The bribery scandal in Abia State Election Petition Tribunals have been linked to the Appeal Court in Owerri, presided over by Justice Agbo as Chairman.Nothing is taken for granted any more by the people of Abia who initially thought that the fear of the war against corruption by the current administration was not going to let any of the judges at the Tribunal, collect bribe as was being rumored. Contrary to that expectation, bribery became the order of the day and justice was perverted despite overwhelming evidence of rigging and violence presented at the Tribunals by the petitioners. The PDP years are not over yet?
The question now being asked by every Abian in the latest round of rumours or emerging facts are, what is the connection or agreement reached with the judges at the Court of Appeal in Owerri which gave courage to the judges at Abia Election Tribunals to allow themselves to be compromised by the PDP? Were they assured that the criminal judgements they delivered in favour of all PDP candidates will in turn be upheld at the Appeal Court? There’s an urgent need for both the NJC and Federal investigators to intervene. There is no smoke without fire.
The judgements in Abia which dismissed all the petitions brought against PDP candidates who rigged election across the state show how far some of our judges can go to secure their retirements or “the retirement benefit”
Let investigators call for memorable from the public in the course of the expected investigation. These judges must not sleep because they have murdered sleep. The people of Abia are asking for death penalty if they are tried and found guilty in this case. The 8 judges who are facing trial in Ghana are accused of receiving bribes of various sums of money. The same should apply here if we must clean the mess in our judiciary. We have lost about every other sector, the judiciary is rotten already due to the criminal activities of some judges and should not be allowed to continue. These judges are encouraged by the fact that other judges who were there in the past and known to have been corruptly enriched, got away with it. Nothing happened or at worst they were sanctioned and subsequently retired from the bench. A judge who rakes in more than N500m from a judiciary duty of less than 6 months will never be hungry in retirement. They damn the consequences and go whichever way they are paid to go.
We are being told that because of the Appeal Court involvement in the Abia Tribunals rulings, evidences used in the trial are being tampered with at the Ministry Justice in Umuahia in partial fulfillment of the requirements for easy affirmations at the Appeal stage.
To tell any Abian alive who voted in the last elections that a panel of Nigerian judges will affirm the election of Chinedu Orji, alias “Ikuku”, the son of the former governor, T.A Orji, who had the worst outing in the entire elections is like saying that President Buhari retired from the Ghanaian Army. This is the height of judicial atrocity. It was part of the condition for the huge amount of money paid out to these judges. If nothing is done to prove these crimes and punish those responsible, both the giver and the taker, the fight against corruption would have been lost before it started in this country. These judges have dared President Buhari, who had been tested in the position of power in this country and widely acclaimed as a champion of transparency and the people’s right, should cause a full scale investigation into this national shame.
The determination of PDP to use our stolen money to remain in power in all the oil producing states of the Federation in readiness for 2019 must be punctured by the APC to enjoy a total and real grassroots support in this country. PDP won nothing in Abia in the last election and should not be allowed to deny the people the right to choose their leaders.
Those LGAs of Obingwa, Isialangwa North and Osisioma where Prof. Ozumba had cancelled elections must be upheld. Of course no fresh election should be expected in these LGAs when PDP had burnt INEC offices in 2 of the 3. Senator Abaribe and Abia State Commissioner of Police, who was recently redeployed, but recalled after pressure from PDP to come back and finish the job, should be asked who burnt Obingwa and Isiala Ngwa South.
Until the issue of who burnt INEC offices in Obingwa and Isiala Ngwa-South are resolved, Abians won’t have faith in the country called Nigeria.
The People’s votes must count in Abia and criminal judges punished.
Here they are:
Justices:
Adeniyi Onigbanjo – Lagos
I.E. Umanah – Akwa Ibom
B.M Tukur – Zamfara
Yahuza – Jigawa
Gilbert Ngele – Ebonyi
Kadi Raha – Kebbi
Salvation Ogechukwu – wrote from Obingwa
