Muiz
Banire is has stepped down from his post as the Legal Adviser of the
ruling party - APC pending on when investigations of bribery are
concluded by the EFCC.
Dr. Muiz Adeyemi Banire
In a move unprecedented in the nation’s political history, the
National Legal Adviser of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Dr. Muiz
Adeyemi Banire, has offered to step aside from his office pending the
conclusion of the investigation into the allegation of his involvement
in a bribery scandal of some judges.
This decision was contained in a letter to the National Chairman of the APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, personally signed by Banire and dated today, Tuesday, November 8, a copy of which was obtained by THISDAY.
Consequently, Banire has further communicated this development to the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), offering to also step aside as a member, Electoral Reform Committee of the government. This, he said, was in the same spirit of the moral ground that justifies his stepping aside as APC national legal adviser.
Titled: ‘Offer to Step Aside as National Legal Adviser Pending Conclusion of Investigation of My Person by the EFCC,’ copies of the five-page letter was also sent to the President, Muhammadu Buhari and his deputy, Professor Yemi Osinbajo.
Explaining why he chose to toe this moral high ground, Banire said: “On Saturday, October 29, 2016, I read online, a publication titled ‘APC National Legal Adviser, Muiz Banire, Allegedly paid Federal Judge N500,000.’ I was not only shocked by the purport of the publication against my person, but extremely disturbed by its negative propagandist effect on our party, the government it leads at the federal level, and, above all, our signature programme of anti-corruption in public life.
“I, therefore, immediately on the same day, wrote a letter which was delivered to, and acknowledged by the EFCC on October 31, 2016, submitting myself to investigation on the allegation, and offering to visit the EFCC offices in Lagos on November 1, 2016 to be interrogated as part of that investigation. A copy of the said letter of request is enclosed herewith. Ostensibly, due to the constraints of its heavy work schedule, my request to attend the EFCC to be interrogated on the allegation did not receive attention until November 3, 2016.
This decision was contained in a letter to the National Chairman of the APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, personally signed by Banire and dated today, Tuesday, November 8, a copy of which was obtained by THISDAY.
Consequently, Banire has further communicated this development to the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), offering to also step aside as a member, Electoral Reform Committee of the government. This, he said, was in the same spirit of the moral ground that justifies his stepping aside as APC national legal adviser.
Titled: ‘Offer to Step Aside as National Legal Adviser Pending Conclusion of Investigation of My Person by the EFCC,’ copies of the five-page letter was also sent to the President, Muhammadu Buhari and his deputy, Professor Yemi Osinbajo.
Explaining why he chose to toe this moral high ground, Banire said: “On Saturday, October 29, 2016, I read online, a publication titled ‘APC National Legal Adviser, Muiz Banire, Allegedly paid Federal Judge N500,000.’ I was not only shocked by the purport of the publication against my person, but extremely disturbed by its negative propagandist effect on our party, the government it leads at the federal level, and, above all, our signature programme of anti-corruption in public life.
“I, therefore, immediately on the same day, wrote a letter which was delivered to, and acknowledged by the EFCC on October 31, 2016, submitting myself to investigation on the allegation, and offering to visit the EFCC offices in Lagos on November 1, 2016 to be interrogated as part of that investigation. A copy of the said letter of request is enclosed herewith. Ostensibly, due to the constraints of its heavy work schedule, my request to attend the EFCC to be interrogated on the allegation did not receive attention until November 3, 2016.
“The allegation, as I have come to understand it, is that a
statement of account of one judge of the National Industrial Court, the
Justice J. T. Agbadu-Fishim, who is the subject of an ongoing EFCC’s
investigation, contained a June 2013 entry of a ‘N500,000’ payment
ascribed as being from one ‘Dr. Muiz B.’
Click here to read full letter from ThisDay Newspaper.
Click here to read full letter from ThisDay Newspaper.
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