President Muhammadu Buhari’s lawyer, Mr Kola Awodein, SAN has stated that the N500,000 allegedly given as a bribe to Justice Ademola was a personal gift. He added that the said gift was given in good faith, as a contribution towards the Judge’s daughter’s wedding.
This clarification was made in a statement reportedly routed through the presidency and signed by Mr Femi Adesina, SA to the president on media and publicity. The lawyer in no uncertain terms denounced the news concerning an allegedly bribe given by the President through him (Kola Awodein), to the embattled Justice Ademola who is presently facing trial for alleged corruption.
The statement reads in part:
“I have known as a friend and for well over 35 years Mr. Justice Niyi Ademola, a notorious fact known to majority of lawyers who have practiced especially in Lagos for over that same period more or less and also to so many other professionals of other disciplines and other prominent and not so prominent Nigerians.
It is a fact that the sum of money mentioned was personally paid by me as a friend to Mr. Justice Ademola as a personal gift, as our custom well recognizes and demands, on the occasion of his daughter’s High Society wedding solemnized at the Cathedral Church of Christ, Marina, Lagos, on the 9th of May 2015, which I attended in person.
“I was fully convinced then, as I remain today, that I could do no less as a friend of longstanding to fairly reasonably support him on that memorable occasion of his daughter’s wedding.
Awodein also stated unequivocally that any attempt to link the President or anyone of his cases with a personal gift of his is “most malicious, utterly ridiculous and in very, very poor and revolting taste and most undeserving of any further comments.”
This statement comes a day after evidence was given by a witness in Justice Ademola’s trial suggesting that the sum of N500,000 bribe was given to the judge by Mr Awodein on behalf of President Buhari, while his certificate controversy was pending in court.
A few Nigerians wondered at the veracity of these claims given that the said amount is rather small in comparison to other alleged bribes recently in the news. Others however ponder if the good lawyer could simply be taking the fall for his client.
