May 7, 2010
Saharareporters investigators have uncovered how three judges of the Ekiti State Election Petitions Tribunal received a N3 billion bribe to deliver a majority judgment that upheld the legitimacy of the re-run governorship election in which the PDP’s Segun Oni was declared winner.
Saharareporters investigators have uncovered how three judges of the Ekiti State Election Petitions Tribunal received a N3 billion bribe to deliver a majority judgment that upheld the legitimacy of the re-run governorship election in which the PDP’s Segun Oni was declared winner.
The majority verdict, delivered in Ado Ekiti on Wednesday, May 5, came as a shock to many who had followed the Ekiti State re-run governorship election of April 25 and May 5, 2009. The election showcased the fraudulent artistry of the ruling party, the police and other security agencies as well as electoral officials. In the prelude to the election, Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola of Osun State was recorded promising to supply weapons and military uniforms to Mr. Oni’s campaign to enable PDP thugs to intimidate the opposition. At a rally in Ado Ekiti, Speaker of the House of Representatives Bankole Dimeji told PDP partisans that then “President” Umaru Yar’adua would authorize the use of soldiers to assist Mr. Oni to re-rig the election.
The re-run election got so heated that Mrs. Ayoka Adebayo, the state’s chief electoral umpire, resigned and went into hiding, after issuing a terse statement that she was being pressured to falsify results.
PDP officials brutalized reporters and election observers alike. Then the party capped its do-or-die tactics by enacting the magic of “Ido-Osi,” a constituency where Mr. Oni was fraudulently awarded more than 15,000 votes that enabled him to steal the election once again.
Given these glaring irregularities and manipulations, legal observers had all expected that the electoral tribunal’s decision could only go one way: a nullification of Oni’s so-called election on grounds of its substantial non-compliance with the electoral law.
Our investigators indicated that the five-man tribunal had originally arrived at a unanimous verdict to invalidate Oni’s election and announce Dr. Kayode Fayemi as the winner.
A top source within the judiciary told Saharareporters that one of the judges on the panel leaked the news of Fayemi’s impending victory to Mr. Oni’s camp. Our sources said both Mr. Oni’s associates and the Southwest caucus of the PDP then went into desperation mode. “The PDP came up with an elaborate plan to purchase the verdict,” said one of our sources, a PDP chieftain. He disclosed that the plan involved leading PDP members in Ekiti State – including “Governor” Segun Oni, his erstwhile Chief of Staff, Segun Ilori, his Commissioner for Works, Mrs. Olujimi, and their former party chairman, Ropo Adesanya, as well as leading members of the party across the country – particularly former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Governor Danjuma Goje of Gombe State, Governor Gbenga Daniel of Ogun State, Olagunsoye Oyinlola of Osun State, Senator Iyiola Omisore, Mr. Afe Babalola, Mr Oni’s Godfather, and Mr. Ademola Adegoroye, a PDP chieftain in Ondo State.
Our sources indicated that the rattled PDP group in the Southwest held several emergency sessions that were either presided over by Obasanjo or remotely controlled by him. Two of the sources confirmed that one of the PDP’s decisions was to use PDP-friendly newspapers, particularly The Tribune and Compass (owned by Governor Daniel of Ogun) to accuse Mr. Bola Tinubu, an Action Congress chieftain, of attempting to bribe the tribunal members.
“While these newspapers attacks were being launched, the PDP henchmen concluded plans to use Governor Goje to funnel bribes to tribunal members,” said one of our sources.
In separate interviews, a security source as well as an associate of Governor Danjuma Goje told Saharareporters that the judgment was eventually purchased for the sum of N3 billion naira. “Governor Danjuma Goje, who hails from the same state as the tribunal chairman, served as go-between to deliver the money,” stated our security sources.
Portions of an official security report prepared by the SSS (on the movement of the funds that the PDP eventually used to subvert justice in Ekiti State) were read to a correspondent of Saharareporters.
Our sources revealed that two of the judges – Biodun Adebara from Kwara State and Ogbonnaya Obande of Ebonyi State – were unshakably committed to the initial unanimous verdict that called for Oni’s removal. “They faced unrelenting pressure to partake in sharing the N3 billion pay-off, but they stuck to their guns,” revealed a source within the judiciary.
Adebara and Obande ultimately read a minority judgment. They ruled that the irregularities in the re-run governorship election were substantial enough to warrant withdrawal of the certificate of return from Mr. Segun Oni and the issuance of it to Fayemi as the legitimate governor of Ekiti State.
But the three judges who accepted the bribe and validated Oni’s election carried the day. The trio, who happen to come from the same part of the country, are Hamman Barka of Gombe State, Dikko from Nasarawa State and M.B. Goji from Adamawa State.
Our sources revealed that it was not the first time that Governor Danjuma Goje would play the role of linkman between an embattled PDP governor and Justice Barka. Our sources disclosed that Justice Barka had been a dependable ally of Governor Goje in the past when the judge was the chairman of the second elections petition tribunal in Osun State. “It was Goje who brokered the deal for Governor Oyinlola in the case of Jide Omoworare Vs Iyiola Omisore as well as several other National Assembly cases in Osun State involving the PDP,” said a source, adding “Justice Barka gave victory to Oyinlola after Governor Goje’s intervention.”
The Ibadan Division of the Federal Court of Appeal subsequently overturned several of the cases adjudicated by the particular tribunal headed by Barka, including Omisore’s senatorial election. The appellate justices often used harsh words in overturning Justice Barka’s rulings.
A source close to one of the judges on the Ekiti elections tribunal stated that, long after the panel had adopted a draft judgment that favored Fayemi, Justice Barka suddenly appeared before his colleagues on May 1, 2010 with a different draft judgment, already typed. “Some of the judges believe the new draft was prepared by an external legal consultant recruited by the PDP,” said the source, adding that the dissenting judges were disenchanted with the new draft. “It was completely at variance with the unanimous decision in favor of Fayemi that the five judges had adopted at their post-address conferences.”
Barka reportedly pleaded with all his colleagues to adopt the pro-Oni verdict. He told the other judges that he had “a special message” for them in the form of cash incentive from his Governor. “He started by promising each judge an incentive of N250 million and at the height of the negotiations he offered a bounty of N1billion each,” said our source. Saharareporters learned that Barka also told his colleagues that he feared that Governor Goje would plot to assassinate him if the tribunal failed to return Oni as governor of Ekiti State.
A labor leader in Ekiti, on learning of the huge bribe to the three judges, bemoaned the fact that Governor Oni owes three months salaries to state workers. “What Engineer Oni owes workers is almost the equivalent amount he paid to buy the governorship,” said the labor activist.
Our sources disclosed that, while two of the judges – Adebara and Obande – refused outright to exchange justice for personal profit, Justice M.B. Goji “prevaricated and wavered.” A source close to him explained that he had consistently maintained that the Action Congress and its candidate had a solid case and had proved all the allegations beyond reasonable doubt. Meanwhile, Justice Dikko, according to our sources, had already aligned with the tribunal’s chairman who was, however, desperate for one more judge to give a majority ruling in favor of Oni. “The negotiations for that third judge went on for the next two days until Chief Olusegun Obasanjo aborted a trip to Kumasi, Ghana to come to Ado-Ekiti on May 3rd to intervene,” said a source. Our sources revealed that it was after Obasanjo’s intervention that Justice Goji caved in to the nefarious plot, but his concurrence was still perceived as grudging.
A source within the tribunal told Saharareporters that, at a lengthy conference on the evening of May 4, a day before the delivery of their judgment, “Justice Goji changed sides once again to align with the original unanimous verdict for Fayemi.” The source added that Goji’s dramatic volte-face left Chairman Barka and Justice Dikko in the lurch. The new draft judgment was withdrawn at that stage and most of the judges argued for using the original consensus judgment. But instead of giving up, Barka increased the incentive he had offered and begged Goji to save him and his family members from Governor Goje’s assassination plots. “This emotional plea finally swayed Goji to the side of those who wanted to declare Oni the rightful winner,” said our source.
Saharareporters investigators found that, on the morning of the judgment, the judges held a final conference where pressure was then piled on Adebara and Obande to withdraw their insistence on reading the original consensus ruling as the minority verdict. The two judges refused all entreaties.
Our investigators, who spoke to sources in Abuja, Ado Ekiti, Abeokuta and Gombe, discovered that, prior to the events of the last four days, several PDP elements had tried other routes to influence the tribunal members. Abiodun Olujimi, who was the arrowhead of the PDP contact committee, and Segun Ilori, Governor Oni’s Man Friday in Abuja, had used huge cash incentives to recruit various people with access to the judges, but their efforts had hit a brick wall. They went to Ogere, Ogun State to change millions of naira into hard currency and then visited a contact in Ajao Estate who is supposedly close to a retiring Supreme Court Justice believed to be working on their behalf.
One source also said that Olujimi visited the new Attorney General Mohammed Adoke in the company of a fellow Minister to plead their case, but Saharareporters gathered that Adoke made it clear that it was the policy of the Jonathan administration not to interfere in judicial decisions.
Segun Oni’s emissaries then made a pitch to then Acting President Goodluck Jonathan, his National Security Adviser, Mohammed Gusau, and Gusau’s deputy, Kayode Are. They claimed that the Action Congress’ candidate would constitute a risk to national security, alleging that Fayemi was an intelligence operative for the CIA and the MI6. The security chiefs reportedly dismissed the claim and the Acting President insisted he was not going to get involved in the Ekiti matter, stating that the state had caused Nigeria enough embarrassment. However, a source close to Obasanjo revealed that the former president later convinced Jonathan that the loss of any state in the South West would be detrimental to any future plan of Jonathan’s to maintain political relevance in the politically charged region. Even so, it remained unclear whether Jonathan took any steps to help foster the plan to buy the judiciary for Oni.
It was only after Governor Goje got involved, at the instance of Obasanjo, that the plan to fraudulently sustain Oni in power acquired momentum and ultimate success.
An Abuja-based senior advocate of Nigeria, after reviewing the two judgments, told Saharareporters “Oni’s victory seems to me a pyrrhic one.” The lawyer noted that “the minority verdict was as sound as the majority was shallow and shameless,” adding that “the challenge remains to see how the Appeal Court can sustain such a weak majority judgment.”
Fayemi has said that he intends to appeal the judgment. A source told Saharareporters that Mr. Oni and his group are already making efforts to convince Justice Isa Salami, President of the Court of Appeal, to hand the case to pliable judges who would be open to corrupt inducement to retain Segun Oni at the Governor’s House. “Even if that were to be possible, the uphill task would be how an appellate bench is going to cover the gaping holes in Justice Barka’s majority decision,” said the SAN. He added: “If you read the text of the majority verdict, it’s hardly supported by any serious judicial doctrine and legal precedents. On the other hand, the minority judgment is cogent, logical and supported by extensive legal precedents.”
Two other lawyers, one in Abuja and one in Ibadan, also told Saharareporters that the new Appeal Court President is unlikely to hearken to desires of those whose mission “is to undermine the judiciary and subvert justice,” said one of them.
The majority verdict, delivered in Ado Ekiti on Wednesday, May 5, came as a shock to many who had followed the Ekiti State re-run governorship election of April 25 and May 5, 2009. The election showcased the fraudulent artistry of the ruling party, the police and other security agencies as well as electoral officials. In the prelude to the election, Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola of Osun State was recorded promising to supply weapons and military uniforms to Mr. Oni’s campaign to enable PDP thugs to intimidate the opposition. At a rally in Ado Ekiti, Speaker of the House of Representatives Bankole Dimeji told PDP partisans that then “President” Umaru Yar’adua would authorize the use of soldiers to assist Mr. Oni to re-rig the election.
The re-run election got so heated that Mrs. Ayoka Adebayo, the state’s chief electoral umpire, resigned and went into hiding, after issuing a terse statement that she was being pressured to falsify results.
PDP officials brutalized reporters and election observers alike. Then the party capped its do-or-die tactics by enacting the magic of “Ido-Osi,” a constituency where Mr. Oni was fraudulently awarded more than 15,000 votes that enabled him to steal the election once again.
Given these glaring irregularities and manipulations, legal observers had all expected that the electoral tribunal’s decision could only go one way: a nullification of Oni’s so-called election on grounds of its substantial non-compliance with the electoral law.
Our investigators indicated that the five-man tribunal had originally arrived at a unanimous verdict to invalidate Oni’s election and announce Dr. Kayode Fayemi as the winner.
A top source within the judiciary told Saharareporters that one of the judges on the panel leaked the news of Fayemi’s impending victory to Mr. Oni’s camp. Our sources said both Mr. Oni’s associates and the Southwest caucus of the PDP then went into desperation mode. “The PDP came up with an elaborate plan to purchase the verdict,” said one of our sources, a PDP chieftain. He disclosed that the plan involved leading PDP members in Ekiti State – including “Governor” Segun Oni, his erstwhile Chief of Staff, Segun Ilori, his Commissioner for Works, Mrs. Olujimi, and their former party chairman, Ropo Adesanya, as well as leading members of the party across the country – particularly former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Governor Danjuma Goje of Gombe State, Governor Gbenga Daniel of Ogun State, Olagunsoye Oyinlola of Osun State, Senator Iyiola Omisore, Mr. Afe Babalola, Mr Oni’s Godfather, and Mr. Ademola Adegoroye, a PDP chieftain in Ondo State.
Our sources indicated that the rattled PDP group in the Southwest held several emergency sessions that were either presided over by Obasanjo or remotely controlled by him. Two of the sources confirmed that one of the PDP’s decisions was to use PDP-friendly newspapers, particularly The Tribune and Compass (owned by Governor Daniel of Ogun) to accuse Mr. Bola Tinubu, an Action Congress chieftain, of attempting to bribe the tribunal members.
“While these newspapers attacks were being launched, the PDP henchmen concluded plans to use Governor Goje to funnel bribes to tribunal members,” said one of our sources.
In separate interviews, a security source as well as an associate of Governor Danjuma Goje told Saharareporters that the judgment was eventually purchased for the sum of N3 billion naira. “Governor Danjuma Goje, who hails from the same state as the tribunal chairman, served as go-between to deliver the money,” stated our security sources.
Portions of an official security report prepared by the SSS (on the movement of the funds that the PDP eventually used to subvert justice in Ekiti State) were read to a correspondent of Saharareporters.
Our sources revealed that two of the judges – Biodun Adebara from Kwara State and Ogbonnaya Obande of Ebonyi State – were unshakably committed to the initial unanimous verdict that called for Oni’s removal. “They faced unrelenting pressure to partake in sharing the N3 billion pay-off, but they stuck to their guns,” revealed a source within the judiciary.
Adebara and Obande ultimately read a minority judgment. They ruled that the irregularities in the re-run governorship election were substantial enough to warrant withdrawal of the certificate of return from Mr. Segun Oni and the issuance of it to Fayemi as the legitimate governor of Ekiti State.
But the three judges who accepted the bribe and validated Oni’s election carried the day. The trio, who happen to come from the same part of the country, are Hamman Barka of Gombe State, Dikko from Nasarawa State and M.B. Goji from Adamawa State.
Our sources revealed that it was not the first time that Governor Danjuma Goje would play the role of linkman between an embattled PDP governor and Justice Barka. Our sources disclosed that Justice Barka had been a dependable ally of Governor Goje in the past when the judge was the chairman of the second elections petition tribunal in Osun State. “It was Goje who brokered the deal for Governor Oyinlola in the case of Jide Omoworare Vs Iyiola Omisore as well as several other National Assembly cases in Osun State involving the PDP,” said a source, adding “Justice Barka gave victory to Oyinlola after Governor Goje’s intervention.”
The Ibadan Division of the Federal Court of Appeal subsequently overturned several of the cases adjudicated by the particular tribunal headed by Barka, including Omisore’s senatorial election. The appellate justices often used harsh words in overturning Justice Barka’s rulings.
A source close to one of the judges on the Ekiti elections tribunal stated that, long after the panel had adopted a draft judgment that favored Fayemi, Justice Barka suddenly appeared before his colleagues on May 1, 2010 with a different draft judgment, already typed. “Some of the judges believe the new draft was prepared by an external legal consultant recruited by the PDP,” said the source, adding that the dissenting judges were disenchanted with the new draft. “It was completely at variance with the unanimous decision in favor of Fayemi that the five judges had adopted at their post-address conferences.”
Barka reportedly pleaded with all his colleagues to adopt the pro-Oni verdict. He told the other judges that he had “a special message” for them in the form of cash incentive from his Governor. “He started by promising each judge an incentive of N250 million and at the height of the negotiations he offered a bounty of N1billion each,” said our source. Saharareporters learned that Barka also told his colleagues that he feared that Governor Goje would plot to assassinate him if the tribunal failed to return Oni as governor of Ekiti State.
A labor leader in Ekiti, on learning of the huge bribe to the three judges, bemoaned the fact that Governor Oni owes three months salaries to state workers. “What Engineer Oni owes workers is almost the equivalent amount he paid to buy the governorship,” said the labor activist.
Our sources disclosed that, while two of the judges – Adebara and Obande – refused outright to exchange justice for personal profit, Justice M.B. Goji “prevaricated and wavered.” A source close to him explained that he had consistently maintained that the Action Congress and its candidate had a solid case and had proved all the allegations beyond reasonable doubt. Meanwhile, Justice Dikko, according to our sources, had already aligned with the tribunal’s chairman who was, however, desperate for one more judge to give a majority ruling in favor of Oni. “The negotiations for that third judge went on for the next two days until Chief Olusegun Obasanjo aborted a trip to Kumasi, Ghana to come to Ado-Ekiti on May 3rd to intervene,” said a source. Our sources revealed that it was after Obasanjo’s intervention that Justice Goji caved in to the nefarious plot, but his concurrence was still perceived as grudging.
A source within the tribunal told Saharareporters that, at a lengthy conference on the evening of May 4, a day before the delivery of their judgment, “Justice Goji changed sides once again to align with the original unanimous verdict for Fayemi.” The source added that Goji’s dramatic volte-face left Chairman Barka and Justice Dikko in the lurch. The new draft judgment was withdrawn at that stage and most of the judges argued for using the original consensus judgment. But instead of giving up, Barka increased the incentive he had offered and begged Goji to save him and his family members from Governor Goje’s assassination plots. “This emotional plea finally swayed Goji to the side of those who wanted to declare Oni the rightful winner,” said our source.
Saharareporters investigators found that, on the morning of the judgment, the judges held a final conference where pressure was then piled on Adebara and Obande to withdraw their insistence on reading the original consensus ruling as the minority verdict. The two judges refused all entreaties.
Our investigators, who spoke to sources in Abuja, Ado Ekiti, Abeokuta and Gombe, discovered that, prior to the events of the last four days, several PDP elements had tried other routes to influence the tribunal members. Abiodun Olujimi, who was the arrowhead of the PDP contact committee, and Segun Ilori, Governor Oni’s Man Friday in Abuja, had used huge cash incentives to recruit various people with access to the judges, but their efforts had hit a brick wall. They went to Ogere, Ogun State to change millions of naira into hard currency and then visited a contact in Ajao Estate who is supposedly close to a retiring Supreme Court Justice believed to be working on their behalf.
One source also said that Olujimi visited the new Attorney General Mohammed Adoke in the company of a fellow Minister to plead their case, but Saharareporters gathered that Adoke made it clear that it was the policy of the Jonathan administration not to interfere in judicial decisions.
Segun Oni’s emissaries then made a pitch to then Acting President Goodluck Jonathan, his National Security Adviser, Mohammed Gusau, and Gusau’s deputy, Kayode Are. They claimed that the Action Congress’ candidate would constitute a risk to national security, alleging that Fayemi was an intelligence operative for the CIA and the MI6. The security chiefs reportedly dismissed the claim and the Acting President insisted he was not going to get involved in the Ekiti matter, stating that the state had caused Nigeria enough embarrassment. However, a source close to Obasanjo revealed that the former president later convinced Jonathan that the loss of any state in the South West would be detrimental to any future plan of Jonathan’s to maintain political relevance in the politically charged region. Even so, it remained unclear whether Jonathan took any steps to help foster the plan to buy the judiciary for Oni.
It was only after Governor Goje got involved, at the instance of Obasanjo, that the plan to fraudulently sustain Oni in power acquired momentum and ultimate success.
An Abuja-based senior advocate of Nigeria, after reviewing the two judgments, told Saharareporters “Oni’s victory seems to me a pyrrhic one.” The lawyer noted that “the minority verdict was as sound as the majority was shallow and shameless,” adding that “the challenge remains to see how the Appeal Court can sustain such a weak majority judgment.”
Fayemi has said that he intends to appeal the judgment. A source told Saharareporters that Mr. Oni and his group are already making efforts to convince Justice Isa Salami, President of the Court of Appeal, to hand the case to pliable judges who would be open to corrupt inducement to retain Segun Oni at the Governor’s House. “Even if that were to be possible, the uphill task would be how an appellate bench is going to cover the gaping holes in Justice Barka’s majority decision,” said the SAN. He added: “If you read the text of the majority verdict, it’s hardly supported by any serious judicial doctrine and legal precedents. On the other hand, the minority judgment is cogent, logical and supported by extensive legal precedents.”
Two other lawyers, one in Abuja and one in Ibadan, also told Saharareporters that the new Appeal Court President is unlikely to hearken to desires of those whose mission “is to undermine the judiciary and subvert justice,” said one of them.
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