Tuesday, May 11, 2010

How Bank PHB’s Lawyer,Ajibola Aribisala got into trouble with presidency
The statement allegedly credited to Chief Anthony Ajibola Aribisala (SAN) in a newspaper report during the case of his client, Bank PHB and Zenon Oil and Gas which came up in Lagos High Court recently may have put the legal luminary in a serious trouble.
Chief Aribisala, the well respected legal mind was reported in a Lagos based newspaper that his client- Bank PHB's Managing Director, Cyril Chukwurah was threatened by Acting President Goodluck Jonathan to reach an amicable settlement with Femi Otedola, the Chairman of Zenon or risk sack.
After the report came out, Mr. Ima Niboro, the Media Adviser to the then Acting President (Jonathan has since been sworn-in as the President after the death of ex-president Umar Yar'dua last week) debunked the threat story and said there was never a time Jonathan called the bank MD, and informed that security agencies had been directed to investigate the issue.
Meanwhile, sources informed us that the management of the bank had washed its hand off the whole issue, saying that it did not ask the lawyer to drag the name of Jonathan Goodluck into the matter.
The source further told us that as the bank has cleared itself; security agencies are on the neck of Chief Aribisala to come explain himself.
“The presidency is not happy with the issue. How can the name of President Jonathan be dragged into a court issue between a bank and its client. It was meant to rubbish Jonathan and this is why the lawyer is being investigated,” a source in the presidency said.
So, if the management had denied ever putting words into Aribisala's mouth, the question on the lips of many is how the allegation got into the papers.
A source close to Aribisala who spoke with us said the journalist who wrote the story was mischievous.
“Was his newspaper the only one in court that day? Why didn't others report it? We all know the owner of the paper is on the run, and it was intended to discredit President Jonathan. Chief Aribisala is a honourable man with wealth of experience who cannot make unguarded statement.” The source said.
Nevertheless, we gathered that the whole scandal has put the legal expert in the bad books of Aso Rock, although we are yet to know the outcome of the investigations by the security agencies into the matter.

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