BY KINGSLEY OMONOBI
ABUJA— INDICATIONS have emerged in Abuja, yesterday, that the National Judicial Council has released the flash drive containing the call logs of alleged conversations between suspended President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Isa Ayo Salami and Action Congress of Nigeria chieftains and party’s legal representatives, among others.
Vanguard learnt that the release followed demand made to the Chairman of the National Judicial Council and Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Aloma Mariam Mukhtar, by the Inspector general of police, Mohammed Abubakar.
NJC sources disclosed that the flash drive which was earlier released by MTN to the security agencies for onward transmission to the judicial body, was last Friday, hand-delivered by a staff in the office of the NJC’s Secretary, Danladi Umar Halilu, to the office of the IGP for forensic analysis.
Vanguard learnt that the IG made the demand for the flash drive following the claim of interrogated MTN officials, Rotimi Odusola and Rotimi Oghenerume, in a six-hour session with detectives of the Special Task force early this month, during which the telecoms giant said it could not have forwarded incomplete call data records to the security agencies and asked the Police to call for the flash drive with which MTN released the controversial call data records.
Former Osun State governor, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, who is the petitioner, is insisting that MTN manipulated the call logs it released to the security agencies and the NJC by sending only the in-coming components of the call logs and deliberately excluding the period under investigation at the time, in order to conceal the interactions between Justice Ayo Salami, his bosom friend, Tunji Ijaiya, on the one hand, and Action Congress of Nigeria chieftains and the party’s lawyers on the other.
Allegation of impropriety against MTN
Having taken possession of the flash drive, the Inspector-General of Police is set to pass the flash drive to the CP Ali Amodu-led Special Task Force for detailed analysis. If contents of the flash drive indeed reveal that only the in-coming components of the call data records were released to the National Judicial Council by MTN, allegations of impropriety levelled against the telecoms giant by the ousted governor of Osun State, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, will certainly have to be investigated further by the Police to establish a motive.
MTN, however, insists that it is a non-partisan concern whose operations are guided by sound corporate governance principles.
It will be recalled that the National Judicial Council’s Special Investigative Panel, was set up to ascertain the veracity or otherwise of the allegations made by Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola and Chief Segun Oni (erstwhile governors of Osun and Ekiti states respectively), in their different petitions to the National Judicial Council, that Justice Ayo Salami breached the code of conduct for judicial officers by interacting with ACN chieftains and the party’s legal representatives while they had matters before the Court of Appeal President.
As a result of the interactions, they alleged that Justice Salami was handed a clean bill of health based on the fact Mr. Rotimi Odusola of MTN’s Commercial Legal Department allegedly appeared before the panel to disown the call logs.
Recall also that MTN, according to NJC sources, have since confirmed the authenticity of the said call log; released to the Area G Command headquarters, Ogba, Lagos, in an affidavit the same Rotimi Odusola deposed to, last April.
SOURCE: 22 August 2012.
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