President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Paul Usoro, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), is expected to be docked on Monday, December 10.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) filed a 10-count charge at the Federal High Court, Lagos accusing him of money laundering in connivance with other persons to the tune of N1.4 billion.
The EFCC alleged the money belongs to the Akwa Ibom State government.
Usoro is accused of diverting it for personal use after laundering it in connivance with Governor Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom State.
Others expected in court are Akwa Ibom State Commissioner for Finance, Nsikan Nkan; Accountant General, Mfon Udomah; Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Uwemedimo Nwoko; and one Margaret Ukpe.
But only Usoro may honour the court summons because Emmanuel as a sitting Governor is covered by immunity and the other accused persons are said to be at large.
The EFCC alleged that Usoro conspired with them to commit the offence in 2015 in contravention of Section 18 (a) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011 which is punishable under Section 15 (3) if they are found guilty.
Usoro was picked up two days before the first National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of the NBA under his watch.
That meeting was to have taken place on Thursday, December 6, but he was taken by the EFCC on Tuesday, December 4, kneaded and granted bail and charged to court accordingly.
There could have been political undertones to Usoro’s predicament.
One, he is a friend to Emmanuel and may have sympathy for him in a state where some political juggernauts have recently risen against the governor in a fight of the elephants.
Two, and politics aside, prior to the NBA convention in August this year when Usoro emerged President, many had raised an eyebrow that he would lead a body as critical as the NBA with corruption allegations hanging on his neck in a society where corruption does not know status.
Even the election that produced Usoro, according to his opponents, was riddled by “corruption, massive vote buying, vote capture, rigging and a skewed process.”
In November, the EFCC linked Usoro’s company to the alleged withdrawal of N1.7 billion from the Akwa Ibom State government’s account which was said to be diverted for personal use.
In August, the anti-graft agency had frozen all bank accounts controlled by the Akwa Ibom State government after the alleged fraud discovery was made.
The state government slammed a case of N50 billion against the EFCC, but the latter insisted it acted within the law.
Part of the findings of the EFCC was that on March 10, 2016, N700 million was withdrawn in cash from the state’s Accountant General’s imprest account.
EFCC added: “That out of the said N700,000,000.00, the sum of N300,000,000.00 was deposited in cash to the Zenith account No. 1014604466 belonging to Paul Usoro & Co on the 14th of March, 2016 without any contractual relationship between Akwa Ibom State and the said Paul Usoro & Co.
“That the 1st defendant (EFCC) invited Paul Usoro (SAN) who volunteered extra judicial statement confessing that the said N300,000,000.00 was his professional fees for handling Mr. Udom Emmanuel’s personal matter before the election tribunal. That the remaining N400,000,000.00 was also diverted to private use.
“That in similar vein, the total sum of N1,100,000,000.00 was also removed from the Akwa Ibom State Ministry of Justice account No. 1011191486 domiciled in Zenith Bank Plc and lodged in the Paul Usoro & Co’s account number 0690123425 domiciled with Access Bank Plc without reasonable justification.”
The EFCC claimed that Uwemedimo Thomas Nwoko received a kickback of N65 million from Paul Usoro out of the N1.1 billion.
Is the Akwa Ibom case the only bribery scandal traced to Usoro of late? I doubt.
In October, the National Judicial Council (NJC) advised President Muhammadu Buhari to sack two judges who were investigated and found guilty of corruption allegations brought against them by the EFCC.
The judges – Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia of the Federal High Court and James Agbadu-Fishim of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria – have been in the news for two years over bribery matters where Usoro was again linked.
In the build-up to the election of Usoro in August, Chidi Anselm Odinkalu, former Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), had warned that the NBA is not meant for corrupt persons.
In November 2017, Odinkalu vehemently opposed the candidacy of Usoro and warned against any dream to elect him the President of the Bar in 2018.
Many lawyers, including those of high social ranking, thought Odinkalu was out for vendetta, and cared little about the alarm bell he sounded.
Not even a statement Odinkalu issued that was widely circulated could dissuade lawyers to have a second look at the credentials of the aspirants if really their claim of being learned included ability to see through the consequences of their image being sullied.
Odinkalu’s statement read: “Whoever dreamt up this Paul Usoro project to lead the Bar is terribly misguided. The person wishes perdition on the Bar. It is worse than a bad dream and it has to be stopped.
“Paul Usoro is charged with having bribed James Agbadu-Fishim (I refuse to call him “Honourable Justice”), a judge of the National Industrial Court, with N800,000 paid in three installments of N300K; N400K, and N100K.
“Paul Usoro himself admits to having given the judge at least N450K, claiming it was contribution towards his vacation.
“In a sane country, Paul Usoro should be facing disciplinary proceedings at best and should have been disbarred.
“In Nigeria, someone is parading him to lead the Bar, that Bar belongs to us all. No one has a right to even think about this.
“This idea that a lawyer who admits to having bribed a judge is even considering himself for the office of President of the Bar while the judge that he bribed is being prosecuted and the payments he made to the judge are exhibits in the case is worse than a terrible joke.
“It is an insult to us all. We all have a duty to stop it.
“This Paul Usoro project for Presidency of the Bar has to end, forthwith. By all means, let all lawyers of decent standing aspire for the Bar Presidency.
“I want to go on record. Paul Usoro has no standing in morality and, I would venture, in law to even consider aspiring to the Presidency of the Bar now or ever. He should bury his head in ignominy.
“The only right he has is to go before the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee to clear his name or be disbarred. Period.
“Let me be clear: My name is Chidi Anselm Odinkalu. I am a Nigerian lawyer who also belongs to this Bar that will be ruined by this aspiration birthed in impunity.
“It will not work. No lawyer with the charges against his name that Paul Usoro has should be allowed to insult us in the way this Paul Usoro project seeks to do. It is aggravating.”
Integrity is one of the things that must not be in short supply in the kitty of lawyers. Regardless of the staggering impunity that pervades Nigeria’s landscape, lawyers, both the Bar and the Bench, by their training and motto are expected to cherish their integrity far above other mundane things.
Did Odinkalu remind his colleagues that they cannot do without integrity? He did.
Unfortunately, the lure of office, the social paraphernalia that comes with being the NBA President and other worldly inanities could not allow both Usoro and his Silk brother supporters to remember that a good name will always be better than gold and silver.
It was in the circumstance that Usoro tried as hard as he could to play down on the matter he knew was as critical as imagined even by the unlearned like us.
Usoro was truthful enough to concede that he transferred money to judges but said it was not corruption linked.
According to him, the monies so transferred (N550,000 paid between August 2014 and March 2015).
He said first payment of N250,000 was made on August 5, 2016, second payment of N100,000 on December, 22 2014 and third of N200,000 on March, 24, 2015) all were “personal donations” that fell within “acceptable conduct of judicial officers” as contained in rule 3, paragraph (F) of the code of conduct for judicial officers.
His words: “My initial gift of N250, 000 to Agbadu Fishim J was in any case made in August 2014, about four months before PH/150 was assigned to ‘PUC’ by Access Bank in December, 2014.
“Clearly those gifts, which I must continue to emphasise were personal in nature, had absolutely nothing to do with PH/150.
“Access Bank made 50 per cent professional fees payment almost two months after I had made my second donation of N200,000 to Agbadu Fishim James in March, 2015, clearly showing that Access Bank’s 50 per cent professional fees payment to PUC for PH/150 had absolutely no correlation with my personal gifts to Agbadu Fishim J.”
Part of the things Odinkalu observed which I agree with is the likely effects of Usoro’s aspirations as NBA President, not just in Nigeria but outside.
“There are ethical and institutional issues; if the world hears that the President of your Bar is going around bribing judges, what will that do to the integrity of your country?
“There are countries that export significant legal services. This kind of thing can diminish the collective reputational value of your legal profession.
“This is why when countries want to deal with a case in Nigeria, they bring their own lawyers not Nigerian lawyers. So this is a massive reputational theft, if you ask me.
“If he is going to run, then there is a possibility he will win. And if he wins, that reality will confront us, so it is existential,” Odinkalu had said then.
The reality Odinkalu predicted has now dawned on the NBA that it is not Usoro that is on trial, but the Bar.
Over the years, lawyers in Nigeria have carried on with infallible mentality, and in most cases, deceiving themselves and all of us with the “learned gentlemen” posture and toga.
The senior members of the Bar or Silk as they call them often times find themselves in the mould meant only for the omnipotent.
Yes, Usoro now has a date with the court over corruption scandal, the point remains that as the first lawyer in the country today by virtue of being President of the NBA, what is happening to him has damaged the image and integrity of the body he leads.
It has also punctured the bloated ego of the so-called Silk who assume only they have the right to aspire and be elected to lead NBA in a country where a track record of integrity, hard work, truth fullness, should be a guiding principle for elective positions as important as NBA President.
The judiciary occupies a vital position in the life of a every country, including Nigeria. As the third leg upon which every democratic society stands, the judiciary and those that drive it cannot afford to disappoint the people.
More so, when the judiciary is the last hope of the common or ordinary man.
The feeler most people get today is that the executive, the legislature and the judiciary cannot be separated as far as corruption in Nigeria is concerned. It is being said that the three arms of government are in cahoot if corruption and similar tendencies are called up for examination.
Those who thought differently changed their mind when some judges were recently docked as well as when they saw high ranking members of the Bar taking their turns in court over corruption charges linked to them.
The invitation to arraign Usoro is nothing but another sad reminder and commentary of what the Bar and Bench are doing to undermine their integrity and the trust the people have for them.
I hope a lesson will be learnt from this.