The revelation that Mr Rickey Tarka (SAN) paid a bribe to tune of N225,
000 in to the account of a Lagos Federal High Court Judge; Justice Mohammed Yunusa
is quite an explosive exposition that gives credence to the position of our
Coalition, the Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders (CACOL); that some lawyers and
Judges abet and aid corruption.
According to news reports, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission EFCC,
in a counter-affidavit to the suit filed by Rickey Tarfa to challenge his
alleged unlawful arrest and detention by the EFCC on February 5 for hiding two
suspects of financial crimes in his Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) and thereby
willfully obstructing the arrest of the suspects. An operative of the EFCC stated
in the affidavit that a check carried out into the Access Bank account of
Tarfa’s Law firm revealed that a sum of N225, 000 was sent to Justice Mohammed Yunusa’s
Bank account, a transaction the Judge acknowledged with appreciation through a
text message which said ‘Thank you, my senior advocate’.
To highlight the relationship between Mr Tarfa and Justice Mohammed, the
EFCC counter-affidavit further revealed that Rickey Tarfa’s lawyer firm has habitually
been asking the Chief Registrar of the Lagos Judicial Division of the Federal
High Court to assign his cases to Justice Mohammed Yunusa.
Mr Debo Adeniran, Executive Director, CACOL, when reacting to the revelations
said, ”Nigerians need no further testimony to underscore the position of our
organisation; that of the EFCC and the Presidency on the ignoble roles some
members of the Bar and the Judiciary play in frustrating the war against
corruption. The President said the Judiciary was the headache in the war
against corruption while EFCC avers that some lawyers do not only aid and
abet corruption but they tutor corruption criminals on how to escape justice.’’
‘’That 90 Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN) can queue behind a colleague
with such disgusting baggage to appear in court is indeed very shameful; and it
speaks volumes about the level of immorality and rot in the system. Even,
the presiding Judge in the case described the appearance of the SANs as
‘’tantamount to harassment and intimidation’’, following the appearance of the
SANs at the court.’’Mr Adeniran added
And as if to add insult to injury
Rickey Tarfa has publicly admitted that he paid the N225, 000 in to the Judge’s
account but that it was for some burial expenses of Justice Mohammed’s late
father! Nigerians are not fools, assuming without conceding, that the story is
true, what is the explanation for the frequent requests from Tarfa’s law firm
for his cases to be assigned to Justice Mohammmed’s court? CACOL is determined
to expose the lies of these abettors and perpetrators of corruption; shame all
corrupt elements and together with forces that are ready to be unpretentious
about the fight against corruption kill the corruption!
“We hasten
to add that our position is not a blanket condemnation of the Bar and the
Judiciary. In fact CACOL is calling on the Nigeria Judicial Council (NJC) and
the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) to make conscious, spirited and determined
efforts to sanitize the Judiciary and the Bar with goal of enhancing the
expedient and prompt treatment of corruption cases given the malaise the
monster have wreaked on our National existence.’’ Mr Adeniran said.
If we are
to fight corruption to the point of killing the seemingly undying monster, then
all hands must be on deck in the battles within the war against corruption. Forward
to the war against corruption!
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