Former Governor of Ekiti State and National Vice-Chairman
(South-West) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Segun Oni, has told
an Oyo State High Court in Ibadan, Oyo State, that his petition to the National
Judicial Council (NJC) and the Presidency on the telephone interactions among
the suspended Court of Appeal President, Justice Isa Ayo Salami, Action
Congress of Nigeria (ACN) leaders and lawyers was borne out of his patriotic
duty to report judicial indiscretions to the rightful authorities.
Oni stated that it was the unethical behaviours, which he noticed in Salami’s conduct in the handling of the appeal of the candidate of the ACN, Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State, against him that informed his petition to the NJC, upon which, along with other unethical conduct, made the body to recommend Salami's suspension to President Goodluck Jonathan, which recommendation the President upheld.
Oni, in his Statement of Defence filed before the court against a libel suit by Chief Niyi Akintola (SAN) against him over his petition to NJC on Salami's telephone interaction with some ACN lawyers and chieftains during the pendency of the Ekiti State Election Petitions Tribunal, stated that his investigation established a proven uncontroverted evidence of telephone contacts (both voice and text messages) among Salami, some ACN chieftains and their counsel.
In the statement of defence filed through his counsel, Gani Faniyi, Oni maintained that as a responsible Nigerian citizen, whose duty it is to assist in the maintenance of justice and good governance, he petitioned NJC, a body empowered by the Constitution, to investigate and discipline erring judicial officers.
Oni also stated further that in the exercise of his constitutional rights, he forwarded and communicated same petition to Jonathan.
He said: "Indeed, the GSM telephone number 08037643770 of Chief Niyi Akintola (SAN), a leading member of the ACN battery/team of senior counsel, was located and cited among others in the call logs provided by MTN Communications Company to security agencies, as one of the calls to Hon. Justice Ayo Salami during the pendency of the Appeal of the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN before a Panel of the Court of Appeal, presided over by Hon. Justice Ayo Salami."
He said Akintola was counsel to the PDP candidate in Ondo State and former governor, Dr. Olusegun Agagu, in the Gubernatorial Tribunal/Appeal contest of 2007, whose legal duty it was to defend the electoral victory of the PDP and it's candidate, Agagu against his opponent of the Labour Party (LP), Dr Olusegun Mimiko.
Oni averred that he considered it uncharitable and unprofessional for Akintola, who was briefed, paid and indeed defended the election of PDP governorship candidate in Ondo State before the tribunal to later turn around to claim in a newspaper interview that the PDP never won election in the South-West.
He said the inference and conclusion that was drawn from the position and statements of the claimant on the 2007 governorship contest in which he participated and acted as counsel that defended the victory of the candidate of the PDP, was that his client, Dr. Olusegun Agagu/PDP, rigged the election in which he was declared winner, since according to the claimant, the PDP did not win the election.
"Not yet done with his usual castigation of the PDP in the South-West, especially on the 2007 governorship elections, in which the claimant acted for and defended the PDP's Ondo governorship contest, he, as usual, upbraided the PDP in yet another vitriolic interview contained, in a full page of The Nation newspaper edition of Saturday, May 11, 2011, threw caution to the winds in the denigration of the first Defendant’s Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to an extent that his interviewer, one Lekan Salaudeen, who must have been startled at his vituperations, referred to him as a fiery Ibadan-based lawyer," Oni maintained.
Oni stated that it was the unethical behaviours, which he noticed in Salami’s conduct in the handling of the appeal of the candidate of the ACN, Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State, against him that informed his petition to the NJC, upon which, along with other unethical conduct, made the body to recommend Salami's suspension to President Goodluck Jonathan, which recommendation the President upheld.
Oni, in his Statement of Defence filed before the court against a libel suit by Chief Niyi Akintola (SAN) against him over his petition to NJC on Salami's telephone interaction with some ACN lawyers and chieftains during the pendency of the Ekiti State Election Petitions Tribunal, stated that his investigation established a proven uncontroverted evidence of telephone contacts (both voice and text messages) among Salami, some ACN chieftains and their counsel.
In the statement of defence filed through his counsel, Gani Faniyi, Oni maintained that as a responsible Nigerian citizen, whose duty it is to assist in the maintenance of justice and good governance, he petitioned NJC, a body empowered by the Constitution, to investigate and discipline erring judicial officers.
Oni also stated further that in the exercise of his constitutional rights, he forwarded and communicated same petition to Jonathan.
He said: "Indeed, the GSM telephone number 08037643770 of Chief Niyi Akintola (SAN), a leading member of the ACN battery/team of senior counsel, was located and cited among others in the call logs provided by MTN Communications Company to security agencies, as one of the calls to Hon. Justice Ayo Salami during the pendency of the Appeal of the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN before a Panel of the Court of Appeal, presided over by Hon. Justice Ayo Salami."
He said Akintola was counsel to the PDP candidate in Ondo State and former governor, Dr. Olusegun Agagu, in the Gubernatorial Tribunal/Appeal contest of 2007, whose legal duty it was to defend the electoral victory of the PDP and it's candidate, Agagu against his opponent of the Labour Party (LP), Dr Olusegun Mimiko.
Oni averred that he considered it uncharitable and unprofessional for Akintola, who was briefed, paid and indeed defended the election of PDP governorship candidate in Ondo State before the tribunal to later turn around to claim in a newspaper interview that the PDP never won election in the South-West.
He said the inference and conclusion that was drawn from the position and statements of the claimant on the 2007 governorship contest in which he participated and acted as counsel that defended the victory of the candidate of the PDP, was that his client, Dr. Olusegun Agagu/PDP, rigged the election in which he was declared winner, since according to the claimant, the PDP did not win the election.
"Not yet done with his usual castigation of the PDP in the South-West, especially on the 2007 governorship elections, in which the claimant acted for and defended the PDP's Ondo governorship contest, he, as usual, upbraided the PDP in yet another vitriolic interview contained, in a full page of The Nation newspaper edition of Saturday, May 11, 2011, threw caution to the winds in the denigration of the first Defendant’s Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to an extent that his interviewer, one Lekan Salaudeen, who must have been startled at his vituperations, referred to him as a fiery Ibadan-based lawyer," Oni maintained.
The Compass
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