Most Reverend Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Chief J.S Okutepa (SAN ), has broken his silence to address certain political operatives who have labeled him a “bigot”.
In a meticulously penned piece, His Lordship provided an account of his legal background spanning over three decades, traversing the three major ethnic groups in Kogi State.
He elaborated on how he has provided legal aid in the past and continues to do so without ethnic bias.
In a well-articulated composition, he writes:
“Sometimes, I feel so sorry for political jobbers and sycophants who have nothing doing to earn a living other than to allow themselves to be used as instrument of misinformation and propaganda.
I have read so many unintelligent accounts of my person from social media, including write up of bolt or some Uber drivers.
Some of these charlatans have given me names that are far from my name and my person.
Some don’t even know me and the principles I stand for.
Some just agree to give me bad names so that they can feed.
I thank God my person is feeding them. Some of these jobbers and beggars see my fight for electoral justice in Kogi state as an ethnic agenda.
But these political buffoons and charlatans have short and myopic memories of the antecedents of my legal fight for electoral and democratic justice in Kogi State.
Soon after the late political sage, Prince Abubakar Audu died in 2015 or so, and Hon James Abiodun Faleke was denied the right to become Governor of Kogi State by dint of some political abracadabra put in place by his political party, which preferred and produced Yahaya Bello to inherit the votes that Prince Abubakar Audu and Hon James Abiodun Faleke worked very hard to earned, I was one of the leading lawyers that fought for electoral justice for Hon James Abiodun Faleke.
That fight nearly cost me my life. Hon James Abiodun Faleke is an Okun man. He is not an Igala man.
I stood for him because justice was denied him.
Again when Yahaya Bello wanted to disgrace Hon Justice Nasir Ajanah, CJ of Kogi State as he then was, from office, may God rest the soul of his lordship, I was one of the lawyers that stood for his Lordship in his travails with Yahaya Bello as then Governor.
Hon Justice Ajanah was not an Igala man. No, he was an Ebira man from Okene.
I stood for him because he was being oppressed for doing what a good judicial officer should do. I was not a tribal bigot, then.
These buffoons and charlatans giving me bad names to be hung now did not know that I was an Igala man of royal blood.
Again, when Senator Ohaire and Rt. Hon Abdullahi Bello were denied political justice, I was the lead lawyer who stood for these illustrious sons of Ebira land. Justice, they needed, and I stood for them for justice.
For those who run their mouths and think that I started today, see the following cases to wit: Appeal NO: CA/A/38/M/2016, Rt. Hon. Abdullahi Bello & Anor vs. Hon. Yusuf Ahmed Tijani Damisa & Ors.
Appeal NO: SC/168/2016, Rt. Hon. Abdullahi Bello & Anor vs. Hon. Yusuf Ahmed Tijani Damisa & Ors, Appeal NO: CA/A/37/M/2016, Sen. Mohammed Abdulsalami Ohiare & Anor vs. Ogembe Salau Ahmed & Ors, Appeal NO: SC. 169/2016, Sen. Mohammed Abdulsalami Ohiare & Anor vs. Ogembe Salau Ahmed & Ors. and Hon. James Abiodun Faleke vs. INEC & Anor (2016) 18 NWLR (Pt.1543) 61.
My fight to do what is right in Kogi State and Nigeria at large is not of tribal origin or political colorations.
No, it is not. I am not a member of political parties.
I do not belong to the party. My party is justice. I have stood for people who were and are oppressed politically.
As a lawyer, I stand for justice. Justice, I will fight for all the days of my life.
No one can intimidate me to compromise the fight for justice.I am not scared of fighting for a just and egalitarian society where justice holds sways.
You can not stop a leper from attending the funeral of his father.
Those who are feeding free from the crumbles that fall from the table of oppressors and preferred to engage in sycophantic praise to earn a living can go ahead. But note that I serve God of vengeance.
I am more than ever committed to justice in our electoral jurisprudence.
That is why I have consistently stood for those who have been robbed of electoral victories by those who have been strangulating democracy in Nigeria. I just like to let those who think I can be intimidated to give up fighting for justice to know that they are already losers”.
It’s noteworthy that J.S. Okutepa (SAN) has recently come under attack, particularly from some disgruntled Ebiras who believe his legal assistance to the Social Democratic Party (SDP) candidate, Alhaji Muritala Yakubu Ajaka, in the 2023 Kogi State gubernatorial election, instead of the All Progressives Party (APC) candidate Usman Ahmed Ododo, was due to tribal affiliation with Ajaka.
