Former General Manager of the Bayelsa State Broadcasting Corporation, John Idumange, has petitioned the state’s Commissioner for Justice and Attorney General, Biriyai Dambo (SAN), before the Disciplinary Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA).
Idumange petitioned the commissioner over his alleged role in what he described as “perversion of justice and influencing the outcome of his case with the state government over alleged misappropriation of a N3 billion agriculture loan.”
He alleged that Dambo sent a letter to the Chief Judge, Justice Kate Abiri, instructing her to move the case from a court presided over by Justice E. J. Omukoro to a court presided over by his friend, Justice E. Uzakah.
The Guardian recalled that the Bayelsa State government arrested Idumange on a charge of sedition in March this year after revealing how the state government allegedly shared N3 billion agriculture loans meant for farmers among top politicians in the state.
In the petition, he claimed that the aim of reassigning the case was to ensure that the investigation of the controversial loan, was influenced by Justice Uzakah, who would do the bidding of his friend to rule against him (Idumange) and to ensure that he remained incarcerated.
“As a highly esteemed professional body, I am aware that one of the institutional core objectives of the NBA is to maintain the integrity and independence of the Bar and the Bench.
“As a senior lawyer, the Attorney-General is aware that the NBA holds tenaciously to this bastion of the rule of law. Sadly, he is carried away by his exalted office and could violate the rule of law with impunity,” he said.
