Banire said the N500,000 in question was a gift he gave Justice J. T. Agbadu-Fishim when he lost his mother.
Dr Muiz Adeyemi Banire (SAN) has stepped down as the National Legal Adviser of the All Progressives Congress (APC) following an allegation that he bribed a judge with N500,000.
In a letter to the APC Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, on Monday, November 7, Banire said he decided to step down on moral grounds until the investigation into the allegation is concluded.
The senior lawyer also wrote to the Attorney-General of the Federation Abubakar Malami (SAN) about his decision to quit his membership of the Electoral Reform Committee.
Banire’s letter is entitled: 'Offer to Step Aside as National Legal Adviser Pending Conclusion of Investigation of My Person by the EFCC.'
He copied President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo (SAN).
Banire said he read an online publication on October 29 alleging that he offered a federal judge N500,000 bribe.
According to him, he voluntarily reported himself to the EFCC to help clarify the issues.
The letter reads:
"The allegation, as I have come to understand it, is that a Statement of Account of one judge of the National Industrial Court, the Honourable Justice J. T. Agbadu-Fishim, who is the subject of an ongoing EFCC’s investigation, contained a June 2013 entry of a ‘N500,000.00’ payment ascribed as being from one ‘Dr. Muiz B’.
"I did not hesitate in confirming that this probably referred to me because I remember that about three years ago, I received a text message from someone I recollected at the time to be an old colleague in my days as a lecturer at the University of Lagos, an ‘Agbadu-Fishim’ who was then a Research Fellow at the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, informing me of the death and funeral programme of his mother.
"The last contact (of any sort) I had with this person before that text would have been about 14 years earlier, that is, before I was appointed Special Adviser to the Governor of Lagos State at the inception of civil rule in 1999 (now 17 years ago).
"Indeed, it was with considerable difficulty that I was able to eventually recognise his face when I eventually saw him again (after 17 years of my leaving the University of Lagos) on my attendance at the EFCC on Thursday the 3rd day of November, 2016.
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