Pension Thief Verdict: You’ve A Case To answer, NJC Tells Thalba

The National Judicial Council, NJC, yesterday, maintained that Justice Abubakar Thalba of an Abuja High Court at Gudu had a case to answer regarding the slap-on-the-wrist sentence he handed to a self confessed pension thief, John Yakubu Yusufu.

The council reached the decision at the end of a two-day emergency session at its headquarters situated within the Supreme Court complex, Abuja.

Consequently, NJC which was presided over by the Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, Justice Mariam Aloma Murhktar, yesterday, constituted a high powered disciplinary committee with a mandate to weigh the defence filed before it by the embattled judge vis-à-vis the record of proceedings at the trial court which culminated to the N750,000 fine Justice Thalba ordered Yusufu to pay in respect of the charge against him.

It would be recalled that Justice Thalba had on January 28 convicted Yusufu who confessed before the court that he conspired with six other accused persons and stole about N23 billion from the Police Pension Fund.

Though Thalba had denied his alleged convivial relationship with Yusufu, however, investigations by Vanguard, yesterday, revealed that members of the NJC unanimously condemned his decision on the matter.

A source that was privy to the meeting yesterday, told that after due consideration of the circumstances that surrounded the case, the Council, unanimously agreed that the trial Judge has a case to answer.