[dropcap]V[/dropcap]anguard for Transparent Leadership and Democracy (VATLAD) Anti-corruption group has said that the onus is now on the Senators and members of House of Representatives, to prove the “Guilty Mind” of President Muhammadu Buhari in the emergency purchase of US military aircrafts.This is coming following the controversy which the reported failed by Buhari to seek National Assembly approval before purchasing the $496m super Tucano fighter jets and the subsequent call for impeachment of President Buhari had generated.

VATLAD’s National President, Comrade (Engr) Odafe Emmanuel Igbini, in a statement made available to Grassroot Publishers Online on Thursday said that relevant Section of the Constitution which the NASS members rely on to accuse President Buhari of committing breach cannot be given ordinary or literal meaning.He explained that the Section does not give ordinary meaning to the operative word “Gross Misconduct” which is the offence that must be necessary and sufficient ground for a President or Vice President of Nigeria to be removed from Office.

Igbini, an engineer by profession said that Mr Buhari may not have followed the due process of withdrawing money from the Excess Crude Account but such is not sufficient ground to consider impeachment insisting that “Gross Misconduct” is the offence that must be necessary and sufficient ground for a President or Vice President to be remove from office.

He argued that if President Buhari only offence is his failure to seek the NASS’s approval to spend from an illegal and unconstitutional Excess Crude Account (ECA), what if he had sought their approval and gotten same, would that have legitimise an illegal and unconstitutional Excess Crude Account (ECA)?

The statement read in part; “Section 143 of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution, as amended, that some respected Senators and Members of House of Representatives rely on to accuse President Buhari of committing breach of the Constitution and therefore guilty of impeachable offence (Gross Misconduct), cannot be given ordinary or literal meaning as these respected members of National Assembly want Nigerians to believe and accept. It is a fact that words don’t often convey true intentions.

“It is very instructive and imperative to remind Nigerians that the words of Section 143 of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution, as amended, cannot and must not be given an ordinary or literal meaning because even section 143(11) of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution, as amended, does not give ordinary meaning to the operative word “Gross Misconduct” which is the offence that must be necessary and sufficient ground for a President or Vice President of Nigeria to be removed from Office.

“Prima facie, President Buhari did not follow the due process of withdrawing money from the Excess Crude Account but such is not sufficient ground to consider impeachment of the President of Nigeria. This certainly is not the intention of the makers of our Constitution.

“We also know that we cannot put something on nothing and expect it to stand. Excess Crude Account is not known to Nigerian Constitution, therefore a crime cannot be committed for what does not exist in our law and punished by our law. I refer us to relevant Supreme Court Decisions.

“Section 143(11) of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution, as amended, further emphasised that “Gross Misconduct” be interpreted as “grave misconduct”. This implies that any offence alleged against any incumbent Nigerian President, Vice President, Governor or Deputy Governor must have very serious negative implication that affects the generality of the 200 million Nigerians or population of the State and not just to few Senators or members of the National Assembly or House of Assembly of a State.

“From all sincere interpretation, “grave or gross misconduct” as envisaged by the Constitution of Nigeria, is a crime that must have all the elements of criminal offence, particularly the “Guilty Mind’ (Mens Rea) of the accused person that must be proved beyond reasonable doubt. It is the law that an accused person is not guilty of an alleged criminal offence unless the three elements of crime which include Mens Rea (guilty mind) must exist simultaneously and have been proved beyond reasonable doubt before a competent Court of Law or Jury, lawfully established.

“The onus is now on the Senators and members of Representatives, to prove the “Guilty Mind” of President Buhari in the emergency purchase of these US military aircrafts that 200 million Nigerians urgently needed and need to destroy the terrorists that are daily violating the territorial integrity of Nigeria, to kill and massacre Nigerians, almost on daily basis.

He said that the Nigeria government was already at war with external and internal forces and so must use every available resources to wage the war and win it.

“There is no doubt that these Terrorists have declared full scale military war against our country, Nigeria. We are at War, no Nigerian in good conscience should deny this bitter fact.

“No Nigerian whose family member has been slaughtered, shot, butchered and bombed by these Terrorists in Benue, Borno, Nasarawa, Delta, Enugu, Kaduna, Adamawa, Ekiti and others States would not support the decision of President Buhari on this matter. Anything done to secure their lives, it just, lawful and constitutional. They who felt and feel it, know it better.

“Is it not a fact that the President Buhari on several occasions invited and met with the Leadership of this National Assembly where they all agreed on the urgency to purchase military equipment for our Armed Forces? Is it not a fact that this National Assembly agreed and approved that these military aircrafts be bought from the United States of America after years of embargo by the US?

“The Senators and members of House of Representatives must also prove to Nigerians that the money withdrawn for the purpose of the purchase of these aircrafts have been misappropriated or looted.

“This is the only evidence that will provoke 200 million Nigerians to demand the impeachment of President Buhari.

“Recall that on April 25, 2018, I advised our Distinguished Senators and Hon. members of House of Representatives against this impeachment plan. I stated that it is imperative to remind members of the National Assembly that by provision of section 217(2), the National Assembly, through its (NASS) Act must adequately and effectively equip and maintain our Armed Forces to defend Nigeria from external aggressions as we have sadly been experiencing for years now.

“President Buhari (Chief Security Officer of Nigeria) has said it loud and clear, that these terrorists are not Nigerians but men well trained by former Libya Leader, Gaddafi, before his unexpected death.

“It is a fact known to all that Libya, under Gaddafi, had the best trained and equipped officers and men of Armed Forces in Africa. Most of these Libyan Officers and men are the terrorists invading our country, today.

“It is also a fact that officers and men of the Nigerian Armed Forces deployed to defend Nigeria from these external aggressors (terrorists) are not adequately and effectively equipped thereby exposing them to their enemies to be killed.

“Our officers and men should not be sent on suicide missions rather they should be deployed and adequately equipped to defend our country and return back safely and gallantly.

“In addition, while I agree and encourage the National Assembly to courageously and patriotically commence process of impeachment against any President of Nigeria, if allegation of “gross misconduct” is lawfully made, I however hold so strongly that this decision taken by President Buhari does not in any interpretation amount to ‘gross misconduct” moreso that President Buhari has now officially informed and sought the consideration and approval of the National Assembly to regularise the purchase.

“Instead of focusing on impeachment proceeding against President Buhari for allegedly not first obtaining formal approval of the National Assembly before authorising such withdrawal of money, the National Assembly should immediately commence investigation of the purchase of these aircrafts with a view to ascertaining whether they are worth the amounts paid or not.

“The Government of United States of America should be invited and interrogated since the aircrafts are reported to have been sold by the US. Sections 88 and 89 of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution, as amended, imposes the duty to expose corruption and fraud on the National Assembly with a view to avoiding another $2.1b Arms scandal now being investigated by the Federal Government of Nigeria”.

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he Lagos State High Court in Ikeja on Monday sentenced a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Dr. Joseph Nwobike, to one month’s imprisonment for attempting to pervert the course of justice.The court convicted Nwobike of 12 counts bordering on the offence, sentenced him to one month’s imprisonment on each of the 12 counts but said the sentences would run concurrently.

Justice Raliat Adebiyi, who pronounced the verdict, said the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission proved beyond reasonable doubts that the SAN was in constant communication with court officials to influence the assignment of his cases to his preferred judges.The EFCC first arraigned Nwobike on five counts on March 9, 2016 but the charge was amended on two different occasions with the prosecution eventually increasing the counts to 18.

In the charges, the EFCC accused the SAN of offering monetary gratification to judges of the Federal High Court to influence them to give judgments in his favour.For example, he was accused of giving N750,000 to Justice Mohammed Yunusa, while he had cases pending before the judge.

Nwobike was also accused of having constant communication, through text messages, with the registrar of Justice Musa Kurya, Mrs. Helen Ogunleye, alleging that the SAN, on one occasion, gave an envelope, believed to be containing money, to Ogunleye to give to the judge, and followed up with a message that the registrar should tell “him to discharge the order.”

The EFCC said Nwobike gave Ogunleye the sum of N250,000 on the same day, for her brother who secured an admission to study medicine in a US university.

Nwobike was also accused of having constant communication with a clerk of the Federal High Court, one Mr. Jide, instructing him to ensure that his cases were assigned to specific judges, especially Justice Yunusa.

In her judgment, Justice Adebiyi said though it was established that Nwobike truly gave N750,000 to Justice Yunusa, the anti-graft agency failed to prove the intent behind the money, since Nwobike claimed that it was to assist the judge whose mother had a kidney problem and needed to undergo dialysis.But the judge said the EFCC was able to prove beyond reasonable doubts that Nwobike attempted to pervert the course of justice by influencing the judges to whom his cases would be assigned.

Though the judge agreed with the defence counsel that cases were only assigned by the administrative judge, she said it was obvious that Jide was influential as seven out of the 11 times that Nwobike asked him to ensure his cases were assigned to Justice Yunusa, the cases ended up in Justice Yunusa’s docket.Justice Adebiyi noted that all the rulings in a particular case filed by Nwobike before Justice Yunusa went in Nwobike’s favour.

“Could this be a coincidence or excellent cases? The question begs for an answer,” Justice Adebiyi said.

The judge rejected Nwobike’s claim that the text message he sent to Justice Musa Kurya’s registrar, Ogunleye, reading “tell him to discharge the order,” was sent in error.

“The defendant, under cross-examination, said the text was sent in error; this testimony of the defendant is unbelievable and illogical, especially in the light of the response of Mrs. Ogunleye of that day. However, it is not for the court to speculate.“The evidence against the defendant is damning. The defendant, a senior member of member of the Bar, sent various text messages as streamed in Exhibit P21, to a registrar of the Federal High Court.

“The defendant had also admitted to giving PW5 (Ogunleye) a sum of N250,000 as acknowledged by her and also gave an envelope to PW5 to give to her boss, honourable Justice Kurya, whom he described as ‘him.’ PW5 did not deny that she delivered the envelope but feigned ignorant of the content of same.

“…The behaviour of the defendant, a senior member of the Bar, is also highly unbecoming. From the evidence, the defendant was clearly in the habit of sending money to Mrs. Ogunleye to ensure she was responsive to his requests.”

Pronouncing Nwobike guilty of attempts to pervert the course of justice, the judge held, “The court found that the prosecution was able to prove beyond reasonable doubts that the defendant, by paying the sum of N750,000 into the account of Honourable Justice Yunusa on the 19th of March, 2015, attempted to pervert the course of justice.

“…In conclusion, the defendant, Dr. Joseph Nwobike (SAN), is found not guilty of the offence of offering gratification to public officials, contrary to Section 44(1) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State No. 11, 2011; he is accordingly discharged and acquitted on counts one and two.

“The defendant is also found not guilty of counts four, five and six, attempting to pervert the course of justice contrary to Section 97(3) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State No. 11, 2011 and he is discharged and acquitted on the same counts.

“The defendant is also found not guilty on count 18 – making false information to an officer of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, contrary to Section 49(2) the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (Establishment) Act, 2004 and he is hereby discharged and acquitted on the same count.

“The defendant is found guilty and convicted of attempting to pervert the course of justice contrary to Section 97(3) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State No. 11 of 2011 on counts 3, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17.”

In his allocutus, the defence counsel, Mr. Wale Akoni (SAN), pleaded with Justice Adebiyi to temper justice with mercy, urging the judge to note that Nwobike was a first-time offender and a senior member of the Bar, whose law firm had many lawyers in its employ.

Reacting, the prosecutor, Oyedepo, said the EFCC had no record of any previous crime by Nwobike, but he noted that Section 97(3) under which the SAN was convicted attracted a minimum of two years’ imprisonment.

He urged the judge to impose the prison term “so that it this will serve as a deterrent to young lawyers like myself, the Senior Advocates and other senior members of the Bar.”But Akoni argued that the kind of sentence to impose was subject to the judge’s discretion.

The judge rose for a while and upon her return said Nwobike’s culpability was high, adding that a custodian sentence rather than a fine what was required to serve as a deterrent to other lawyers.

She sentenced him to 30 days’ imprisonment on each of the 12 counts but said the sentences would run concurrently.