By Samuel Itsede
DAMIJAY Integrated Services limited, has petitioned the National President, Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, over the conduct of one of its own, Bar. Victor Giwa.
The company is accusing Giwa of alledged unlawfully extortion, to the tune of 100,000,000 naira, which it says was to help in effecting a Court order against the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
According Mr Donald Wokoma, a Director in Damijay Integrated Services Limited, sometimes in 2018, he engaged the legal services of Victor Giwa, Esq. upon discovering that a restriction was placed on his company’s account domiciled with Access Bank PLC (then Diamond Bank). And that after making his inquiry, Barrister Victor Giwa (whose phone number is: 08033072332) discovered and so informed him that it was at the instance of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, that the said restriction of ‘Post No Debit’ was slammed on the said account without a court order.
Wokoma, in his petition stated that arising from the foregoing development, his client promptly instituted an action before the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja sitting at Jabi and presided over by the Honourable Justice O.C. AGBAZA in Suit No. FCT/HC/CV/2908/2018 wherein judgment was entered on the 21st day of November, 2018, in his favour against the EFCC declaring the restrictions on its account unlawful and effectively ordering that all restrictions thereon be lifted peremptorily.
The Petitioner, in his petition made available to Daybreak, maintained that instead of his client enforcing the judgment of the Court he got in his favour against the EFCC, “Barrister Victor Giwa started telling me that the EFCC operatives requested for Seventy-Five Million Naira as a condition for them to obey the Order of the Court.
At his instruction, I wrote out a three sets of Diamond Bank Cheques valued at 25 Million Naira each, which he later brought back to me to request instead that I execute an Irrevocable Standing Payment Order which I did.
“Barrister Victor Giwa later reverted to me and informed me that the initial seventy-five Million Naira has been rejected by the EFCC officials he was interfacing with but that they were now demanding the 40 percent of the total sum in the account (which aggregates to 100,000,000, naira, One Hundred Million naira). At that point, I out-rightly rejected the new request.
“I now approached another Lawyer, Barrister Johnmary Chukwukasi Jideobi and directed him to write a petition to the Office of the Honourable Attorney-General of the Federation and copy the Hon. Justice Ayo-Salami led Panel sitting in the Old Banquet Hall, Aso Villa. Eventually, the Panel invited both myself and my Lawyer and Victor Giwa. Before the Honourable Judicial Commission of Inquiry, I filed an affidavit in support of the said petition. The said affidavit carries some exhibits which I attached and adopt in support of the petition,” Wokoma said.
He added that it was at the hearing on the 18th of August, 2020 before the Judicial Commission of Inquiry that Barrister Victor Giwa was confronted with an audio recording (of twenty-seven minutes) which I made the day he came to collect the cheques of Seventy-Five Million Naira from me. I had earlier submitted the audio to the Judicial Commission of Inquiry as an exhibit and it was played to the hearing of the Commission, Victor Giwa, Esq., the suspended Acting Chairman of the EFCC, Mr. Ibrahim Magu, Mr. Ibrahim Magu’s Lawyer, Tosin Ojaomo, myself and my Lawyer, Johnmary Chukwukasi Jideobi. In the said recorded audio, Victor Giwa, in trying to convince me to issue the cheques, informed me that he has met with Mr. Ibrahim Magu on the matter and because of that he was okay.
“When asked by the Commission whether he could identify the voice in the said audio, Barrister Victor Giwa admitted that he is the one in the audio discussing with me in the 27 minutes recorded conversation. To my utmost chagrin, Barrister Victor Giwa confessed that he never met Mr. Ibrahim Magu over my case and said that he was lying to me all the while he was flaunting his name to me. This led the Counsel to Mr. Ibrahim Magu, Tosin Ojaomo, to call for the arrest and investigation of Barrister Victor Giwa for fraudulently using the name of his client to dupe our company to the tune of One Hundred Million Naira,” he said.
