A see-no-evil, hear-no-evil and say-no-evil directive has been reportedly issued on those who levelled corruption allegations against the embattled President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Ayo Isa Salami, by the five-man probe panel headed by Salamis immediate predecessor, Justice Umaru Abdullahi.Nigerian Tribune reliably learnt that the petitioners were made to give oral undertaking by the panel last Tuesday to be completely secretive on the panels proceedings, especially in their relationship with the media.A source close to the panel revealed that the five-man panel put in place by the National Judicial Council (NJC) to investigate alleged corruption in the justice sector was confounded by the pin-point accuracy of the reporting of the panel proceedings by the Nigerian Tribune, considering that its proceedings had been held so far in camera.The members, according to a source, were reportedly worried about the sources through which the panels proceedings were leaking to the media and this was said to have made the panel very uncomfortable.The decision to gag the petitioners was, however, said to have been at the behest of Salami, whose lawyers were said to have complained to the panel about the media exposure of the proceedings, with the panel chairman reportedly favouring oath of secrecy on parties, thereby entering into an understanding with them not to talk to the media again until the petitions were disposed of.Though the oral undertaking was said to have been given by the petitioners, they were all said to have denied having anything to do with what had been reported in the media so far on the panel proceedings.The panel, according to an insider, was particularly dazed by the verbatim reporting by the Nigerian Tribune of the statement made to it by the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Aloysius Katsina-Alu, on the Sokoto saga, where he revealed Salamis alleged confession that the judgment prepared by the Court of Appeal panel on the Sokoto governorship election had leaked before the judgment date fixed for it.A civil rights activist, who preferred anonymity, told the Nigerian Tribune that the panel would be doing itself great injustice by not conducting the probe in the open, adding that the secrecy involved would lead to a lot of speculations by media outfits without means of getting the inside details since nobody would want to be left out of the proceedings reporting.The activist added that it would have been better if the panel had conducted its business like a public hearing, where everything would be open to all Nigerians, thereby not giving room for suspicion that the members wanted to sweep the corrupt issues under the carpet by banning the media from its activities.Nigerian Tribune can, however, reliably disclose the inside details of Salamis defence to petitions against him from Osun and Ekiti states. One main feature of his response to the issue of call logs was his keeping mum on those he had allegedly spoken with before, during and after the judgments, who are politicians and senior lawyers from the camp of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).He had reportedly noted that a lawyer that he spoke with was someone who he had helped in the past, while refusing to confirm or deny speaking with those mentioned in the call logs, which had been admitted in evidence by the panel.He was also said to have argued that the judgments of the appeal panels that sacked both Oni and Oyinlola remained sacrosanct, since the Court of Appeal was the final court on the gubernatorial elections.His defence, according to a source, was scanty for the allegations against him, same for Justice Clara Ogunbiyi.Ogunbiyi was on both Ekiti and Osun governorship appeal panels. Meanwhile, the Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee (LPPC) will today announce the new set of Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs).Its meeting for the final selection from the 62 shortlisted candidates will take place this morning, with the announcement of the successful candidates expected immediately after the meeting.
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