By Kayode Adeoti
There was mild drama as a High Court judge in Ilorin, Mahmud AbdulGafar, last Wednesday ordered the remand of former Chairman of the Kwara State Polytechnic Governing Council, Saadu Alanamu but later rescind the decision.
The Independent Corrupt Practise Commission ICPC), in the charges accused Alanamu of collecting N5m bribe from the Director of Namylas Nigeria Limited, Salman Sulaiman, as a softener for the award of a contract.
But the judge, Justice AbdulGafar who had from the inception of the case admitted Alanamu to bail, in the last proceedings, threatened his freedom following the former’s allegation that some persons offered him a bribe to dismiss the case.
In what appeared like a drama, the jurist ordered that Alanamu should be remanded in prison but later retracted the order as the matter was adjourned to 26th and 27th of April for continuation of hearing.
The defence counsel, Tunde Olomu, urged the court to discountenance the statement sought to tender by the commission noting that it was obtained through coercion harassment, intimidation and promise of favour.
He therefore urged the court not to admit the statement in evidence.
Consequently, Justice Gafar ordered a trial-within-trial to determine whether the statement was made voluntarily or not.
While delivering his ruling on the trial-within-trial, Justice Gafar who ceded to the submission of the prosecution counsel, Sunny Ezeana, overruled the objection of the defence counsel and admitted Alanamu’s confessional statement into evidence.
ICPC counsel, Ezeana, had told the court that Alanamu received the bribe through his First Bank account on February 11, 2015 from Namylas Nigeria Limited, a company owned by Sulaiman, who is also his friend.
Recall that, last year, Alanamu was nominated into the board of ICPC by the then acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo.
His name was also forwarded to the Senate by President Muhammadu Buhari for confirmation as a commissioner of the National Population Commission last week
Reacting to widespread of his alleged remand, Alanamu in a statement on Friday described those reports as ‘preconceived and misleading.’
The statement which was signed by his media aide, Mallam Nasiru Adeoye said Alanamu was never convicted by any court nor remanded for any offence.
“The attention of Dr. Ayinla Saadu Alanamu has been drawn to the disparaging publication in some mass media on Thursday 19 April 2018. The news was preconceived and misleading because Dr. Alanamu has never been convicted by any court of law, let alone being remanded in prison for any offence.
“For the avoidance of doubt, Dr. Alanamu was in Abuja on Wednesday 18 April, 2018 for official assignment and was in Ilorin on Thursday 19 April 2018 publicly cited within the metropolis pursuing his legitimate means of livelihood.
“The fictitious publication went contrary to the ethics of investigative journalism and standard international practice on media reportage… Dr. Alanamu remains a law abiding and patriotic citizen of our great Nation. Even in the countenance of media propaganda by faceless people, his strong commitment to the spirit of national integration and principle of egalitarianism cum justice is sacrosanct,” it stated.
