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The Ebonyi State government has refuted allegations of a plan to bribe Tribunal Justices with one billion naira (1bn) to pervert justice.
Engr Jude Okpor, the State Commissioner for Information and State Orientation, made this known on Sunday while responding to a press statement credited to the Association of Ebonyi Indigenes Socio-Cultural in the Diaspora (AEISCID), led by Ambassador Pascal Oluchukwu.
Ambassador Pascal Oluchukwu had alleged that the Ebonyi State government directed the 13 Local Government Chairmen to raise the sum of N80 million each, totalling about N1 billion, to bribe judges handling the State tribunal cases.
However, the Commissioner accused the opposition party of sponsoring falsehoods to discredit the government under the leadership of Rt. Hon. Francis Nwifuru.
The Commissioner stated that the State government has never planned to bribe any member of the judiciary, either directly or indirectly, to manipulate the course of justice.
He emphasized that there was no reason for the government to panic over the outcome of the cases in the election petitions tribunal, as they had convincingly won all the 2023 general elections.
“It is unfortunate that politicians who were rejected by the Ebonyi people during the last general elections could hire a man (referring to Ambassador Pascal Oluchukwu) who was not in Ebonyi State during the elections to make libellous statements against the Judges of the tribunal and the entire Nigerian judiciary just to score cheap political points,” he said.
“The government of Ebonyi State respects the judiciary and its Lordships. Our unshakable confidence in the Nigerian judicial system is not in doubt. The Governor has no reason to panic over the outcome of the cases in the election tribunal since he was overwhelmingly voted into office alongside other candidates of the APC by the good people of Ebonyi State.”
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