The
Presidency has said that President Muhammadu Buhari will be the last
person to authorise anybody to induce a judge to pervert the course of
justice.

Recall that two Supreme Court Justices, Inyang Okoro and Sylvester
Ugwuta have accused former governor of Rivers state and Minister of
Transporataion, Rotimi Amaechi of attempts to manipulate court judgments
in favour of the All Progressives Congress. Justice
Okoro said that during the visit, Amaechi said that President Buhari
and the APC mandated him (Amaechi ) to inform Justice Inyang that they
must win their election Appeals in respect of Rivers , Akwa Ibom and
Abia States at all cost.

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, said this in a statement yesterday.

Shehu, therefore, advised journalists and other Nigerians to stop
linking President Buhari to the “legal travails of some recently
arrested Judges in the country.”

He said despite Buhari’s personal familiarity with some judges, he (the
president) had never used that familiarity to seek favours from them
from 2003, 2007 and 2011 when he was challenging the fairness of the
presidential election results from the lowest to the highest courts in
the land during the periods in question.

Shehu also stated that as a politician, the president had never
suggested to his lawyers to approach any judge for assistance to win his
cases.

According to the presidential aide, Buhari lives this principle and has never deviated from it.

On the fate of the judges facing corruption allegations, Shehu said the
president does not tell courts how to do their jobs and that anybody
accused of corruption is protected law to defend his/her innocence.

The presidential spokesman noted that the purpose of the law is to
punish the guilty and acquit the innocent, adding that the law projects
the rights of everyone.

Shehu stressed that the president does not have any powers to force any
court to convict anybody who is innocent, saying that in a democratic
society, that cannot happen without resistance the people