Chief Justice Of The Federal High Court Of Nigeria, Ibrahim Auta Implicated In $1.3M Bribery Arrest

Justice Ibrahim Auta, the Chief Justice of the Federal
High Court of Nigeria, may well be neck deep in the
corruption that led to last weekend’s arrest of some high
court judges by the Department of State Security (DSS),
SaharaReporters has learnt.
Investigators said Justice Adeniyi Ademola of the Federal
High Court in Abuja, in whose home over $550,000 was
allegedly found during the raid, has confessed to a deal
between him and Chief Judge Auta by which $300,000 of
the physical cash found in his bedroom was to have been
shared between the two men.
He said only $50,000 belonged to him in the deal,
indicating that the CJ was awaiting his share when the
DSS operatives swooped in on his residence and arrested
him on Saturday night. It is unclear to whom the balance
of $200,000 would have gone.
Asked if that had been the pattern of bribery for the CJ,
he answered in the affirmative, saying that several High
Court judges are assigned lucrative cases by the CJ, who
then requests them to collect the bribes in dollars and
transfer to him physically at home.
He revealed that the CJ has received monies from him
several times after matching him with high profile cases
that are then settled in favor of the highest bidders.
SaharaReporters learnt that CJ Auta was quizzed and
then quietly released yesterday by the DSS, but the
department has not officially confirmed either his arrest
or interrogation.
Powerful interests are pushing back against the arrest of
corrupt judges. SaharaReporters has however learnt that
four, including Appellate Court judge Uwani Abba-Aji, are
in line to be arrested. We also reliably learnt that Mrs.
Abba-Aji was dropped from the list of judges to be
elevated to the Supreme Court.
Justice Mohammed Yunusa, who was bribed by Ricky
Tarfa, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Munir Ladan, and
Bashir Sukola, both of the Kaduna High Court, are also
due for arrest and interrogation, unless DSS is somehow
stopped from its ongoing action against corrupt judges.