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The Comptroller-General of Customs, Abdullahi Dikko, has gone to a Federal Capital Territory (FCT)

High Court in
Abuja, seeking an order committing Lagos lawyer, Festus Keyamo to
prison for allegedly publishing a libelous statement over his (Dikko)
certificate, and writing to the acting president on the matter.

Mr. Dikko, through
his Counsel, Amobi Nzelu, in a motion on notice brought pursuant to
order 41 Rule 2 of the Court Civil Procedure, said the actions amount
to contempt of court and “malicious and reckless” disobedience of an
order handed down by Abubakar Talba of the FCT High Court on October 7,
2009.

Specifically, Mr.
Nzelu in an affidavit in support of his motion on notice, said that
upon assumption of office by Mr Dikko as the Comptroller-General of
Customs, Mr. Keyamo and Scroll Publishing Limited and others, began to
publish libelous statements/publications against his client regarding
alleged forgery of certificates by the customs boss.

Attached to the
motion on notice was a letter sent to the acting president, Goodluck
Jonathan, by Mr. Keyamo titled “Forgery of certificates by the
Comptroller-General of Customs, Alhaji Abdullahi Inde Dikko: the grand
cover-up”.

Mr. Nzelu said his
client filed an action in court restraining Mr. Keyamo from further
publishing the statements against him, and that on October 7, 2009, Mr.
Talba gave “an order of interim injunction restraining the
defendant/respondents, including the respondent who is the fourth
defendant/respondent in the suit, from publishing or further publishing
any libelous statement against him.” He said the order is still
subsisting and has not been vacated by the court, but that Mr. Keyamo,
in a flagrant disobedience of the court order, wrote a damaging letter
on Mr. Dikko to the acting president, which was copied to the Director
General of State Security Services (SSS), the National Security Adviser
(NSA), the Inspector General of Police, the Minister of Finance and the
Attorney General of the Federation.

Mr Keyamo’s letter,
which was attached to the suit, said in part: “I am totally ashamed
this minute to be a Nigerian as I write this. For more than six months
now, it has become public knowledge that the Comptroller-General of
Customs, Abdullahi Inde Dikko has been pointedly accused of forging his
WAEC Certificate and that of the Nigerian Institute of Management and
yet nothing has been done by the authorities up till this minute.

“I have decided to
bring this to your attention because what frustrated the investigation
before now is the family tie between Alhaji Dikko and Hajia Turai
Yar’Adua, the wife of the ailing president. This is because before now
I have written to ALL the security agencies on this matter, and all of
them developed cold feet because of Hajia Turai Yar’Adua.”

The letter further
asked for how long the nation can continue to tolerate a
Comptroller-General of Customs “whom the whole world knows has
questions to answer regarding the authenticity of his certificates and
who is being blackmailed left, right and centre by those who know but
have decided to cover him up? How can the Chief Security Officer of the
nation’s borders — land, air and sea — perform without fear or favour
with such an albatross hanging around his neck? The security and
economic implication of a Comptroller-General of Customs who is
susceptible to blackmail is very grave indeed and cannot be
over-emphasized.”

Legal militancy

Mr. Keyamo also
narrated how, on October 22, 2009, he secured an order at the Chief
Magistrates Court, Wuse Zone 6, for the police to probe the
certificates and report to the court, and how the police bluntly
refused to do anything about the matter.

“Curiously,
immediately the order was given, the Chief Judge of the FCT directed
the investigation of a spurious petition written by Mr. Dikko against
the magistrate, which petition was never served on us, and which
effectively stopped the progress of the case.

“In all of these,
there is a grand cover-up of this very, very messy issue and it is
causing all of us shame and embarrassment. Even a section of the press
that should uphold high standards in public life has blacked out the
issue and refused to talk about it. Instead, some hired goons of Alhaji
Dikko have taken out paid adverts attacking my person with the hope of
silencing me. I have remained unbowed because such attacks only
re-invigorate my determination to see to the end of this national
shame”.

Mr. Nzelu, in a
reply to the letter, said, “Despite the order of the court which has
not been set aside by any superior court or the same court, Festus
Keyamo went ahead on March 24, 2010, to circulate the malicious
publication concerning the person of our client. The only deduction
from the conduct of Festus Keyamo is that he feels he is above the law
and can get away from any thing. He will be proved wrong sooner than
later.

“Festus Keyamo
should confine himself within the norms of the profession by allowing
the court to determine this matter one way or the other. He should
equally season his language so that the dignity of this our cherished
profession will be intact. He should not sensationalise the matter nor
be allowed to overheat the polity of the nation. There is no militancy
in the legal profession. That, he must be told in no mistaken terms.”