LAGOS JULY 30TH (URHOBOTODAY)-Contrary to speculations from certain quarters that the disgraced and sacked acting chief judge of The Gambia and Delta State-born jurist, Mr. Joseph Wowo, was sent to country by the National judicial Council (NJC) on secondment, the apex judicial body has disassociated itself from the scandal.
A director in the NJC, who spoke with LEADERSHIP on condition of anonymity, said Wowo was not on its payroll, nor was he at anytime a judicial officer in Nigeria, noting that the bribery scandal news came to the NJC as a surprise just like any other Nigerian.
The source also confirmed that the NJC could react to the scandal, and neither will it take any disciplinary measure against the disgraced judge.
“Wowo was at no time sent by the NJC to The Gambia. He was a practising lawyer in that country and decided to join their bench. We do not know him and he is not paid by the Nigerian government,” the source said.
LEADERSHIP also confirmed that the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Mariam Aloma Mukhtar, who is also the chair of the NJC, is currently on vacation and cannot comment on the scandal either.
Wowo, who hails from Delta State, was a former President of The Gambian Court of Appeal and acting chief judge of the country before he was sacked for soliciting a N2.3 million bribe from a Gambian-based Dutch businessman in return for a favourable judgement in a land dispute case.
Reports claimed that the disgraced CJ was caught on tape holding a surreptitious meeting with the former Gambian Justice Minister, Lamin Jobarteh (who has also been sacked), a Dutch national, André Klaarbergen, and his Nigerian lawyer simply identified as Mene, and negotiating a price to subvert the judgement of a Gambian High Court over a land dispute case, which Mr. Wowo agrees the Dutch rightly lost.
“How much are you willing to offer first so that we can negotiate,” Wowo was heard saying on tape, now posted on Youtube. “You know my position; I’m the President of the Court of Appeal and now I’m acting Chief Justice,”
“I’ve read your file at the Court of Appeal, (and) you will lose. That is why I called your lawyer and said let us see how we can help you,” he said, confirming that the lower court had made the right call in the case.”
LEADERSHIP