana

Umana, candidate of All Progressives

Congress for that election and that if he lost Akwa Ibom appeal, he would

have lost a fortune. Mr Amaechi also

said that he had already visited you

and that you had agreed to make me a

member of the panel that would hear

the appeals. He further told me that Mr. Umana would be paying me millions of

Naira monthly if I co-operated with

them. My response, as I told you on

that date was that it does not lie with

my power to grant his request and

that I would do all within my power not to be in the panel for Akwa Ibom

State. My Lord graciously left me out of

the panel for Akwa Ibom State. That

notwithstanding, the All Progressives

Congress in Akwa Ibom State which

lost the appeal at the Supreme Court believe that my presence in the

Supreme Court made them to lose the

appeal. Could I have resigned from the

Supreme Court simply because people

of Akwa Ibom State had a matter

before it? My Lord will recall that I also reported

that Mr. Umana Umana visited my

residence before Amaechi’s visit. He

also made the same request of

assistance to win the appeal at the

Supreme Court. Mr. Umana talked about “seeing” the Justices who

would hear the appeal. Pastor (Dr)

Ebebe Ukpong who led Mr. Umana

Umana to my house intercepted and

said that the issue of “seeing” the

justices was not part of their visit and that as a Pastor, he would not be part

of such a discussion. Mr Umana

apologized. I advised them to go and

pray about the matter and get a good

lawyer. That was how they left my

house. My Lord, up till now, I do not know

what I have done. Over the years, from

the Magistracy till date, I have done my

best to eschew all forms of corrupt

practices. I have not received any

bribe from anybody. My Lord is quite aware of my position as regards those

who take bribe in the judiciary. I

detest it and have no room for any

adjustment. That is the truth. I urge my Lord and the National

Judicial Council to disregard all the lies

and media campaign orchestrated by

those who felt I purposely refused to

help them win their election appeals in

the Supreme Court. I am confident that God will vindicate me at the end of this

ordeal. I remain loyal to my oath of

office and the need to be just and fair

in handling matters before me. My Lord, thanks for your kind

attention. Please, accept my assurances of the

highest regards. Hon. Justice John Inyang Okoro,

Justice, Supreme Court.

Justice John Inyang Okoro. . . . . .

A new twist has been added to the on-
going investigation of judges being accused of corruption. This time, Hon. Justice John Inyang
Okoro of the Supreme Court has
alleged that he was being victimized
over his refusal to do the bidding of
the All Progressives Congress, APC, in
the election appeal cases as it concerned Rivers, Akwa Ibom and
Abia States. The Justice of the apex court in a letter
to the Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN,
alleged that former Rivers Governor
and now transport minister, Rt. Hon
Rotimi Amaechi specifically visited him
and asked that the judgement be delivered in APC’s favour.

The letter reads in full:
On Friday, the 7th day of October,
2016, at about 9.00pm, I received a
phone call from an unfamiliar caller. He
introduced himself as an official from
the Presidency. He told me he had a letter for me from Mr President. I
immediately left my study room and
went to open the door. Upon the door
being opened, I saw so many heavily
armed men with an inscription “DSS”
on their uniform. One of them who was in mufti told me they were to
search my house. I requested that I be
allowed to inform the Chief Justice of
Nigeria but they rebuffed, rather, they
seized my phone from me. My Lord, the operatives of the
Department of State Security searched
all the rooms in the house
meticulously. They also searched the
boy’s quarters and my official vehicles
parked outside. At the end of the search, which lasted till about 1.30am
of 8th October, 2016, they took away
the following items. 1. One (1) IPad
2. Three phones (only one active)
3. USD 38,800 (Thirty eight thousand,
eight hundred dollars)
4. N3.5 (Three million, five hundred
thousand Naira) only 5. Cheque books (Four in number) The above items were documented on
the back page of the search warrant
they produced and we signed.

Also, the DSS operatives informed me
that their Director-General wanted to
see me that night. I requested to visit
their office upon the break of the day
but they refused. In view of the
presence of the heavily armed men who accompanied them and who
were pointing their gun at me from all
angles, I had no choice than to follow
them to their office that night. I was
detained by them in their office till
Sunday, 9th October, 2016 and upon your Lordship’s intervention that
Sunday, they released me in the
evening of that Sunday. My Lord, I noticed that they also
brought other judicial officers (serving
and retired) to their office. So, before
releasing us, they asked me to make a
statement concerning the money
found in my house. I told them that having received the sum of USD
24,000.00 (Twenty four thousand
dollars) and £10,000 (Ten thousand
pounds) a year for the past three
years of my sojourn in this court as
annual medical/vacation allowances, and having not spent more than
£5,000 (Five thousand pounds) on
each of three trips I have so far made
abroad, I was entitled to have more
than the amount recovered from me.
Put differently, My Lord, the money was the balance of my estacode
received from this court for the past
three years. This is quite outside the
estacodes I have received for the
International Conferences I have so
far attended since joining the bench of this court.

My Lord, as at the time of writing this
report, the DSS has not confronted me
with any petition or complaint from
any quarters whatsoever. Rather, they
have grilled me, asking questions on
some none existing properties around the country. They have also doubted
the age of my children alleging that
they are toddlers. This is sad and
unbelievable. My Lord, I strongly believe that they
my travail is not unconnected with the
verbal report I made to you on 1st
February, 2016 about the visit to my
official residence by H/E, Rotimi
Amaechi, former Governor of Rivers State and now Minister of
Transportation. In that report, I told
you My Lord, that Mr Amaechi said that
the President of Nigeria and the All
Progressives Congress mandated him
to inform me that they must win their election Appeals in respect of Rivers
State, Akwa Ibom State and Abia State
at all costs. For Akwa Ibom State, he
alleged that he sponsored Mr Umana
Umana, candidate of All Progressives
Congress for that election and that if he lost Akwa Ibom appeal, he would
have lost a fortune. Mr Amaechi also
said that he had already visited you
and that you had agreed to make me a
member of the panel that would hear
the appeals. He further told me that Mr. Umana would be paying me millions of
Naira monthly if I co-operated with
them. My response, as I told you on
that date was that it does not lie with
my power to grant his request and
that I would do all within my power not to be in the panel for Akwa Ibom
State. My Lord graciously left me out of
the panel for Akwa Ibom State. That
notwithstanding, the All Progressives
Congress in Akwa Ibom State which
lost the appeal at the Supreme Court believe that my presence in the
Supreme Court made them to lose the
appeal. Could I have resigned from the
Supreme Court simply because people
of Akwa Ibom State had a matter
before it? My Lord will recall that I also reported
that Mr. Umana Umana visited my
residence before Amaechi’s visit. He
also made the same request of
assistance to win the appeal at the
Supreme Court. Mr. Umana talked about “seeing” the Justices who
would hear the appeal. Pastor (Dr)
Ebebe Ukpong who led Mr. Umana
Umana to my house intercepted and
said that the issue of “seeing” the
justices was not part of their visit and that as a Pastor, he would not be part
of such a discussion. Mr Umana
apologized. I advised them to go and
pray about the matter and get a good
lawyer. That was how they left my
house. My Lord, up till now, I do not know
what I have done. Over the years, from
the Magistracy till date, I have done my
best to eschew all forms of corrupt
practices. I have not received any
bribe from anybody. My Lord is quite aware of my position as regards those
who take bribe in the judiciary. I
detest it and have no room for any
adjustment. That is the truth. I urge my Lord and the National
Judicial Council to disregard all the lies
and media campaign orchestrated by
those who felt I purposely refused to
help them win their election appeals in
the Supreme Court. I am confident that God will vindicate me at the end of this
ordeal. I remain loyal to my oath of
office and the need to be just and fair
in handling matters before me. My Lord, thanks for your kind
attention. Please, accept my assurances of the
highest regards. Hon. Justice John Inyang Okoro,
Justice, Supreme Court.