Chief Popoola Martins cited as having been sent by Justice Augustine Ade-Alabi to solicit US$10 million bribe died Tuesday, hours before he was scheduled to appear before the Justice Bolarinwa Babalakin panel investigating the allegation.

LAOGS socialite, Chief Popoola Martins cited by former Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt.-Gen. Ishaya Bamaiyi and four others as having been sent to them in prison by Lagos High Court Judge, Justice Augustine Ade-Alabi to solicit US$10 million bribe died Tuesday, hours before he was scheduled to appear before the Justice Bolarinwa Babalakin panel investigating the allegation.

News of his death was announced to the panel by his lawyer, Mr. Abiodun Ajayi.

The panel itself was set up by the National Judicial Council (NJC) to investigate allegation of bribery and corruption levelled at Justice Alabi of the Lagos High Court by Lt.-Gen. Ishaya Bamaiyi and four others.

The four others are former Chief Security Officer (CSO) to late Gen. Sani Abacha – Major Hamza Al-Mustapha, former Administrator of Zamfara State, Col. Jubrin Yakubu, a Chief Superintendent of Police, Mr. Rabo Lawal and former Lagos and Oyo states Police Commissioner, Chief James Danbaba.

Justice Babalakin was shocked by the news. He, however, asked for a minute silence for Chief Martins.

Although Justice Babalakin panel had in March this year wound up its sitting in Lagos on the issue, the National Judicial Council which convoked it, however, ordered it to reopen the entire case.

Vanguard gathered that the National Judicial Council was allegedly not impressed by the outcome of the Justice Babalakin panel over the matter.

The NJC which is headed by the Chief Justice of the Federation had queried why evidence was taken from both parties in the matter without inviting those mentioned by the accusers in the matter to give corroborating or dissenting evidence.

The panel therefore reconvened in Lagos specifically to take evidence from those mentioned by the accusers in the matter as middle men between them and the accused judge.

The middle men mentioned by the accusers when the panel first sat in March this year were Chief Popoola Martins and Chief Shola Rhodes (SAN).

Lt.-Gen. Bamaiyi and Major Al-Mustapha who spoke on behalf of others before the panel tendered even the call-cards of both Chief Popoola Martins and the senior lawyer.

Their story was that Justice Ade-Alabi allegedly sent Chief Martins to them to solicit US$10 million bribe with a view to admitting them to bail and acquit them in criminal charge of attempting to kill the Publisher of The Guardian Newspapers, Mr. Alex Ibru in 1996.

According to them, each of the five accused persons appearing before Justice Alabi over the matter was to cough out US$1 million for bail and another US$1 million for acquittal. By implication, each of the accused persons was to pay US$2 million for their freedom.

During their evidence-in-chief before the panel, they had claimed that their refusal to part with the solicited bribe made the judge to exhibit undue bias to them.

Explaining the role allegedly played by Chief Sola Rhodes (SAN), they said that he met with them, promising to meet with Justice Alabi to be fair to them in a criminal trial before him.

But neither Chief Martins nor Chief Rhodes (SAN) was invited by the panel to corroborate or deny the story as told by Justice Alabi’s accusers.

None of the parties involved in the matter also sought the presence of the two key witnesses before the panel wound up its sitting in Lagos.

But when the panel reconvened about two weeks ago in Lagos, counsel to the accusers in the matter did not show up and the hearing was adjourned eventually till yesterday.

However, when the panel was to commence taking evidence from the two principal witnesses, counsel to Chief Martins told the panel that his client died the previous day.

The cause of his death was not revealed.

The panel, shocked over the incident, observed a minute silence for him.

But when Chief Rhodes (SAN) was to take the witness box to give his evidence, all counsel to the petitioners in the matter objected, saying they were not ready to participate in the proceeding since the panel had wound up already.

They also argued that Chief Rhodes’ evidence would not add to what they had already told the panel, stressing that only Chief Martins’ evidence would be useful to the panel since he was the only middle man between them and Justice Alabi in respect of the bribery allegation.

Chief Rhodes eventually was not allowed to give evidence but a letter he wrote to the panel was admitted in evidence.

Ise-Oluwa Ige and Ayodamola Fawole, Vanguard (Lagos), July 4, 2002