Ebonyi govt denies alleged plan to bribe election tribunal with N1bn

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi

The Ebonyi State Government said on Sunday it has no plan whatsoever to bribe the election petition tribunal judges in a bid to pervert the course of justice and obtain undue favour from them.
The state government made this known through the Commissioner of Information and State Orientation, Jude Okpor, who reacted to an allegation by the president of the Association of Ebonyi Indigenes Socio-Cultural in the Diaspora (AEISCID), Paschal Oluchukwu.
Recall that Oluchukwu had accused the Ebonyi State Government, led by Governor Francis Nwifuru, of attempting to hijack the course of justice with plans to use one billion naira deducted from the local government area allocation to bribe judges in order to procure a favourable judgement from the tribunal.
Okpor warned Oluchukwu to desist from being used by desperate politicians who were rejected by the citizens of the state during the last governorship election in the state.
He noted that Governor Nwifuru 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 All Progressives Congress (APC) by the good people of Ebonyi State.
According to him, Ebonyi State has “never planned to bribe, either directly or by proxy, any member of the judiciary or its representative to bend the course of justice.”
Okpor noted further that Gov Nwifuru is aware that the tribunal is comprised of judges of integrity and impeccable character who can never stoop so low as to demand or accept any form of financial gratification from anyone or a group of people.
“Our unshakable confidence in the Nigerian judicial system is not in doubt,” he stressed.