Another senior Nigerian lawyer, Joseph Nwobike (SAN), bribed Federal High Court judge Mohammed Yunusa with N1 million ($5,000), investigators at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) have revealed.
Justice Yunusa is the same judge whom the commission also said recently had accepted a bribe of N225,000 from another lawyer, Ricky Tarfa (SAN).
Mr. Nwobike obtained a rare injunction from Justice Yunusa against security agencies stopping them from arresting or investigating a Personal Assistant (PA) to Patrick Akpobolokemi, the former DG of the Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA).
EFCC investigators had found that the PA to Akpobolokemi purchased a house on Banana Island in Lagos from proceeds of transfers from NIMASA’s account.
However, Mr. Nwobike ran to Justice Yunus and obtained an injunction stopping the security agencies from arresting or investigating the PA. SaharaReporters learnt that when the lawyer was shown the evidence of his bribe to Justice Yunusa, who arrested him last week, he nearly collapsed in front of EFCC investigators.
Justice Yunusa has been transferred to Yobe pending the outcome of several investigations of corruption against him. The judge has been named in the issuance of suspicious injunctions to prevent law enforcement agents from carrying out corruption investigations. He is alleged to have issued the injunction that prevented the EFCC from arresting a Nigerian Senator, Stella Oduah, for the scandalous and corrupt way she purchased BMW cars for the aviation agencies a few years ago when she was a minister.