5OOm Bribe: APC legal adviser to stepdown

National legal adviser of the All Progressive Congress[APC], Dr. Muiz Adeyemi Banire has offered to step down from his office pending conclusion of investigation into an allegation of bribing a judge with N500,000. Following the allegation, Banire in a letter to the National Chairman of the APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, offered to step down from his position in order to clear his name in the bribery scandal.

Also, Banire has told the nations Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Mallami, SAN of his intention to step down as member of the Electoral Reform Commission. Banire said: "On Saturday, the 29th day of Oct. 2016, I read online, a publication titled APC National Legal Adviser, Muiz Banire, Allegedly paid Federal Judge N500,000k" I was not only shocked by the purport of the publication against my person, but extremely disturbed by its negative propagandist effect on our noble party, the government it leads at the federal level, and above all, our signature programme of anti-corruption in public life. I therefore immediately on the same day wrote a letter which was delivered to and acknowledged by the EFCC on Monday, the 31st day of October, 2016, submitting myself to investigation on the allegatio, and offering to visit the EFCC offices in Lagos on Tuesday, the first day of November 2016, to be interrogated as part of the investigation. A copy of the said letter of request is enclosed herewith. Ostensibly due to the constraints of its heavy work schedule, my request to attend the EFCC to be interrogated on the allegation did not receive attention until Thursday, the 3rd day of November 2016.