Muiz Banire, the national legal adviser of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), has denied that he ever bribed a Nigerian judge.
Sources at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had told SaharaReporters that, as part of their investigation into corruption in the judiciary, they had discovered that Mr. Banire gave a questionable donation of N500,000 to a federal judge, Justice Terseer Agbadu-Fishim.
In a text message to SaharaReporters, Mr. Banire tacitly agreed that he had given money to a judge, but explained that he had never appeared in a case before the judge, adding that the judge in question was a longtime friend to whom he gave some money after his mother's death.
"I have no official relationship with the said judge," Mr. Banire said in a message to SaharaReporters. He added: "I have never appeared before him in any matter and in fact, in my entire professional career I have only recently a month ago appeared at the industrial court before a separate judge."
According to the APC's legal adviser, the judge who received money from him "was an old friend in the 90's who only called me up some years back to seek financial assistance due to his mother's death. Beyond that, I have not seen him in the last almost seventeen years."
Mr. Banire stated that, up till now, the EFCC had not invited him on the issue.
