"The fight for justice against corruption is
never easy. It never has been and never will be. It exacts a toll on our self,
our families, our friends, and especially our children. In the end, I believe,
as in my case, the price we pay is well worth holding on to our dignity".
Frank Serpico
By Kelvin Adegbenga
My
attention has been brought to a letter from Supreme Court Justice John Inyang Okoro accusing Rt. Hon. Rotimi Amaechi of trying to bribe him and Chief Justice of Nigeria.
The
allegations is not just baseless but another means by Justice John Inyang
Okoro, to bring down the persons of President Buhari, Rt. Hon Rotimi Amaechi
and Umana O. Umana by a drowning man.
First of
all, he is not the Chief Justice of Nigeria to dismiss the election case before
the Supreme Court; even though the Chief Justice of Nigeria does not have such
power.
Secondly,
he is not the only Justice to give judgement over election cases; his decision even
if is the Chairman of the panel can’t stand against other Justices.
As an
experienced Justice, what stopped him from writing officially to the Chief
Justice of Nigeria and the Nigeria Judicial Council to substantiate his
allegations?
Justice
John Okoro is just like a bull in a China shop; ready to destroy anything
without thinking of the consequences.
I
challenge Justice John Inyang Okoro to substantiate his allegations with
concrete evidences just as the Department of State Service has substantiated
their own evidences against him.
It is not
enough to mention Rt. Hon. Rotimi Amaechi and Umana O. Umana, but we need
concrete evidences to take him serious.
Justice John Inyang Okoro should rather clear
himself of all the evidences brought against him by the Department of State
Security rather than hanging his predicament on Rt. Hon. Rotimi Amaechi and
Umana O. Umana.
Rt. Hon.
Rotimi Amaechi has been performing excellently in this government and the
records are there.
As at
today, there is no single corruption case against Rt. Hon. Rotimi Amaechi. Even
the one engineered by the Rivers State Governor couldn't stand at the Law Court
because it was biased and baseless.
For those
that didn't know, Rt. Hon. Rotimi Amaechi exposed the corruption of the past
administration under Goodluck Jonathan.
In his
words: “I heard Mrs Okonjo-Iweala say that in the past administration, Governors
were unwilling to save; she is 30 percent correct and 70 percent incorrect,” he
said.
“In 2009,
we had an economic crisis so President Yar’adua put $1billion in the economy so
no one felt the crisis. I can’t remember what was left in that account, the
excess crude account.
“During
Goodluck Jonathan, every month when the Governors went for the Economic Council
meeting, the amount in the account kept dropping. If we asked about what
happened to the money, the response we got was that the President approved for
it to be spent.
“So we
said can we please share this money because the rate at which it was going, the
President would have continually approved $1billion to spend and we won’t know
what we are spending for and they won’t give us an account.
“So we
told the Vice President and the Minister for Finance that there was a need for
us to share part of this money and we began to agitate. They now agreed to
share part of the money and they did. In the first six months of Goodluck
Jonathan, oil subsidy increased. Governors started complaining and then we had
a meeting in the office of the President’s wife.
“At the
meeting, we asked for assurance that the Presidency would no longer collect for
oil subsidy and he promised. It is not right for Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala to say
Governors were not willing to save; Governors were willing to save but we
insisted on sharing the money when we saw that the money was not properly
managed.”
If he
other Governors then has joined him, we won't be going through the recession
Nigeria is experiencing today.
Rt. Hon. Rotimi Amaechi is a man of dignity and integrity, no amount of propaganda will deterred him from implementing the Change Agenda of this administration.
On a
final note, I challenge Justice John Inyang Okoro to substantiate his
allegations with concrete evidences or tender an unreserved apologies to Rt.
Hon Rotimi Amaechi and Umana O Umana.
Kelvin Adegbenga writes from Port Harcourt.
kelvinadegbenga@yahoo.com
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