The attention of Mr Umana Okon Umana, Akwa Ibom APC governorship candidate
in the 2015 election has been drawn to a letter purportedly written by
Justice Inyang Okoro and addressed to the Honourable Chief Justice of
Nigeria. In the said letter, Justice Okoro alleged without evidence that
Umana visited his residence (Justice Okoro’s) and made a “request to help
him win his appeal before the Supreme Court.”
We would like to respond to Justice Okoro’s baseless allegation as follows:
1) The meeting Justice Okoro is reporting is fiction. No such meeting to
discuss how to bribe judges took place between him, Mr Umana Okon Umana
and Dr (Pastor) Ebebe Ukpong as alleged.
2) If we assume, without conceding, that such a meeting took place, for a
man of Justice Okoro’s standing and knowledge of the law, he ought to have
known the legal implications of such a visit, and should have reported it
to appropriate authorities immediately. He did not do that, but he is only
reacting after the authorities have established a case against him.
3) Justice Okoro’s claim in his purported letter to the Hon. Chief Justice
of Nigeria is therefore not only false, it is diversionary and an
afterthought.
4) Justice Okoro should address himself to the facts of the case, which is
between him and the State, and leave Umana out of it
5) Contrary to Justice Okoro’s claim, Umana had no appeal before the
Supreme Court arising from any court judgment on the 2015 governorship
election in Akwa Ibom State. Umana had won at the Court of Appeal and
therefore was not and couldn’t have been an appellant at the Supreme
Court. Umana had won both at the tribunal and at the Court of Appeal. He
was therefore confident of victory at the Supreme Court because of the
concurrent judgments of the lower courts.
6) It would be recalled that after the Supreme Court judgment, which
ignored the concurrent judgments of both the tribunal and the Court of
Appeal, and also totally disregarded the reports of the international
observers, including those of the United States Government and the
European Union that had adjudged the elections in Akwa Ibom and Rivers
states were marred by widespread violence and irregularities, Umana had
issued a statement expressing disappointment at the verdict and said he
had moved on and left everything in the hands of God. He should therefore
be left alone.
Signed:
Iboro Otongaran
Media Adviser to
Umana Okon Umana