Wednesday, July 13, 2016

Halliburton: Fayose’s lawyer repliesBuhari’s wife, justifies claim of her



Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State, Chief  Mike Ozekhome (SAN) has replied the wife of President  Mohammadu Buhari, Mrs Aisha Buhari through her  counsel, Mary Ekpere & Co, justifying the governor’s claim  that Mrs Aisha Buhari was indeed mentioned in  the Halliburton scandal, dailypost reports.

 In the letter dated July 8, 2016, Ozekhome affirmed that the  statement made regarding the involvement of Mrs Aisha  Buhari in the Halliburton scandal was “correct and justified  in law, having regards to a court judgment convicting one  Mr William Jefferson for bribery in the Halliburton case.”

 Counsel to the president’s wife, ary Ekpere & Co had  written a letter dated June 22, 2016, to Governor Fayose,  demanding a retraction of the governor’s statement that the  President’s wife was involved in the Halliburton scandal,  threatening a legal action if the retraction was not made  within five days.  However, Ozekhome said the statement of Governor  Fayose was correct and justified, having been factually  premised on an existing court judgment.

The letter reads; “Our client has referred to us your letter  dated 22nd June, 2016, on alleged defamation of the  character of your client , Her Excellency, Mrs Aisha Buhari,  the wife of Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, with firm  instructions to reply to and reject same in its entirety.  “Our client states and reaffirms categorically that the  statement he made as regards the involvement of Mrs  Aisha Buhari, the wife of President Buhari, in the Halliburton  scandal, is correct and justified in law; having regards to a  court judgement convicting one Mr William Jefferson for  bribery in the Halliburton case.

 “Therein, the name of the President’s wife featured  conspicuously. At page 22 of the said judgment delivered  by the United State District Court, Eastern District of  Virginia, Alexandria Division, USA, in criminal No 1:  07CR209, the said Mr William Jefferson was sentenced  at 9.00 am on November 13, 2009, by Mark D, Lytle. Your  client, Mrs Aisha Buhari was specifically mentioned in the
judgment. The judge referred to Exhibits 36-87 in the  following words, for clarification;  “See also Government Exhibits 36-87 (6/26/02 $170,000  wire transfer from account in Nigeria in the name of Aisha  Buhari to an account in the name of The ANJ Group, LLC,  identifying “William Jefferson” as Beneficiary)… Given the  age of the defendant, the severity of the sentence  calculated by the Probation Office, the defendant’s  frequent travel overseas and unexplained wire transfers  from overseas locations to financial accounts used by the  defendant, the defendant cannot  rebut the presumption at sentencing that he is a risk of  flight.

 “The said Williams Jefferson is currently serving a jail term  in the USA and to the best of our lient’s knowledge; this  judgment has not been challenged, or set aside by any  Appellate court of law anywhere in the world.  “The statement of His Excellency, our client, is therefore  correct and justified, same having been factually premised  on an existing court  judgment above referred to.”
On the immunity enjoyed by Governor Fayose against civil  and criminal proceedings, the Senior Advocate of Nigeria  said; “Your attention is also hereby drawn to Section 308 of  the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, as  altered, on the immunity enjoyed by our client from civil or  criminal proceedings for the period that he occupies the  office of the governor of Ekiti State.

 “You may therefore advise your client to wait until after  16th October, 2018, when our client’s tenure expires. When that happens, we shall join issues with your client in a  competent court of law, in the event that your client does  not have a change of heart.”

Source: daily post.

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