Nigerian lawyer Monday Ubani has defended the Supreme Court Justice John Okoro’s presence in Edo State after the senior judge was spotted at an hotel in Benin as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) suit challenging the outcome of the 2024 Edo governorship election reached the apex court. 

He claimed that Mr Okoro was only in the state for a burial ceremony.

“I know for a fact that Honourable Justice Inyang Okoro, JSC CFR was in Benin to attend the burial ceremony of the mother of my very dear friend, Hannibal Uwaifo, as an invited guest of Mr Uwaifo,” Mr Ubani said in a statement on Saturday after Mr Okoro was captured on videotape at premises of the Protea Hotel in Benin on Thursday night.

On Friday, Supreme Court sources confirmed to Peoples Gazette that the man in the video was indeed Mr Okoro, who has been accused of engaging in partisan activities at the expense of protecting the integrity of the highest court after he struck a bargain with former President Muhammadu Buhari to discontinue corruption investigations against him and other high ranking judicial officials.

Subsequently, Chidi Odinkalu, a rights lawyer with a focus on corruption in the judiciary, confirmed in a post on X Friday that Mr Okoro was in Benin on Thursday. He claimed the justice was seen leaving the hotel in company of Edo state’s Attorney-General, Samson Osagie, which raised eyebrows in the public due to the usual linkup coming days after the PDP filed an appeal at the Supreme Court.

Defending Mr Okoro, Mr Ubani claimed the justice was present at the burial ceremony of Ms Uwaifo on Thursday and Friday, noting it is asinine to police how Mr Okoro should move in his private time. He reiterated that the justice was not in Benin for any political manipulation regarding the election dispute case before the apex court.

“It is actually asinine to link His Lordship’s private visit to Benin for the burial of a friend’s mother to the impending Edo State gubernatorial appeal that, according to social media reports, has just meandered its way to the Supreme Court in Abuja,” Mr Ubani added 

However, Mr Odinkalu, a former head of the Nigeria National Human Rights Commission, argued that Mr Ubani and others defending Mr Okoro’s rights to attend parties are either ignorant or ethically-challenged. He said that such associations could expose justices to outside manipulation, citing the National Judicial Council’s code of conduct warning judges against inappropriate appearances in the public.

He noted that judges are addressed as lords because they’re expected to be sacred in both their private and official activities. Though such associations may be casual and innocent, Mr Odinkalu argued that they could send wrong signals to the public, putting the reputation of the Supreme Court at risk.

The Gazette couldn’t verify the nature of the meeting between Messrs Okoro and Osage but the incident has sparked online debates about the justice’s reputation, which he has insisted on concealing following corruption allegations leveled against him by the State Security Service (SSS) in 2016.

Mr Osagie categorically denied meeting with Mr Okoro when reached by The Gazette on Friday afternoon, tagging the reports as desperate attempts to bring him down, while the justice failed to return multiple requests seeking comments. A spokesman for the Supreme Court was unavailable Friday afternoon.

“I had no meeting with any justice at Protea, please,” said Mr Osagie. “When has it become an offence to walk freely as Attorney General simply because some losers are desperate to drag everyone down?”

Mr Okoro has been at the centre of public scrutiny since he was arrested alongside other prominent judicial officials, including former Supreme Court Justice Sylvester Ngwuta and others, in the October 2016 nationwide sting operation raid of judges’ homes by the SSS agents over widespread corruption allegations in the judiciary.

The secret police said agents found wads of American dollars at his residence, which were believed to have been stashed from compromising cases before the Supreme Court.

However, the senior judge denied that the cash found on him had any ties to illicit proceeds. Mr Okoro also denied all allegations of corruption and was later among the justices allowed to remain on the bench after a secret deal with former President Muhammadu Buhari.

He has been accused by critics and legal watchdogs of becoming even more partisan since then, deciding most cases in favour of the government or the ruling APC.