April 17, 2008
Saharareporters, New York.
Several weeks ago, Mr. Seriaki Dickson, former Attorney General of Bayelsa State, startled Nigerians when he stated that an ex-Chief Justice of the Supreme Court was a conduit for N2.4 billion in bribes to several elections petitions tribunal members to the tune of N2.4 billion. Mr. Dickson, who is now a member of the House of Representatives, did not disclose the identity of the ex-Chief Justice.
Even after current Chief Justice Legbo Kutigi fumed publicly about his disappointment in his former colleague named in the scam, no effort was made by anti-corruption officials or the media to unravel the identity of the ex-CJN.
Saharareporters made several attempts to speak with Mr. Dickson. On our first contact, he promised to speak the next day being Sunday, April 13 2008. Yet, when we contacted him the next day, he answered the phone and told our correspondent that we had called a wrong number. Other calls and text messages sent to his phone have gone unanswered.
Our dogged efforts to dig into the scam have unearthed a sleazy dimension to the alarm raised by Dickson, who chairs the judicial committee of the lower house in Nigeria's National Assembly.
Despite Dickson’s bizarre silence, several sources have told us that former Justice Alfa Belgore is behind the bribery scandal.
In an intriguing twist, our sources revealed that Dickson’s startling revelation was actually targeted at Timpre Sylva whose “election” as Bayelsa governor was nullified this week by a panel of the Court of Appeal in Port Harcourt. Since his inauguration in office at the end of May, 2007, Sylva had carried on a quiet feud with “Vice President” Jonathan Goodluck, his predecessor in office. Sylva’s lieutenants openly accused Goodluck of looting the state treasury after taking over from impeached former Governor D.S.P. Alamieseigha.
Dickson is close to Goodluck and has been part of a team that prosecutes the “VP’s” attack on Sylva. Two knowledgeable sources told Saharareporters that Mr. Dickson’s allegation was aimed at nudging the appellate court to reverse an electoral tribunal’s verdict that upheld Sylva’s “election.”
“The plot to remove Sylva from office was behind Honorable Dickson’s allegation,” said one of our sources. He asserted that Dickson was acting on behalf of Goodluck. “To remove Timi Sylva from office, Honorable Dickson raised the alarm. He wanted to lead the public to believe that, by exposing what had already been known widely as the despicable role being played by former Chief Justice Alfa Belgore, he would pitch Belgore against some of his former colleagues, especially the chairman of Yar’adua’s commission on electoral reforms, Justice Uwais.”
Prior to becoming CJN under former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Belgore had a reputation as one of the nation’s most corrupt justices—and easily the richest. Ironically, his nine-month tenure as the CJN was marked by what one legal analyst described as “generally positive decisions.”
One of our sources, who is close to Goodluck, told Saharareporters that Mr. Dickson’s alarm had more to do with the “VP’s” anger at the Bayelsa State tribunal for upholding Sylva's “election” than the corruption of tribunal members across the country, a deed to which the Yar'adua government is no stranger. Yar’adua heavily bribed members of the Justice James Ogebe-led Presidential Elections Tribunal to deliver a controversial judgment that saw Yar'adua and Jonathan remain in office contrary to the expectation of the public that the election was going to be discarded in a just and fair ruling.
Apart from Belgore, Nigeria has Uwais as the only other living former Chief Justice. This fact initially fueled speculation that Uwais was the target of Dickson’s allegation.
However, while Uwais was known to have corruption issues—a lawyer accused him in open court of receiving bribes—our sources said it was highly unlikely that Uwais was the target of Dickson’s allegation. Since Uwais is engaged with Yar'adua to cover up his continued electoral misdeeds by serving as the Chairman of the "Elections Reforms Committee", it was unlikely that Goodluck would allow Dickson, his former personal assistant and later commissioner, to attack Uwais by sending a petition to the Chief Justice reporting that he was involved in bribing elections petitions tribunals in a South South state.
One Bayelsa-based Senior Advocate of Nigeria told us that Dickson himself did not have the credentials to raise hackles about corruption. The lawyer alleged that Dickson’s time as Bayelsa Attorney General under Goodluck’s short-lived tenure as governor of Bayelsa “was one of the worst periods in terms of the corruption of the judiciary.”
The allegations are tailored to ridicule and expose former Chief Justice Belgore believed to be involved in grave acts of corruption that were detailed by The News magazine several years ago.
Several sources told us that Belgore became the richest judge in Nigeria under the military on the account of his ownership of oil blocks and choice property around Nigeria. “If we’re talking about a brazen ex-jurist capable of organizing prepaid judgments on behalf of wealthy and politically connected individuals, Justice Belgore is your man,” said an Abuja-based SAN.
Justice Belgore is a close friend of current Bayelsa Attorney General, George Ikoli. Mr. Ikoli became a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) in 2006 without applying to be made one. Lawyers knowledgeable about the selection process told Saharareporters Ikoli was poorly qualified to be named SAN, but was elevated with the help of Justice Belgore who insisted on increasing the number of slots for Senior Advocates of Nigeria from 15 to 25 in 2006. Belgore successfully smuggled in the names of George Ikoli and Kemi Pinheiro. Of the 25 new members inducted into the prestigious class of Nigerian lawyers, 5 were nominated from Kwara State, Justice Belgore's home state.
Justice Belgore is not only filthy rich, but also widely despised by his colleagues on the bench who consider him arrogant and spiteful. Current Chief Justice Kutigi is said to abhor Belgore for these reasons. Belgore’s immediate predecessor in office, Justice Uwais, also maintains a cold relationship with Belgore over the Globe Motors scandal in which a lawyer at the Supreme Court openly accused Uwais of corruption. A totally humiliated and rubbished Uwais believed that Belgore was behind his ordeal in exposing the scam because he wanted to take over from him as Chief Justice before his tenure expired.
The political crisis in Bayelsa State has been on for quite sometime. It all started when former President Obasanjo imposed Timipre Sylva to take over from Goodluck, who had already won the PDP primary to become the gubernatorial flag bearer in Bayelsa State. Instead, Goodluck was yanked to become the Vice Presidential running mate to Alhaji Umar Yar'adua, Obasanjo's imposed PDP presidential candidate in the rigged April 2007 elections.
Saharareporters has learned that Obasanjo waved aside protests by Goodluck against Sylva's candidacy telling Jonathan that the right to choose the next governor had been ceded to the Minister of Energy Resources, Dr. Edmund Daukoru. Sylva was Daukoru's Special Assistant as a minister. Sylva and Daukoru are so close that the American oil services company, Wilbros, named both men as players in the company’s infamous bribery scandal.
Once in office, Sylva continuously exposed the corruption perpetrated by Goodluck. In his most recent revelation, the governor told the bewildered national media that Jonathan left behind an empty treasury in Bayelsa State, with a deficit of N75 billion. Though Governor Sylva said the media misquoted him, Goodluck and his political aides are convinced that Sylva deliberately released embarrassing information on the “VP” only to deny after the damage had been done. Goodluck and his camp then resolved to work towards removing him from office.
“Though Belgore is very well known as a ‘fixer of justice,’ Jonathan is behind this particular petition to remove Timi from office,” one source told us.
With his removal accomplished, Sylva may not be out of the woods. Saharareporters has learned that a new petition is underway accusing him and George Ikoli of stealing N1.8 billion from Bayelsa State treasury to finance a failed bid to bribe the Court of Appeal judges in Port Harcourt to rule in favor of Sylva.
Even though the PDP has named Sylva as its flag bearer in the rerun of the gubernatorial election, the Goodluck camp has sworn not to relent in sabotaging his return to Government House in Yenogoa.
Several weeks ago, Mr. Seriaki Dickson, former Attorney General of Bayelsa State, startled Nigerians when he stated that an ex-Chief Justice of the Supreme Court was a conduit for N2.4 billion in bribes to several elections petitions tribunal members to the tune of N2.4 billion. Mr. Dickson, who is now a member of the House of Representatives, did not disclose the identity of the ex-Chief Justice.
Even after current Chief Justice Legbo Kutigi fumed publicly about his disappointment in his former colleague named in the scam, no effort was made by anti-corruption officials or the media to unravel the identity of the ex-CJN.
Saharareporters made several attempts to speak with Mr. Dickson. On our first contact, he promised to speak the next day being Sunday, April 13 2008. Yet, when we contacted him the next day, he answered the phone and told our correspondent that we had called a wrong number. Other calls and text messages sent to his phone have gone unanswered.
Our dogged efforts to dig into the scam have unearthed a sleazy dimension to the alarm raised by Dickson, who chairs the judicial committee of the lower house in Nigeria's National Assembly.
Despite Dickson’s bizarre silence, several sources have told us that former Justice Alfa Belgore is behind the bribery scandal.
In an intriguing twist, our sources revealed that Dickson’s startling revelation was actually targeted at Timpre Sylva whose “election” as Bayelsa governor was nullified this week by a panel of the Court of Appeal in Port Harcourt. Since his inauguration in office at the end of May, 2007, Sylva had carried on a quiet feud with “Vice President” Jonathan Goodluck, his predecessor in office. Sylva’s lieutenants openly accused Goodluck of looting the state treasury after taking over from impeached former Governor D.S.P. Alamieseigha.
Dickson is close to Goodluck and has been part of a team that prosecutes the “VP’s” attack on Sylva. Two knowledgeable sources told Saharareporters that Mr. Dickson’s allegation was aimed at nudging the appellate court to reverse an electoral tribunal’s verdict that upheld Sylva’s “election.”
“The plot to remove Sylva from office was behind Honorable Dickson’s allegation,” said one of our sources. He asserted that Dickson was acting on behalf of Goodluck. “To remove Timi Sylva from office, Honorable Dickson raised the alarm. He wanted to lead the public to believe that, by exposing what had already been known widely as the despicable role being played by former Chief Justice Alfa Belgore, he would pitch Belgore against some of his former colleagues, especially the chairman of Yar’adua’s commission on electoral reforms, Justice Uwais.”
Prior to becoming CJN under former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Belgore had a reputation as one of the nation’s most corrupt justices—and easily the richest. Ironically, his nine-month tenure as the CJN was marked by what one legal analyst described as “generally positive decisions.”
One of our sources, who is close to Goodluck, told Saharareporters that Mr. Dickson’s alarm had more to do with the “VP’s” anger at the Bayelsa State tribunal for upholding Sylva's “election” than the corruption of tribunal members across the country, a deed to which the Yar'adua government is no stranger. Yar’adua heavily bribed members of the Justice James Ogebe-led Presidential Elections Tribunal to deliver a controversial judgment that saw Yar'adua and Jonathan remain in office contrary to the expectation of the public that the election was going to be discarded in a just and fair ruling.
Apart from Belgore, Nigeria has Uwais as the only other living former Chief Justice. This fact initially fueled speculation that Uwais was the target of Dickson’s allegation.
However, while Uwais was known to have corruption issues—a lawyer accused him in open court of receiving bribes—our sources said it was highly unlikely that Uwais was the target of Dickson’s allegation. Since Uwais is engaged with Yar'adua to cover up his continued electoral misdeeds by serving as the Chairman of the "Elections Reforms Committee", it was unlikely that Goodluck would allow Dickson, his former personal assistant and later commissioner, to attack Uwais by sending a petition to the Chief Justice reporting that he was involved in bribing elections petitions tribunals in a South South state.
One Bayelsa-based Senior Advocate of Nigeria told us that Dickson himself did not have the credentials to raise hackles about corruption. The lawyer alleged that Dickson’s time as Bayelsa Attorney General under Goodluck’s short-lived tenure as governor of Bayelsa “was one of the worst periods in terms of the corruption of the judiciary.”
The allegations are tailored to ridicule and expose former Chief Justice Belgore believed to be involved in grave acts of corruption that were detailed by The News magazine several years ago.
Several sources told us that Belgore became the richest judge in Nigeria under the military on the account of his ownership of oil blocks and choice property around Nigeria. “If we’re talking about a brazen ex-jurist capable of organizing prepaid judgments on behalf of wealthy and politically connected individuals, Justice Belgore is your man,” said an Abuja-based SAN.
Justice Belgore is a close friend of current Bayelsa Attorney General, George Ikoli. Mr. Ikoli became a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) in 2006 without applying to be made one. Lawyers knowledgeable about the selection process told Saharareporters Ikoli was poorly qualified to be named SAN, but was elevated with the help of Justice Belgore who insisted on increasing the number of slots for Senior Advocates of Nigeria from 15 to 25 in 2006. Belgore successfully smuggled in the names of George Ikoli and Kemi Pinheiro. Of the 25 new members inducted into the prestigious class of Nigerian lawyers, 5 were nominated from Kwara State, Justice Belgore's home state.
Justice Belgore is not only filthy rich, but also widely despised by his colleagues on the bench who consider him arrogant and spiteful. Current Chief Justice Kutigi is said to abhor Belgore for these reasons. Belgore’s immediate predecessor in office, Justice Uwais, also maintains a cold relationship with Belgore over the Globe Motors scandal in which a lawyer at the Supreme Court openly accused Uwais of corruption. A totally humiliated and rubbished Uwais believed that Belgore was behind his ordeal in exposing the scam because he wanted to take over from him as Chief Justice before his tenure expired.
The political crisis in Bayelsa State has been on for quite sometime. It all started when former President Obasanjo imposed Timipre Sylva to take over from Goodluck, who had already won the PDP primary to become the gubernatorial flag bearer in Bayelsa State. Instead, Goodluck was yanked to become the Vice Presidential running mate to Alhaji Umar Yar'adua, Obasanjo's imposed PDP presidential candidate in the rigged April 2007 elections.
Saharareporters has learned that Obasanjo waved aside protests by Goodluck against Sylva's candidacy telling Jonathan that the right to choose the next governor had been ceded to the Minister of Energy Resources, Dr. Edmund Daukoru. Sylva was Daukoru's Special Assistant as a minister. Sylva and Daukoru are so close that the American oil services company, Wilbros, named both men as players in the company’s infamous bribery scandal.
Once in office, Sylva continuously exposed the corruption perpetrated by Goodluck. In his most recent revelation, the governor told the bewildered national media that Jonathan left behind an empty treasury in Bayelsa State, with a deficit of N75 billion. Though Governor Sylva said the media misquoted him, Goodluck and his political aides are convinced that Sylva deliberately released embarrassing information on the “VP” only to deny after the damage had been done. Goodluck and his camp then resolved to work towards removing him from office.
“Though Belgore is very well known as a ‘fixer of justice,’ Jonathan is behind this particular petition to remove Timi from office,” one source told us.
With his removal accomplished, Sylva may not be out of the woods. Saharareporters has learned that a new petition is underway accusing him and George Ikoli of stealing N1.8 billion from Bayelsa State treasury to finance a failed bid to bribe the Court of Appeal judges in Port Harcourt to rule in favor of Sylva.
Even though the PDP has named Sylva as its flag bearer in the rerun of the gubernatorial election, the Goodluck camp has sworn not to relent in sabotaging his return to Government House in Yenogoa.
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