NJC probe: Call logs are genuine •NSA tells panel probing Salami, others

Written by Lanre Adewole, Abuja

Friday, 20 May 2011

THE controversies over the call logs presented as exhibits at the ongoing National Judicial Council’s (NJC’s) probe panel

were laid to rest on Thursday with the testimony of the National Security Adviser (NSA) authenticating their genuineness.

Nigerian Tribune had exclusively reported on Thursday that the NSA would be testifying before the Justice Umaru Abdullahi panel investigating alleged rot in the judiciary.

The National Security Adviser (NSA), General Owoye Azazi, was represented by the Director, Lawful Intercept, Ndubuisi Onyia, who signed the cover letter that accompanied the call logs recovered by the security agencies from four mobile telecommunications companies in the country and made available to the probe panel on request.

Onyia, who was grilled for about two hours, reportedly told the panel that he was obeying the order of his boss to appear before the panel when the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Ayo Isa Salami, queried the authority on which he was testifying.

Former Governors Segun Oni of Ekiti State and Olagunsoye Oyinlola of Osun State and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Osun State chapter, had accused Salami and some justices of his court of being financially-induced to award victory to the Action Congress of Nigeria in the state governorship appeals.

Call logs allegedly detailing conversation between the jurists and the politicians were produced alongside their petitions while the security agencies recovered more call logs from the telecommunications firms.

Salami had kicked against the call logs from the security agencies being tendered as exhibit by the petitioners on Wednesday, insisting that only the NSA that recovered the call logs could tender them as exhibits.

He was said to have challenged the authority that sent Onyia to testify at the panel.

In his evidence-in-chief, Onyia reportedly confirmed the genuineness of the call logs, adding that they were from the telecommunications companies in relation to the ongoing probe.

He reportedly added that the call logs were forwarded to the NJC as a body in a memory disc (flash drive).

He was also said to have been asked to identify the flash drive as the one from the NSA office and he reportedly did.

Under cross-examination by Salami’s counsel, Ricky Tarfa SAN, Onyia was said to have been queried on how he simply identified the flash drive without knowing whether the content had been altered, with the panel registry being reportedly asked to provide a laptop.

The flash drive, Nigerian Tribune gathered, was eventually opened before those who were present and the content was reportedly confirmed to be the call logs.

Chairman of the PDP in Osun State, Mr Ojo Williams, another petitioner also testified for about four hours while the communications expert brought by the petitioners had spent about an hour with the panel as of press time (7:13 p.m.).

Tarfa, while reportedly cross-examining Williams demanded to know how he got the call logs he submitted with the petition in January containing phone calls spanning five months because MTN claimed in its letter to the NJC in April that it could only produce logs from February to April, as all others had disappeared from its system. Williams was said to have replied that it was plain mischief on the part of the MTN to have claimed that it could not produce all the months demanded from it, pointing out that MTN gave itself out when in May, 2011, it released December 2010 and January 2011 call logs to the NSA in which it was shown that Justice Salami and Alhaji Lai Mohammed exchanged text messages on December 12, 2010 at 2.50 p.m.

Former governor of Osun State, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, who gave evidence on Wednesday, told the panel that Justice Salami was not telling the truth when he claimed that the votes in the 10 local governments were not entirely cancelled.

Meanwhile, a human rights organisation, Access to Justice, on Thursday condemned the appointment of Salami as chairman of the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal, where the Congress of Progressive Change (CPC) is challenging the election of President Goodluck Jonathan in the April 16 presidential poll.

The group said its objection was based on the petition against him before the NJC and the fact that there was a probe panel investigating him on the allegation of graft.

It said the appellate court president should exercise patience until after being cleared by a probe panel.

A statement by the executive director of the group, Mr Joseph Chu’ma Otteh, said “we think his participation in this tribunal is a mistake and that the learned Justice should not, at this time, be sitting over any election tribunal until he has been cleared by the NJC of allegations of judicial misconduct currently pending against him.

“Justice Salami has been accused by ex-governors of Ekiti and Osun states of gross misconduct in the course of adjudicating earlier electoral disputes where those governors lost.

“They have alleged that Honourable Justice Salami was holding illicit, ex parte communication with attorneys representing political parties in the election appeal tribunals, over which he (Justice Salami) presided and that he corruptly awarded judgment to the parties.”

The group said it was safer and more honourable for Justice Salami, who had, up till now, not been indicted for any offence or misconduct, not to sit on any election tribunal until when the NJC cleared him of any wrongdoing.

We now know how ACN
Won at the tribunal the truth would be exposed soon!!!! If salami is found culpable he should be punished

Oyinlola's lawyers were exchanging calls with the Justices at the tribunal as well, the Justices if found guilty should be made to face the music.