Olusegun Mimiko, the Ondo State governor, has broken his silence on the saga playing out at the Court of Appeal with Jimoh Ibrahim as a key action.
The statement signed by Eni Akinsola, the governor’s chief press secretary is reacting to the petition against justices of the Appeal Court by Jimoh Ibrahim and the self-professed chairman of the party’s faction in Ondo chapter, Biyi Poroye seeking to blackmail the justices who were hearing the matter concerning the Ondo governorship candidate of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, in the upcoming governorship elections.
Dr. Mimiko said the allegation of bribery was yet another effort to distract the judiciary and confuse the public by Jimoh Ibrahim and his agent, one Biyi Poroye.
“We have heard of the grave but specious allegation by one Biyi Poroye and Mr. Jimoh Ibrahim that Governor Mimiko openly boasted about offering, and or offered, bribe running into hundreds of millions of naira to some justices of the Appeal Court in respect of the cases before their Lordships on the 2016 election in Ondo State,” the e-mailed statement, delivered to The Trent on Thursday, November 3, 2016, said.
“We say, without any equivocation, that the governor did not offer bribe of any amount let alone boast of doing so to any justice of the Court of Appeal,” the statement said.
Biyi Poroye had in a petition to the Court of Appeal Panel on the Ondo case alleged that Governor Mimiko bribed the justices and boasted doing so.
The Ondo governor added that the allegation was an obvious lie which should ordinarily have been discountenanced but for the fact that now more than ever before lies and falsehood are believed more than the truth.
“With the prevalence of blackmail, propagation of lies and outright falsehood on the Ondo election, we hasten to say that this ungodly lie is what it is: a concoction from the pit of hell,” the statement reads.
Mimiko who welcomed the effort of the courts to investigate the allegation of bribery also hinted at taking steps to obtain legal redress against the lairs.
Justices Scandalised
On Tuesday, Justice Jummai Sankey-led panel disqualified itself from further presiding over the cases after the justices were blackmailed by Jimoh Ibrahim and Ali Modu Sheriff in a dehumanising petition against the Honourable Justice Sankey.
The Appeal Court panel, consequently, returned the files of all the five pending cases to the president of the Court of Appeal, citing a petition by Ali Modu Sheriff-led, a faction chairman of the PDP, and Poroye, accusing members of the panel of being compromised.
Specifically, Justice Sankey was branded as “poor” on the basis of her health challenges and as such, in the view of petitioner, she was also corrupt.
Lawyer Sacks Jimoh Ibrahim
In a related development, Alex Izinyon, a senior advocate of Nigeria, has withdrawn as the counsel representing controversial billionaire businessman, Jimoh Ibrahim in the on-going case involving the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, governorship candidate in the upcoming poll in Ondo.
The lawyer, who represents Biyi Poroye, the self-professed Ondo State chairman of Ali Modu Sheriff-led faction of PDP withdrew from the tension-soaked case at Appeal Court on Wednesday, November 2, 2016.
The SAN in a letter (obtained by The Trent) addressed to Ibrahim, said he was not aware of the offensive petition written against the three Appeal Court justices who had been assigned to hear the case and that he could no longer continue to represent Poroye and Ibrahim in the matter.
