EXCLUSIVE: Fresh Twists over Suswan’s certificate scandal saga as CJN indicts judge, Akume f#ingered

LEGISREPORTS NG – The case of certificate forgery involving Governor Gabriel Suswam of Benue State has taken another dimension as a magistrate court judge, Hafsat Soso, has been reportedly indicted by a panel set up by the office of the Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN.

Yet another twist to the matter is that an associate of Mr. Suswam (whose name we will not give for now) has been involved in an attempt to coerce the defendant in the certificate forgery case, Mr. Chidozie Ukpabi, into naming Senator George Akume as the brain behind the governor’s certificate scandal.

LEGISREPORTS findings show that the court judge was not only indicted by an investigative panel, but has since been removed from the bench, a decision, it was learnt was fully sanctioned by the incumbent Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Mrs. Muktar Aloma.

This decision brings the certificate scandal around Suswam to a head after more than three years since it first broke into the open.

It was learnt that a committee ordered to be set up by the former CJN, Dahiru Musdapher, had investigated a complaint by a lawyer, Mr. Alex Oketa, who is counsel to Ukpabi who is in court over allegations of forgery preferred against him by Governor Suswam.

The panel that sat had Gandi Umar Muhammed, a director of Admininistration under the High Court of the FCT with six other members. These are Uche bilikisu, director, litigation, David Ochimana, director, Magistrate, Ramatu Gulma, chief Magistrate, Azubuike Okeagu, chief magistrate (II), RN Raji, assistant Director, Administration secretary I and Ogboi Anthony, chief magistrate (II).

The panel sat last year in May at the High Court Complex, Maitama in Abuja.

According to minutes of meeting of the panel, Soso “meddled in the case before her in a way unbecoming of her profession,” the panel also stated that the conduct was “unethical.”

As a result, the panel recommended among other things that the respondent be “transferred from the bench to the litigation [or] be demoted by one grade level [from Grade level 15 to 14].

The panel also stated that it reached the conclusion based on previous complaints about Soso which they described as “incessant.”

However, diligent investigation also shows that Soso may have been dismissed from the Bench, according to a source in the office of the CJN, Soso’s undoing essentially had to do with the letter from the CJN compelling him to look into the petition against Soso.

In a memo dated 3, May 2012, Mercy U Nkwocha, secretary to the CJN (then Musdapher) had directed the petition to Justice LH Gunmi, chief judge of the FCT’s attention.

According to our source, Gunmi is believed to have been under intense pressure to probe Soso, long before Oketa’s petition arrived.

The governor, via a first information report made to the Magistrate Court in the FCT had accused Ukpabi of defaming him after claiming that he, while under the employ of the West African Examination Council (WAEC) had helped the governor obtained a forged O/level result that reflected a pass in English and Mathematics.

Ukpabi and publishers of the allegation were taken to court over the matter as the Benue State chief executive filed a case of criminal proceedings against Ukpabi.

However, in the petition by Oketa, the governor, allegedly, had sought to influence both the police and the court to not only get a favourable verdict on the matter but find a way to turn the case against perceived political enemies.

For instance, Magistrate Soso, as alleged by Oketa, had influenced the change of name of the case to reflect “COP vs Power Steering and 3 ors” instead of the original name of “Hon. Gabriel Suswam vs. Power Steering (magazine) & 3 others.”

The judge, according to the complaint, had changed the title of the case without the legal procedure of allowing defendants to agree or disagree on the matter. The reason behind the move, according to findings, was to insulate the governor as much as possible from the proceedings.

According to minutes of the meeting of the judicial panel, copy of which was made available to LEGISREPORTS, Soso, a magistrate court Judge in the FCT had called Ukpabi to accept overtures from the unnamed Suswam’s associate.

Part of the deal was for Ukpabi to cause to be published a disclaimer stating that Suswam never forged any certificate but rather, he was put up to the scheme by Senator Akume, Suswam’s political opponent in Benue State.

In exchange, the judge was said to have promised to free Ukpabi, among other benefits he would receive directly from Gabriel Suswam through his associate.

This report was prepared by our special investigations unit