A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Joseph Nwobike, has been jailed.
He will spend one month in prison for bribing judges and court officials to pervert justice.
The verdict was given by Justice Raliat Adebiyi of an Ikeja High Court.
Nwobike who was prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, was found guilty on 12 counts, each of which earned a month’s imprisonment.
The sentences will however run concurrently.
In the course of the trial, the prosecution led by Rotimi Oyedepo, tendered a compact disc containing text messages from Nwobike’s mobile phone to a court official as an evidence.
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The disc which was played at the court showed how Nwobike had sent text messages to one Jide, a Deputy Registrar with the Federal High Court, Lagos, at different times.
Oyedepo told the court that Nwobike admitted having sent some text messages to the said Jide.
The charges against Nwobike read in part: “That you Nwobike, on the 19th day of March, 2015 in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, intentionally gave the sum of N750, 000 to Hon. Justice Mohammed Nasir Yunusa of the Federal High Court directly through your United Bank for Africa Plc Account No.1002664061 in order that the said Judge acts in the exercise of his official duties.
“That on the 28th day of September, 2015 in Lagos within the jurisdiction, you intentionally gave the sum of N300, 000 to Hon. Justice Mohammed Nasir Yunusa of the Federal High Court indirectly through Awa Ajia Nigeria Limited’s account No. 0000971931 domiciled in Access Bank Plc, belonging to Hon. Justice Nganjiwa Hyeladzira Ajiya of the Federal High Court, in order that the Hon. Justice Mohammed Nasir Yunusa acts in the exercise of his official duties.”
