The All Progressives Congress (APC) chapter in Osun State has criticized Timi Frank, a former deputy national publicity secretary of the party and a supporter of Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), for making the reckless, fabricated, and cooked-up allegation of financial inducement against the Supreme Court Justices.
The party cautioned Frank not to use the pending state election petition between former governor Gboyega Oyetola and current governor Ademola Adeleke as leverage to blackmail the judiciary.
In a publication that went viral, Frank allegedly accused some desperate politicians of plotting to use “financial inducement, coercion, and intimidation using state security agencies to influence the judgment of the Supreme Court.”
He was also alleged to have said that ‘monetary inducement of $2 million per JSC is the offer inherent as well as coercion and intimidation using state security agencies to greatly influence the judgment of the Supreme Court is in top gear and underway.’
APC in a statement issued on behalf of the State Acting Chairman, Tajudeen Lawal, by the party’s Director of Media and Information, Kola Olabisi, on Thursday, said the allegation against the judges is not only “frivolous, false and spurious but borne out of desperation on the part of Frank and his sponsors.”
Lawal stressed that the monetary inducement allegation against the Justices was only designed by Frank and his sponsors to blackmail the judiciary after Frank’s sponsors failed in their bid to blackmail Oyetola from going to the Supreme Court.
“Frank should be in the know of the fact that the invention of any cock-and-bull story in the corner of his room to rubbishing the hard-earned reputation of the judicial officers on the altar of politics would not attract to him any positive estimation of his person.
“But Frank is knowledgeable and experienced enough in the field of partisan and theoretical politics for him to know that litigation is a veritable aspect of the governorship election process in Nigeria.
“The earlier you, Frank, stop bullying the judiciary because of your selfish interest in all endeavors, the better you will be adding value to the genuine democratic process in Nigeria,” APC added.