Oyinlola and Oni , Ex-S’Court justices testify against CJN

The National Judicial Council (NJC) probing the allegations levelled against the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Ayo Salami, was yesterday told that the call logs presented by former governors of Ekiti State, Segun Oni and Olagunsoye Oyinlola of Osun State were fake.  The Mobile Telecommunication Network (MTN) and the Office of the National Security Adviser (NSA) yesterday took turns before the Justice Umaru Abdullahi-led panel probing the rot in the judiciary to disown the call logs produced by the two ex-governors of Osun and Ekiti states to establish that Justice Salami and some justices of his court were financiallyinduced to award victory to the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in the state governorship appeals. The call logs were the only vital evidence which former Governors Oni and Oyinlola and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Osun State chapter, depended on to nail the jurist before the panel and to end his judicial career. The two ex-governors had claimed that they sourced part of the call logs from MTN through the Office of the NSA, the claim which was not only disowned but was also described as phoney.

It was also insinuated yesterday that the call logs were criminally-manufactured to blackmail the jurists. A reliable source who was at the sitting of the NJC panel yesterday disclosed to National Mirror that MTN specifically told the panel that the call logs allegedly detailing conversations of the Appeal Court President and other justices with politicians already admitted in evidence were cooked up. MTN had reportedly discredited the exhibit by saying that it was not signed, dated nor stamped, adding that if it were to have emanated from the organisation, it would have carried all those marks.

Besides, MTN had reportedly told the panel yesterday that call logs were sensitive documents that are not released to just anybody except the subscribers who made such calls or security agencies upon formal request and that none regarding the jurists were requested from it. The telecommunication firm said that even when it is to be given out; it reportedly told the panel that it usually gives such information out through the use of flash drive with the hard copy of the materials therein. Both former governors however had no such flash drive to prove that it emanated from MTN.

The Office of the NSA yesterday also corroborated the evidence of MTN before the panel, saying that the call logs were not genuine. Salami had kicked against the call logs being tendered as exhibit by the two ex-governors who were fighting him, insisting that only the NSA that allegedly recovered the call logs could tender them as exhibits. He was said to have challenged the authority that sent one Onyia brought by them to testify at the panel. It would be recalled that Justice Salami had, last week, invited an IT expert, Mr. Usman Sharrif, before the panel to demonstrate how call logs could be forged.

The proceedings of the panel during which the demonstration was done had lasted nine hours with Sharif using the mobile phone number of Justice Abdullahi to call the mobile number of Justice Emmanuel Ayoola to the amazement of everybody present at the sitting. The accusers and members of the panel who were like doubting Thomases had reportedly asked the IT expert to use the mobile phone number of another person to call another person present at the sitting which he also did to their amazement. The IT expert who was trying to establish the claim by Justice Salami that his mobile phone number was cloned to call numbers of politicians also explained that those who usually engage in the habit can use the practice to destroy marriages, cause confusion between two friends and blackmail anybody.

He had reportedly explained to the panel that apart from cloning, there was another one called “scoofing’ which could be used to send text messages using a cloned mobile number. Justice Salami, it would be recalled, had, 48 hours ago subpoenaed three former justices of both the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal who are all members of NJC to testify in his favour to the effect that the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Aloysius Katsina-Alu compromised his oath of office by interfering in the proceedings of the Court of Appeal in the Sokoto gubernatorial case. Subpoenaed were the octogenarian Justice Bolarinwa Babalakin and Justice Anthony Iguh, both retired justices of the Supreme Court and the former President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Mustapha Akanbi. The jurists did not hide their feelings about what the CJN said to the effect that he never interferred in the proceedings of the Court of Appeal in the Sokoto matter or engaged in professional misconduct.

They said they were on the earlier committee set up by NJC to probe the allegation of professional misconduct made against Salami and the CJN and that they had already found out that the Justice Katsina- Alu was wrong. They said they were surprised that Justice Emmanuel Ayoola, a former Justice of the Supreme Court who was on the committee that indicted the CJN, could sit on the Justice Abdullahi-panel when he was a party to the earlier findings which indicted the CJN. Katsina-Alu, who was ordered to be present at the sitting of the panel yesterday, was said to have travelled out of the country and was conspicuously absent. A source said that his absence was deliberate and that he knowingly gave an excuse to avoid the embarrassment which his senior colleagues who are now retired caused him at the panel. The retired jurists however tendered the report of their panel which allegedly found the Justice Katsina- Alu guilty of professional misconduct.

The said report of the committee of the NJC dated March 8, 2010, contained its findings on the investigation of two petitions written by Yahaya Mahmood of Arewa Chambers Kaduna and Mr. Alfred N Agu of Renaissance Practitioners, Abuja, against Justice Salami and the Justices of the Court of Appeal who sat on the appeal arising from the verdict of the Sokoto gubernatorial election dispute. In the report of the NJC panel headed by Justice Bolarinwa Babalakin, it had held “the Committee finds that the Hon Chief Justice of Nigeria as the Chairman of the National Judicial Council (NJC) has no power to interfere with any proceedings in any court as was done in this case.” Justice Iguh was quoted by a source at the sitting that “this issue is not about Katsina-Alu or Justice salami. It is about Nigerian and the Nigerian judiciary.

“It is unfortunate that you, Justice Ayoola, are sitting down there over a matter which NJC has set up a committee which you are a member in which we indicted the CJN before we later reconciled them,” he was quoted to have attacked Justice Ayoola at the sitting of the panel Former President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Akanbi, was also said to have worsened the situation when he allegedly said “I’m not comfortable sitting here. we are here because of the respect we have for Justice Umaru Abdullahi.” Justice Akanbi who later reportedly decried the entire proceedings as a waste of time said he was irritated that a matter that had been closed with blame apportioned could be brought up in the manner it was being handled. A team of five Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs) led by Chief Lateef Fagbemi yesterday did not waste time to close the case of Justice Salami with avalanche of testimonies and evidences allegedly indicting the CJN. He had said that though they still had more witnesses but that enough was enough. Justice Salami’s legal team is expected to submit a written address to the panel to enable it enter a well considered findings. The panel will continue sitting only if the CJN has any evidence to give before the panel.
                                                                                 http://nationalmirroronline.net/news/13924.html

I'm no legal expert, but shouldn't there be some sort of penalty against Oni and Oyinlola for presenting fake evidence in court?

Isn't that perjury?

ekt_bear:

I'm no legal expert, but shouldn't there be some sort of penalty against Oni and Oyinlola for presenting fake evidence in court?

Isn't that perjury?

The government or Tinubu will have to press charges before they will be indicted.

ekt_bear:

I'm no legal expert, but shouldn't there be some sort of penalty against Oni and Oyinlola for presenting fake evidence in court?

Isn't that perjury?

They can not go scot free. ACN and the lawyers this ediots try to malign are already in court

This is why they have been shouting all over the place about that article on Awolowo, the truth will always come out no matter what, the SW will be delivered from the hands of blood suckers,

These PDP 419 clowns sef, lol

ACN just dey take them mop floor all over the place,

Wow, that's a technical knock out!

A Tinubu titled thread with just 7 posts? This is very weird. Just imagine if the title read guilty instead of vindication, the clowns and haters go don flood the thread with their mindless trash.

^-- Good point. Why isn't this on the front page?

Two ex-governors accusing another one of bribing judges, and it turns out that they submitted false evidence?

Where are the usual haters at and why are they so silent?

I have always known it will be this way!!!!
Bunch of Liars,

Nice victory for Tinubu.
While i'm not a big fan of his, you can't deny his influence and brilliance.
Unfortunatley there are so many Tinubu haters that you wonder if he's their every waking thought.
Good one for ACN, just hope they stay the task and give the people good governance.
When is this making the home page anyway?

Nice one!!!
PDP think say we dey play.

They are goners, Oyinlola and Oni are so kirikiri bound!

^^
They've gone into extinction. Lol

ekt_bear:

I'm no legal expert, but shouldn't there be some sort of penalty against Oni and Oyinlola for presenting fake evidence in court?

Isn't that perjury?

It is perjury but you can bet your arse that nothing would happen to them. Nigeria is a useless country

nah who go defeat ASIWAJU?

This Tinubu's time, both oni & oyinlola are EXPIRED!!!!!!!

I want to believe that the Tribune and the anti Tinubu crew would come here ssoon

These guys Oni and Oyinlola ought to cover there face because they are shameless being ehy wont they be presenting fake evidence in court.
I wonder what legacy they want to leave behind, what they want the world to keep remembering them for? or there pikin and grand pikin

ekt_bear:

I'm no legal expert, but shouldn't there be some sort of penalty against Oni and Oyinlola for presenting fake evidence in court?

Isn't that perjury?

It is not only perjury; it is also fraud!

Its a shame. A huge shame

Maybe i'm wrong bt was it nt this cjn dt hurriedly swore himself in?

And the losers are zstranger, beaf, 2mch, chz, ezeuche, ak47man, dede1, onlytruth, justwise and finally Zstranger(AKA Akobi Tewonde George)

Which one do we believe now? There is another report that contradicts this. Please check the part highlighted in bold.


www.tribune.com.ng/, /23374-njc-probe-mtn-counters-salami-says-our- system-cant-be-hacked-into-panel-concludes-hearings-on-petitions

NJC PROBE: MTN counters Salami •Says our system can’t be hacked into •Panel concludes hearings on petitions

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Written by Lanre Adewole, Abuja Friday, 10 June 2011

CURTAINS were drawn on hearings in petitions arising from the Ekiti and Osun state governorship appeals on Thursday, with telecommunications giant, MTN Nigeria, reportedly telling the five-man National Judicial Council (NJC) probe panel that its system was impregnable to hackers conducting illegal activities.

MTN’s Senior Manager, Commercial Legal, in the Corporate Affairs Division, Mr Rotimi Odusola, who incidentally was a witness of the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Ayo Isa Salami, was said to have contradicted Salami’s claim that his MTN mobile line was hacked to call chieftains of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) before, during and after the controversial judgments in the two states.

Salami brought before the panel his court’s Head of Information Communication Technology (ICT), Mr Sheriff Usman, penultimate Wednesday, who reportedly testified that the hacking process possibly used against Salami was “spoofing.”

Spoofing is the practice of causing a telephone network to display a number on the recipient’s phone which is not that of the actual caller.

It is an authorised way of using a subscriber’s line illegally.

Salami, while not denying the conversation with the ACN chieftains, was said to have defended the usage of his MTN line with the spoofing theory, culminating in his invitation of the MTN official to prove that the telecommunications firm was not fool-proof.

Former Governors Olagunsoye Oyinlola of Osun State and Segun Oni of Ekiti State had accused Salami of engaging in unholy conversation in the course of determining governorship appeals in the two states.

Odusola, however, reportedly contradicted Salami by saying “hacking is not possible in our system.”
The MTN manager was also said to have been made to read The Nation newspaper of February 26, 2011 tendered by Salami, in which the telecoms company confirmed that it was not possible to hack into its system.

Confirming the release of the call logs in respect of the case at hand to the National Security Adviser (NSA), the MTN boss, who reportedly said call logs from the organisation were always released on demand, added that such was always released in hard copies, through email or in flash drives to security agencies or to the individual subscribers.

A source privy to the proceedings quoted him as saying “we print the CDR (logs). The exception is we sometime released electronically and through flash drives to the subscribers, police, SSS and EFCC.”

Under cross-examination by counsel for former governors of Osun and Ekiti states, Lekan Olatawura, he reportedly said that MTN prints call logs in standard A4 papers, while he was said to have admitted that when photocopied, the paper “could be enlarged with bolder prints.”

Nigerian Tribune learnt that the MTN manager further confirmed that the entries in the call logs tendered by the NSA tallied with those in the logs submitted by the Osun and Ekiti PDP with their petitions.

He was said to have found it difficult to explain why his company claimed in a letter to the NJC that it did not have call logs earlier than February this year but curiously submitted those of December 2010 and January 2011 to the NSA.

Another set of the same call logs sought to be tendered by the PDP was reportedly turned down by the panel on the grounds that their covering letter was not certified by a High Court.

The panel was said to have announced the conclusion of its sitting on the Ekiti and Osun states matter after Salami reportedly closed his case while the PDP was asked to submit its address on Monday next week.

Justice Salami opened his defence before the NJC probe panel on a dramatic note, as he brought a witness to prove that his telephone line was hacked into to make calls to ACN chieftains and lawyers.

Salami did not deny that there are records of calls from his phone number to those of ACN Chieftains but said that he did not make the calls and tried to prove his case with "Spoofing" theory!

Salami still has a case to answer.

How many things are not fake in Nigeria? Ask SON. Ask NAFDAC. Oni and Oyinlola should be ashamed of themselves.

cjfavour:

Maybe i'm wrong bt was it nt this cjn dt hurriedly swore himself in?

He was sworn in by the then Out-going CJN Kutugi. Contrary to the norm which is that the President swears him in. But unfortunately, Yar'adua was incapacitated and there was no Acting President then. That same time, Kutugi also swore in Justice Ayo Salami.

http://thenationonlineng.net/web2/articles/30541/1/Kutigi-to-swear-in-new-CJN-Appeal-Court-President/Page1.html

Outgoing Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Idris Legbo Kutigi, will on Thursday swear-in his designated successor, Justice Aloysius Katsina-Alu.

He will also swear in Justice Isa Ayo Salami as President of the Court of Appeal.

A statement by the Secretary of the National Judicial Council (NJC), Danladi Halilu, said the appointments were made by President Umaru Yar’Adua on the recommendation of the NJC.

The ceremony will take place at the Supreme Court complex at 11am.

Former Supreme Court Justice Kayode Eso supported the action yesterday.

Eso said: "Ordinarily and traditionally, there is no need for the taking of oath for the office of the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN)."

According to Eso, once the appointment of a person as the CJN has been approved by the National Assembly, there is no need for any oath-taking.

He described such oath-taking as illegal, adding that "many people do not appreciate what the Constitution says on such matters."

Some lawyers however expressed divergent views on the issue.

Activist lawyer Femi Falana said if Justice Kutigi swears-in Justice Katsina-Alu during office hours on Thursday when he is due for retirement, there would be two Chief Justices, contrary to the provisions of the Constitution.

Falana said: "It is hoped that the outgoing Chief Justice will not lend his weight to the serial breaches of the constitution

X-factoria:

Salami did not deny that there are records of calls from his phone number to those of ACN Chieftains but said that he did not make the calls and tried to prove his case with "Spoofing" theory!

Salami still has a case to answer.

Which case did he have to answer? This PDP clowns self, twisting of facts is your motto. MTN and The National Security Adviser have already declared that PDP and their agents of destruction submitted a Fake Call Log, so what Next? You said the same reckless statement in the programming session even with all this fact. Intellectual Dishonesty.

seanet02:

Which case did he have to answer? This PDP clowns self, twisting of facts is your motto. MTN and The National Security Adviser have already declared that PDP and their agents of destruction submitted a Fake Call Log, so what Next? You said the same reckless statement in the programming session even with all this fact. Intellectual Dishonesty.

Why don't you just see this as my opinion and shut your stinking guts?? Besides, what programming session are u referring to? Were you sleeping

X-factoria:

Why don't you just see this as my opinion and shut your stinking guts?? Besides, what programming session are u referring to? Were you sleeping

But as usual, your opinion suxs and your fish wrap called Tribune suxs too,