Court prosecutor tendered marked CDs of Nwobike offering bribe to court officials
The ongoing trial of Joseph Nwobike, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, before Justice Raliat Adebiyi of the Lagos State High Court
sitting in Ikeja continued Friday July 21, 2017, with the prosecution confronting him with various text messages he sent to a court official in order to influence the cases he was handling.
Nwobike is being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on 11 counts bordering on perverting the court of justice and offering gratification to public officials.
One of the counts reads: “That you Nwobike, on the 19th day of March, 2015 in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, intentionally gave the sum of N750, 000 to Hon. Justice Mohammed Nasir Yunusa of the Federal High Court directly through your United Bank for Africa Plc Account No.1002664061 in order that the said Judge acts in the exercise of his official duties.
Another count reads: “That on the 28th day of September, 2015 in Lagos within the jurisdiction, you intentionally gave the sum of N300, 000 to Hon. Justice Mohammed Nasir Yunusa of the Federal High Court indirectly through Awa Ajia Nigeria Limited’s account No. 0000971931 domiciled in Access Bank Plc, belonging to Hon. Justice Nganjiwa Hyeladzira Ajiya of the Federal High Court, in order that the Hon. Justice Mohammed Nasir Yunusa acts in the exercise of his official duties.”
At the resumed hearing today, the prosecution counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo, tendered a compact disc marked exhibit P21 containing text messages from Nwobike’s mobile phone to a court official.
In the compact disk, which was played on a projector mounted within the court room, Oyedepo told the court how Nwobike had sent text messages, at various times, to one Jide, a Deputy Registrar with the Federal High Court, Lagos.
He told the court that Nwobike admitted to have received and read a message from Jide on September 23, 2014, saying, “Kuya may not resume yet”.
Oyedepo also told the court that Nwobike admitted to have sent another text message to Mr. Jide, saying, “Suit No FHC/L/CS/1133/2014: (1) Dana Group of Companies Plc (2) Dana Drugs Ltd (3) Dana Impex Ltd Vs (1) Sterling Bank Plc (2) Mr. Kunle Ogunba, SAN (3) Corporate Affairs Commission (4) Chief Registrar of Tiles, Lagos State.
IDRIS”
In his response, Nwobike claimed that he knew Jide works at the Federal High Court in administrative capacity.
Nwobike also confirmed that though he had appeared before Justice Kuya, he has never seen Jide call cases in his( Kuya) court.
